The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-19
(COntanued) -a- CHAPTER a.

E9GYG The artist hao WNHr7e0
 at the name. 'Nobodyes call
 cd me that for ten years"
 'sJust ten years ago that yOu graduated, vasnAt ft7"
 ssYes Then I knew you in college You must have been before my class :" The bearded one nodded ''SentoE to your freshman said he.
 The younger man scrut1ni8ed him. s.Chester Kantg' said he softly. 'sWhat on earth are you doing behind that bushPs
 Kent caressedv the maldgned whisk CTS. ''Utfffty," he explained. Patent, impenetrable mosquito screen I've been or in the w1lds and amor was -gOfng hack presently
 ssNot until you've stopped long enough to get reacQuaanted," l" declared Sedgwaek. 'sJust at present you're go- ing to stay to dinner"
 ssVery good Just now you happen to be in my immediate line of interest It Is a fortunate c1rcumstance for me to find you here-possfbly for you too"
 Old interests sprang to life and speech between them Presently Fran cis Sedgwick was telling his friend the story of his feTerish and thzvarted ten years in the world. Within year of his graduation his only surviving relative had died, willing to him a considerable fortune, the income of which he used in furtherance of a hitherto suppressed ambition to study art Paris, his Mecca, was first taskmdstress. then a temptress, finally a vampire Before saccumbdng he had gone far In a few years toward the development of a curious technique of his own Followed then two yea<s of dissipation. a year of travel to rscu- peEa&e and the return to Paris, which was to be once more the taslrmastress. But, to has terpor and self loathing, he found the power of application gone The musezes oe <n1s mind had become nabby.
 ..AEfby virtue Of a. a--vVomanss laugh; the laugh of wOmantWat without virtue p he told Kent sTt was at the Moulin de Ia 0a1ette-pernaps you know the dance halI on the slope of Montmartre and she was one of the dancers, the wreck Of what had once been beauEy and, one must suppose, tnnccence. Probably she thought me too much abginfh soaked to hear or understand as sat half asleep at my table At all events she answered, full voiced, her companion's question, Who is the drunken fcre1gnexT by saying: He was an artist The studios talked of him five years ago. Look at him nOwl That is what life does to us, mon ami I'm the woman of it That's the man of it I staggered up, made her a bow and a promise and left her laugh ing Last mOnfh-T redeemed the prem ise; sent her the first thousand dol lars made by my~own work and de cIared my debt discharged How about yourseEfF'
 ' Postgraduate science. AgricuItur- al department job Lectures Inven- ion Judiciary department expert. Signed. Chegter Kent Ten wprds- count theuEten.~
 .Tnterestine, but unsafisfying,'' re- tOrted his friend Cant you expand hat7 suppose you haven't any dark secret in your 1tfe9'
 ''No secret. dark or IigEt," sighed the other --The newspaper won't let me have"
 --Eh7 Won't let yOu7 Am to infer that you've become famous person? What are you, anyway
 What told you, an expert in the service of the department of justice. like to natter myself that my pur- suit is scsenttHcs
 'tPursuat7 What do -yoa pursueT'
 ''Aen and mot1ves-s
 Sedgyz1ckss intelligent eyes widened. 'sWatt," he said; '.something occurs to me, an article in a French journaI about a wonderful new American ex- pert in crfmInology who knows all there is to know and takes only the most abstruse cases. I recall now that the article called him 1e PrOfesseur Chetre Ksnnat-' That would be about as near as they would come to your nmzm@. The Frenchman made you out q most superior species of highfalut1n detective, working along lines peculiarly your own
 '-ROtg' tnterJected Kent 'aThe only lines a detective can work along sue cessfwz1T are the lines laid down for him by taAe man he is after
 Sounds more reasonable than TO- manf1c," admitted the artist. '"Come now, Kent. open up and tell me some thing abeut yourself"
 'eYon remember got into trouble my senior year with the college au- thorittes by proving the typhoid cpl dena1c direct against a forgotten de feet in the sewer system. It nearly cost me my diploma, but 1t helped me too, Im4er, for a scientist in the depart ment of agriculture Rx Washington learned of it and sent for me after eradication. He mapped out for me three years postgraduate course, which I had 9uBt about enough money to take. While specialized on botany, entomology and bacteriology, I picked up a working knowledge of other branches-chemistry toxicology, geol- Ogy, mineraiogy. physiology and most of the natural sciences.
 AOnre in the department found my self with m sort of rowing commission. I worked under such men as Wiley, Howard and Merriam and learned from them something of the infinite nna mcxnns1nxn mnffanan taaaT snsl1v