Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-04-05
A NOVELTY IN MYSTERY STORIES
TIE SECRET OF 4
LONESOME IF COVE
SAMUEL HO Isl ADAMS
AUTHOR OF AVERAGE JONES ETC
J, OF AVERAGE JONES ETC
Convrisht l012, The Bobbs- Merrill Company.


"Leggy!" The artist had whirled at
the name. "Nobodys called me that
for ten years"
Just ten years ago that you gradu'
ated, wasn't it," r
Eyes. Then knew you in college.
You must have been before my class.
The bearded one NODDED. Senior to
your freshman" said he.
The younger man scrutinized him.
Chester Kent" said he softly. What
on earth are you doing behind that
bush?'
Kent caressed the maligned whisk-
ers. Utility" he explained. Patent.
impenetrable mosquito screen. I've
been off in the wilds, and amor was
going back presently"
Not until you've stopped long
enough to get reacquainted," declared
Sedgwick. "Just at present you're 60
ing to stay to dinner"
Every good. Just now you happen
to be in my immediate line Of interest.
It is fortunate circumstance for me.
to find you here; possibly for you,
too"
Most assuredly," returned the
other with heartiness Come in on
the porch and have hammock and
pipe" r. ~
Old interests sprang to life and
old interests blossomed the old easy
familiarity that Is never wholly lost
to those who have been close friends
in college days. Presently Francis
Sedgwick was telling his friend the
story of his feverish and thwarted ten
years in the world. Within year OF
his graduation his only surviving rela-
tive had died, willing to him consid-
cradle fortune, the income Of which
he used in. furtherance of hitherto
suppressed ambition to study art.
Paris, his Mecca, was first task
mistress, then temptress. finally a
vampire. Before succumbing he had
gone far in few years, toward the
development of curious technique of
his own. Followed then two years of
dissipation, year of travel TO re-
cuperate, and the return to Paris.
which was to be once more the task
mistress. But, to his terror and self
loathing, he found the power OF ap-
plication gone. The muscles OF his
mind had become flabby He quoted to
Kent, with bitterness, the terrible
final lines of Rossetti's Known in
Vain:
when Work and Will awake too late.
to gaze 3ss
T After their life sailed by, and hold
their breath,
All! who shall dare to search through
what sad maze
Thenceforth their incommunicable
Follow the desultory feet Of Death?
"'When Work and Will awake 100
late,'" repeated Kent. "But is it too
late in your case? Surely not, since
you're here, and at your task.
"But think Of the waste, man! Yet,
here am, as you say, and still able
to fight. All by virtue Of woman's
laugh; the laugh Of woman without
virtue. It was at the Moulin de la
Galette-perhaps you know the dane
hall on the slope 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 understand. as sat
half-asleep at my table. AT all events
she answered, full-voiced her COM
panions question, Who is the drunken
foreigner by saying. He was an
artist. The studios talked OF him i've
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 1t.
I staggered up, made her bow and 4
promise. and left her laughing. Last
month I redeemed the promise; sent
her the first Thousand dollars l made
by my own work, and declared my
debt discharged" .
A heavy cloud of smoke issued from
Kent's mouth followed by this OBJ
seryation: "That formula about the
inability to lift ones self by ones own
boot-straps fails to apply in the
spiritual world"
Right! You can pull yourself out Of
the ditch that way; but afterwards
comes the long hillside. Life has
seemed all tilted on edge at times. and
pretty slippery, with little 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 judg-
ment. Meantime, suppose you account
for yourself"
Chester Kent stretched himself
luxuriously. "a distinguished secretary
Of state has remarked that all the
news worth telling on any subject can
be transmitted 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 department job.
Lectures. Invention. Judiciary depart
ment expert. Signed, Chester Kent.
Ten words-count them-ten."
Interesting, but unsatisfying," re.
torted his friend. "Can't you expand 4
bit? suppose you haven't any dark
secret in your life?"
"No 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 famous person ?
II LIT -.