3. A Search and an Evocation

Charles Ward, as we have seen, first learned in 1918 of his descent from Joseph Curwen. That he at once took an intense interest in everything pertaining to the bygone mystery is not to be wondered at; for every vague rumor that he had heard of Curwen now became something vital to himself, in whom flowed Curwen's blood.

In his first delvings there was not the slightest attempt at secrecy; he talked freely with his family--though his mother was not particularly pleased to own an ancestor like Curwen--and with the officials of the various museums and libraries he visited. In...