GRACE HASWELL MARTIN.

* * * * *

"Some fourteen or fifteen years ago," explained the doctor as I looked
up from reading the note, "Mr. Haswell's only daughter eloped with an
artist named Martin. He had been engaged to paint a portrait of the
late Mrs. Haswell from a photograph. It was the first time that
Grace Haswell had ever been able to find expression for the artistic
yearning which had always been repressed by the cold, practical sense
of her father. She remembered her mother perfectly since the sad
bereavement of her girlhood and naturally she watched and helped the
artist eagerly. The result was a portrait which might well have been
painted from the subject herself rather than from a cold photograph.

"Haswell saw the growing intimacy of his daughter and the artist. His
bent of mind was solely toward money and material things, and he at
once conceived a bitter and unreasoning hatred for Martin, who, he
believed, had 'schemed' to capture his daughter and an easy living.
Art was as foreign to his nature as possible. Nevertheless they went
ahead and married, and, well, it resulted in the old man disinheriting
the girl. The young couple disappeared bravely to make their way by
their chosen profession and, as far as I know, have never been heard
from since until now. Haswell made a new will and I have always
understood that practically all of his fortune is to be devoted to
founding the technology department in a projected university of
Brooklyn."

"You have never seen this Mrs. Martin or her husband?" asked Kennedy.