The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-10-30

" him t. the door.
"I.ett.r for vor annOunc-
ed the messenger boy.
What Preston .Jnx had t" say was,
6rst, in the form of Il very brief note;
second. in the Slin,,r Of II fOrmidabl e
looking document. III" tote began
"Esteemeu sir cnir lNlrh Yours re-
nOrSefully" and set ln"lh in somewhat
exotic language that tn" writer, fear
Ing q lapse Of courage that might con-
fuse his narrative when he should
come to give it. had "tHken pen in
hand" to commit it to writing and
would the recipient KINDLY pardon
haste" Herewith twenty-one typed
pages.
quite enough" said Chester Kent,
and dived into the turbid flood Of
words. And behold! As he turned, so
to speak. the corner Of the narrative
the current became suddenly clear.
The reader ran through it with in
ereasing absorption. Preston Jax.
whose real name was John Preston,
had. after a rebellious boyhood. run
away to sea, lived two years before
the mast. picked up a smattering of
education. been assistant and capper
for a magnetic healer and had finally
formulated a system Of astrological
prophecy that won him a slow but in
creaSing renOwn.
This .Astraea affair looked good
from the first SO began Preston
Jax's confession, as beheaded and
stripped down by its editor. 1T looked
money in it with half a nose. Her first
letter came in on a Monday, l recollect.
Irene. my assistant. had put the red
pencil on it when she sorted out the
mail to show 1t was something special.
But don't get her into this. Professor
Kent. If you do it's all off, jewels and
all. Irene has always been for the
straight star business and forecast
game and no extras or side lines. Be
sides. we We're married last week.
"She quoted poetry. swell poetry.
First off h signed herself An Adept.
gave her the Personal No. ) and fol-
lowed it up with the Special Friendly
No. 3. Irene never liked that No. ).
She says it's spoOny. Just the same.
1t fetches them-but not this one. She
began to get personal and warm heart
ed. all right. and answered up with
the kindred soul racket. But come to
Boston: Not Il move. Said she
couldn't. There were reasons 1t look
e" like the old g%ame-flitter headed
wife and jealous husband. Nothing in
that game unless you go in for the
straight hOldup. And blackmail was
always too strong for my taste. So
did the natural t~hing-gave her special
readings and doubled on the price.
She paid like Il lamb.
Then, blame if it 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. | told her
l would cut it out. Then | gave my
swell lady another address and wrote
her for a picture. Nothing doing. But
she began to hint around at a meeting.
One day Il letter came with q hundred
dollar bill in it. Loose. too. just like
you or me might send Il two cent
stamp. For expenses she wrote, and
l was to cOme ut nee. Our souls had
returned to recognize and join each
other. she said. Here is the only part
Of the letter | could dig up from the
wastcbaSket."
Hama - O.rn xync pnctnl ,,nnn tina
document.
"'You have pointed out to me tina,
u stars, swinging in mighty circles.
are rushing on to Il 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 III and c%etera,' continued
was nutty-that is, about the star bust
ness. But that don't prove anything
The dippiest star chaser l eve worked
was the head of a department in ont
Of the big stores, and the fiercest little
business woman In business hours you
ever knew. That was the letter sht
first called me Hermann in and signed
Astraea to. Said there was no use pre-
tending to conceal her identity an!
longer from ne. Seemed to think
knew all about 1t. That Jared m,
some. And, with the change Of writ
ing in the signature, it all looked pref
ty queer. You remember the last let
ter with the copperplate writing nam'
at the bottom? Well, they all cam
that way after ~thfs; the body Of tn
letter very bold and careless; signatur'
written in an entirely different hand.
"But hundred dollar bills loose in let
terS mean a big stake. l wrote her