The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-07-05
gave her special readings and doubled

gave her special readings and doubled
on the price. She paid like lamb.
Then, blame if ii didn't slip out
she wasn't married at all! / lost that
letter. 1t was kind of endearing.
Irene put up a howl. 1t was getting
too personal for her taste. l told her
would cut it out. Then l gave my
swell lady another address and wrote
her for a picture. Nothing doing. But
she began to hint around at q meet
ing. One day letter came with a
hundred-dollar bill in it. Loose, too,
just like you or me might send two
cent stamp For expenses she wrote.
and | was to come at once. Our
souls had returned to recognize and
join each other. she said. Here is the
only part of the letter l could dig up
from the waste basket:
Here the specimen of handwriting
that had caught Kents eye was
pasted upon the document.
"'You have pointed out to me that
our stars, swinging in mighty circles,
are rushing on to joint climax To-
gether we may force open the doors
to the past, and sway the world as we
sought to do in bygone days
And so on an cetera," continued
the narrative. well, of course, she
was nutty, that is, about the star bust
ness. But that don't prove anything.
The dippiest star-chaser l ever worked
was the head of department in one
of the big stores, and the fiercest lit
tie business woman in business hours,
you ever knew. 1t g the romantic in
the sex that sets them skidding when
it comes to stars, and such like. And
Astraea was not a patch on some Of
them that has been paying me good
sane money for years. That was the
letter she first called me Hermann in
and signed Astraea to. Said there
was no use pretending to conceal her
identity any longer from me. Seemed
to think l knew all about it. That
Jared me some. And, with the change
of writing in the signature, it all
looked pretty queer. You remember
the last letter with the copperplate-
writing name at the bottom? Well,
they all came that way after this; the
body of the letter very bold and care
less signature written in an entirely
different hand. l took it to Chorio,
the character-reader, and he said so,
too. What's more, he advised me to
quit the game. Said there was trou-
BILE back of that handwriting. Those
character fellows amt such fools,
eitheri
But hundred.dollar bills loose In
letters mean a big stake. / wrote her
1 would come, and signed it Her
man, just to play up to her lead.
Irene got on and threw a fit. She
said her woman's intuition told her
there was danger in it. Truth is, she
was struck on me herself, and was
on her; but we did not find it out
until after the crash. So was all for
prying Astraea loose from her money,
if l had to marry her to do it. She
wrote some slush about the one des-
perate plunge together and then the
glory that was to be ours. That
looked like marriage to me.
You saw the last letter. 1t had
me ratified but not ratified enough to
quit. There was map in it of the
place for the meeting. That was
plain enough. But the our and we
business In 1t bothered me. 1t looked
a bit like third person. had not
heard anything about any third per-
son. What is more, did not have
any use of a third person in this bust
ness. The stars forbade II. wrote
and told her SO, and said II there was
any outsider run In, the stellar courses
would have sudden change Of heart.
Then + put my best robe in a box and
!. bought a ticket for Carr's Junction.
You can believe that while l was go
) ing through the woods was keeping
a bright eye out for any third party.
Well, he was not there; not when
arrived, anyway. Where he was all
the time, DO not know. / never saw
4 him, But I heard him later. I can
haas hfr. wof a< nfeht ga halu xnot