Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-04-29


eyes: try not to think Of It," id.
vised Kent 1T isn't nearly 80 ugly
a. It seems"
She looked at him with her straight,
fearless. wistful glance.
HE had left me nothing to Lore"
she said sadly; but to find disgrace
and shame even to the end Of his life!
That Ia hard. That II should have been
my husband who gave tho thing most
precious to me to another woman!
But why did he write the letter to
Preston Jax for her to sign"
Chester Kent shook his head
CHAPTER XIX.
The Strange rryst.
Midnight found Kent In tho throee
Of literary effort. He was striving to
compose q letter to Sedgwick that
should. In turn, compose the recipients
perturbed feelings. It concluded, with
some acerbity:
you've made pretty complete
idiot Of yourself once. Don't try to
eclipse your own record"
BY which he purposed to convey to
the artist the fact that his presence
in Boston was neither desirable nor
advisable. As he was about to afiix
his signature. knock brought him to
the door Of his hotel room.
Letter for you" announced tha
messenger boy.
Kent signed the book and received
broad thin envelope sealed IN golden
hued wax with tho impress OF . star.
and addressed in typewriting to his
own name. &
"Confound all fools who sign their
letters on the outside!" said Kent.
|scowling at the seal. What has that
planetary lunatic got to say that wont
keep?'
What Preston Jax had to say was,
first, in the form OF very brief note
secondly, in the shape OF a formidable
looking document. The note began
Esteemed sir" concluded yours re
morsefully," and set forth, In some.
what exotic language, that the writer,
fearing lapse Of courage that might
confuse his narrative when he should
come to give it, had taken pen in
hand" to commit 1t to writing, and
would he recipient kindly pardon
haste?' Herewith. twenty.one typed
pages.
HASTE" cried Chester Kent griev.
ously. why. he's written me the
story OF his lfe!"
Indeed, at z cursory glance. 1t ap-
Ipeared so. Tho initial paragraph
Iopened, Il was born Of poor but honest
parents" Chester Kent groaned. "A
little farther down the page the
phrase. "Oh, that those innocent days
OF my happy childhood might return"
rose and smote him In the eyes. Ches.
ter Kent snorted. A desperate leap
landed him In the midst OF page ave,
where he encountered this gem, with
these fateful words the kind old min.
lister laid faitering hand upon my
head. But enough"
Quite enough" agreed Chester
Kent. and kicked the Star-master's
document into corner.
It fell in a crumpled heap with one
sheet, curving In upward protubsr-
ance, conspicuous to the eye. On this
sheet there was handwriting, and the
handwriting was the same a. that OF
the note Marjorie Blair had identified.
Kent retrieved the paper, laid It ON
his desk, selected likely spot for one
more plung, and dived into the turbid
flood of words. And behold! a. he
turned, 30 to speak, the corner Of the
narrative, tho current became suddenly
clear. The. muddled eloquence fell
away; and the style crystallized into
the tense quick testimony Of the prime
actor in drama, intensely and shud-
deringly felt.
The reader ran through It with In
cressing absorption. Then. pencil In
hand, he attacked the first part Of the
precious screed and emerged from
scene OF literary carnage with one
brief paragraph in hand and the
slaughtered bodies Of many eloquent
pages strewing the floor. That one
paragraph stated that Preston Jax,
whose real name was John Preston.
had, after a rebellious boyhood. ruin
away to sea, lived two years before the
mast, picked up a smattering Of edu-
cation, been assistant and cappef tor
magnetic healer, and had finally
formulated q system Of astrological
lprophecy that won him slow but In
creasiug renown The gist OF the sys-
tenn was to assign some particular and
often imaginary star to every subject,
and, by natural aptitude for worming
out secrets from the credulous, lead
them along the celestial paths OF mys-
ticism to q point where he could reach
their pocketbooks. He had been
specially successful with women. One
bit of his philosophy Kent had pre-.
served unaltered.
"They bite slower than men; but
when they do take hold. they swallow
the hook 80 deep that you're lucky to
get It back at all.
An hours work with pencil that
should have been blue resolved the
document. under Kent's skilf,il and
lremorseless editorship, into its salient
elements. Obviously It was impossible
to put It into alien hands for copying.
Kent ordered up typewriter and
copied to himself. The duplicate he
enclosed in his letter to Sedgwick.
The original he put aside to sleep
upon. Thus IL ran:
| ITO be Continued.)
| The Glow to Age.
| London News The simplest and
most convincing answer to the ques-
ton raised in your columns, "Wher,