The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-07-07

away was 80 scared tnat l guess l
was half crazy, anyway And now, |
hear she never has been identified.
Is that right?'
Sheriff Schlager half rose from his
chair. Amt you told 'em, Professor
Kent?"
Kent shook his head.
Nor you, Mr.. Blair"
NO"
Then don't see why we can't keep
1t amongst ourselves" said the sheriff.
"Gansett Jim's tight as a clam. No
bodyll ever get anything out of him.
And, Lord knows, the less that's
known of 1t the better I'm suited.
amt none too proud of my part in it."
There is no reason why it should
ever be known outside of this ROOM"
said Kent, and, at the words, Alexan-
der Blair exhaled a pent-up breath of
relief. But it is due to one person
that she should know everything. The
question is how to make it clear in the
best and-and kindest way"
IF it will make it easier for any one
here to speak" said Marjorie Blair, 81
can say that l understand certain
phases of myhusband's past life, thor
oughly. There is no need to spare me
on that ground"
But this pertains to a phase that
you do not understand at ALL"
Yes, think So" she persisted gent.
ly. This dead woman had some hold
over my husband. To maintain it she
came to live near Hedgerow House.
and while she was blackmailing VIII.
frid, she got into communication with
Mr.. Jax."
Perhaps they were in colfusion."
suggested Lawyer Balm.
"Oh, no mol" broke in Alexander
Blair impatiently. You've wide of the
truth"
Y understand" persisted the young
woman, that the woman persuaded or
compelled Wilfrid to write the letter
to Mr.. Jax, which she signed Astraea,
And that, when she went to keep the
she took my Jewels,
which, l suppose, she forced poor Will
rid to steal for her. Am 1 not right.
Professor Kent?"
mo. Far from it."
why not cried Sedgwick eagerly.
She certainly had the jewels on when .
The met me. And the handouts must :
lave been in the bundle. heard them -.
link" ..
Exactly; the handouts" said Kent
lryiy. what use to your mind, would
woman of that sort have for man
cles, in those circumstances? In
Eyes," put in Adam Balm: "they fit
n about as nice as pink silk hat at r
funeral"
Il know what use she had for EN-"
nuttered Preston Jax, caressing his 7,
7rist. ut simply case of crazy wo- n
nan; isn't it, Professor Kent?" 4
NO Not If you mean that your Z
ssailant was crazy woman" said n
lent patiently. \
Then who, in heavens name, is or a
'as Astraea?" cried Sedgwick. Il
"Astraea is, take it, a lady long c
ince dead. A very strange and in n
sresting lady who adopted that name
Or her own peculiar pursuits along our p
lend Jax's lines of interest"
They call themselves all sorts of
lings," observed the astrologer philos-
phically. 81 had follower once that
sed to sign herself Carrie Nation, and p.
ne wasn't the real Carrie at all. No &c
anne is sacred to 'em when they 20
ippy over the stars" ii
Then the woman of Lonesome Cove q
that name from some old q
'cord?" asked Sedgwick. Isl
Follow me through a page of I'm. of
ritten local history" said Chester is
emit, Strengthening up. 1.-THE begin. st
ng of this story goes back some sew. ne
lty-five years, when there lived. not
+ from Hogg's Haven, in a house Sc
hich has since been destroyed. an wi
der sister of Captain Hogg, who mar
ed into the Grosvenor family. She ia
as. from the evidence of the eros. hu
'nor family historian, who, by the 90
ay, has withheld all this from his Il
lges, woman of the most extraor- hi
nary charm and magnetism. Not sa
'autiful, in the strict sense of the lal
ord' she had a gift beyond beauty,
ID she led men in chains. Her hus. da
nd appears to have been a weakling
10 counted for nothing in her life
ter the birth of her children. Seek All
distraction, she flung herself into I