Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-03
THE GREAT GAME

more the task-miStress. But, to his terror
and self 1oathing, he found the power of ap-
plication gone. The muscles of his mind
were fabby. He quoted to Kent, with fur
rowed brow, the terrible final lines of Ros-
setti's Work and VIII:
Thenceforth their incommunicable ways
Follow the desultory feet of Death.
Nevertheless, here you are" said Kent
quietly.
Eyes, here l am-and the fight won. All
by virtue of woman's laugh; the laugh of
woman without virtue. 1t was at the
Moulin de la GAZETTE, perhaps you know
the danCehall on the crest of Montmartre,
and she was one of the dancers, the wreck of
what had once been beauty and, one must
suppose, innocence Probably she thought
me too much absinthe soaked to hear or un-
derstand, as l sat half asleep at my table.
At all events she answered, full voiced, her
companions question, Who is the drunken
foreigner by saying, He was an artist.
The studios talked of him five years ago.
Look at him now That is what Life does to
us, mon ami. I'm the woman of it: that's
the man of it. / staggered up, made her
bow and a promise, and left her laughing.
Last month | redeemed the promise: sent
her the first thousand dollars made by my
own work, and declared my debt dis
charged.
A heavy cloud of smoke issued from Kent's
mouth, followed by this observation: THAT
formula about the inability to lift oneself by
ones own boot straps fails to apply in the
| spiritual world
Right! You can pull yourself out of the
ditch that way; but afterward comes the
long hillside. Life has seemed all tilted on
edge, at times, and pretty slippery, with lit
| tie enough to cling to.
"Work," suggested Kent briefly.
"Wisdom turks behind your screen. Work
| is the answer
"Good or bad, it's the only thing. Which
kind is yours?'
presently you shall sit in judgment.
Meantime, suppose you account for your
self"
ICHESTER KENT stretched himself lux
- uriously. "a distinguished Secretary
| of State has remarked that all the news
worth telling on any subject can be trans
mitted by wire for twenty-five cents. The
short and simple annals of the poor in my
case can be recorded within that limit.
| Postgraduate science. Agricultural de-
partment job. Lectures Invention. Judi
ciary department expert. Signed, Chester
Kent Ten words-count them-ten.'
Interesting; but unsatisfying,' retorted
his friend. Cant you expand bit? l sup
pose you haven't any dark secret in your
| life
mo secret, dark or light sighed the
| other. "The newspapers won't let me
have
"Eh? Won't let you? Am to infer that
you've become a famous person. Pardon
| the ignorance of expatriation. Have you
discovered new disease, or formulated a
new theory of life, or become golf cham
pion, or a Senator, or a freak aviator, or in
vented perpetual motion? Ought | to bat
my brow against the floor in addressing you?
What are you, anyway
"What | told you, an expert in the service
of the Department of Justice.
"On the scientific side?'
"Why-yes, generally speaking. like to
fatter myself that my pursuit is scientific.
Pursuit? What do you pursue?"
"Men and motives
| Sedgwick's intelligent eyes widened.
"Wait,7 he said: something occurs to me,
an article in a French journal about a Won
derful new American expert in criminology,
who knows all there is to know, and takes
only the most abstruse cases. | recall now
that the article called him lie Professor
Chetre Kennat' That would be about as
near aS they world come TO yOl1r name