I
supposed he was an American, but at that time did not take enough
interest in him to inquire as to who he was or where he came from.
Later, however, I found that he was continually crossing my path, and
appeared anxious to court my attention. He was a tall, well-built,
handsome man, with a clean-shaven face and snow-white hair, apparently
about forty years old. But there was something about his looks and
actions that I did not like, and I tried to avoid him as much as
possible. But he was not to be avoided very easily, and, after
persistently following me all over Europe, he crossed the ocean in the
same steamer, and finally came to my home in Chicago. He got to be such
a nuisance that he was refused admittance to our house, and in order to
get rid of him entirely, I secretly left Chicago and went abroad again.
A few months afterward I returned home, and found that he had left for
parts unknown, and the incident was soon forgotten.
"'During the month of March, 1903, about two and a half years later,
important business called my father to New York for a stay of several
months, and mother and I, accompanying him, we took apartments at the
Opulent Hotel, on Broadway, near Seventy-eighth street.
"'About that time I decided to visit the different institutions of New
York, and one day as I was being shown through a charity ward of the
Ruff Hospital, I was astonished to see John Convert lying sick upon one
of the cots. He had a wild and peculiar stare in his eyes and at first
gave no sign of recognition, but seemed to be undergoing an intense"
mental strain, as if trying to recall to mind some event that had
escaped his memory.
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