ages from him were to be addressed to
Petoskey. He had given no suggestion that he had news; and there was
no other report except that vessels were still continuing the search
for survivors, because the Indian Drum, which had been beating, was
beating "short," causing the superstitious to be certain that, though
some of the men from Number 25 were lost, some yet survived.

Constance thrilled as she heard that. She did not believe in the Drum;
at least she had never thought she had really believed in it; she had
only stirred to the idea of its being true. But if the Drum was
beating, she was glad it was beating short. It was serving, at least,
to keep the lake men more alert. She wondered what part the report of
the Drum might have played in her father's movements. None, probably;
for he, of course, did not believe in the Drum. His move was plainly
dictated by the fact that, with the western gale, drift from the ferry
would be toward the eastern shore.

A little later, as Constance stood at the window, gazing out at the
snow upon the lake, she drew back suddenly out of sight from the
street, as she saw Henry's roadster appear out of the storm and stop
before the house.

She had been apprehensively certain that he would come to her some time
during the day; he had been too fully aware of the effect he made upon
her not to attempt to remove that effect as soon as he could. As he
got out of the car, shaking the snowflakes from his great fur coat and
from his cap, looking up at the house before he came in and not knowing
that he was observed, she saw something very like triumph in his
manner. Her pulses stopped, then raced, at that; triumph for him!
That meant, if he brought news, it was good news for him; it must be
then, bad news for her.

She waited in the room where she was. She heard him in the hall,
taking off his coat and speaking to the servant, and he appeared then
at the door. The strain he was under had not lessened, she could see;
or rather, if she could trust her feeling at sight of him, it had
lessened only slightly, and at the same time his power to resist it had
been lessening too. His hands and even his body shook; but his head
was thrust forward, and he stared at her aggressively, and, plainly, he
had determined in advance to act toward her as though their
relationship had not been disturbed.

"I thought you'd want to know, Connie," he said, "so I came straight
out. The _Richardson's_ pic