The Detroit times., 1913-03-27


sv in u With half a nose. She bit first
! ON one Of the occult ads-the NUMBER
four OF the old series. a douolecolumn
with display In heavy.faced italics ana
loaded ont strong. That ad always
was good woman-fetcher, Her mrs.
I letter -earte ia ca - Monday i reeot-
llect II was a biz mail. There we're
10, OF Curlositys and couple OF Shs'
tpiciorse~. ana CNis was ono OF hAu
dozen in the True Believers pie.
Irere, ny ASSISTANT, mad put the re"
pencil on IL. when she sorted out thV
mail. 20 show IL was something spe'
cidl But don't get her into TINS, FRO
fessor Kent. II you do. II al on
! jewels and ali. Irene has always oeei,
! for the straight star business ana
forecas, game. and no extras or sioe
lines. Besides, We were married last
week.
What attracted Irene's red pencil
and caugh, me right away, was inc
style OF the thing. The Handwriting
was classy The paper was elegant
! There was something rich about II all
/ This was no Biddy. pinching out the
missis stationery 10 make play with.
| She quoted poetry. swell poetry. First
of the signed herself An Adept
gave her me Personal, No, 3, and FOL
! lowedeit with the Special Friendly, NO.
l5. Irene never liked thar No. b. She
says It's spoony. Just the same, IL
! fetches them. But not this one. She
began 10 get personal and warm-heart-
! ed. all right. and answered up with the
! kindred-soul racket. But come 10 Bos-
! ton? Not move, Said she couldn I
There were reasons. II looked like the
old game---fiitter-h headed wife and Jeal-
Gus husband Nothing in that game.
unless YOU 20 In for the straight hold
Iup. And blackmail was always too
strong for my taste SO | did the
natural thing; gave her special read
ings and doubled on thAprice. she
/ paid like a lamb
Then blame II It didn't slip out
she wasn't married at all. | lost that
letter. Il was kind OF endearing
Irene put mp howl. II was getting
too personal for her taste. told her
| would cut II cut. Then | gave my
sweu lady another address and wrote
her for a picture. Nothing doing.
But she began TO hint around
meeting One day a letter came with
hundred.dollar bill In IT. Loose, 100,
Just like you or me might SEND Two
cent stamp. For expenses. she wrote
and was TO come at once Our SOUS
had returned to recognize ana JOIN
each other, she said. Here Is the only
part Of the letter could dig up from
the waste basket:
Here the specimen OF handwriting
that had caught Kent's eye was pasted
upon the document
You have pointed out 10 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 and ct cetera. continued
the narrative. Well, OF course, she
was nutty. that is. about the star busi-
ness But that don't prove anything.
The dippiest star-chaser | ever worked
was the head OF department in one
OF the big stores. and the fiercest little
business woman in business hours, you
ever knew. It's the romantic in the
sex that sets them skidding when II
comes 10 stars. and such like. Ana
Astraea was not 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 10 conceal her
identity any longer from me. Seemed
10 think | knew all about II. That
Jared me some And. with the change
of writing in the signature. II all LOOK
ed pretty queer. You remember the
last letter with the copperplate-writing
name at the bottom? Well, they al
came that way after this; the bocv o.
the letter very bold and careless;
nature written in an entirely different
hand | took II to Choria, the char
acter-reader. and he said so, TOO.
What's more, he advised me to quit
the game. Said there was trouble
back OF that handwriting. Those char
acter fellows amt such fools, either
But hundred dollar bills loose In
letters mean big stake | wrote her
would come, and | signed 1t Her
mann just to play up TO her lead.
Irene got on and threw a fit She said
her wOmans intuition told her there
was danger in IT, Truth is, she was
stuck on me herself. and was on her;
but we did not find II out until after
the crash. So | was all for prying
Astraea loose from her money, IL had
to marry her TO do 1t. She wrote
some slush about the one desperate
plunge together and then the glory
that was TO be ours. That looked like
TO me.
You saw the last letter. Ii had me
ratified, but not ratified enough TO quit.
There was O map IN 1t OF the place
FOR the meeting That was plain
enough. But the our and we bust
ness In It bothered ne. II looked
bit like a third person ] had not
heard anything about any third per
son. What Is more, | did not have any
Use for a third person IN this busl-
,ess. The stars forbade>ft | wrote
md told her so, and Sdid II there was
INV outsider rung In, the stellar
courses would have a sudden change
" heart. Then put my best robe IN
, bag and bought a ticket for Cars
Junction. You can believe that while
was going through the woods | was
a bright eye ont for any third
party Well, he was not there: not
when I arrived. anyway. Where he
vas all the time, | do not know. !
never saw him. But heard him later.
can hear him yet at night, God help
ne,
She was leaning against little
rec at the edge OF the thicket when
first sax her There was plenty or
gS.h. ero,, tho m, nnp and IN QiffQd down