Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1914-10-07

CHAPTER XVIII.
The AstroIoqer's Tale.
N KIDNIGHT found Kent in his
MI hotel room. A knock brought
wi him to the door.
Letter for YOU" announc-
ed the messenger boy.
What Preston Jax had to say was,
first in the form Of a very brief note;
second, In the shape Of formidable
looking document. The note began
Esteemed sir" concluded Yours re,
morsefully" and set forth in somewhat
exotic language that the writer, fear
ing lapse of courage that might con
fuse his narrative when he should
come to give it, had taken pen in
hand" to commit it to writing and
would the recipient kindly pardon
hasteY' Herewith twenty-one typed
pages.
Quite enough" said Chester Kent.
and Owed 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
creasing 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
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
like one of the best. You could smell
money in 1t with half nose. Her first
letter came in on a Monday, recollect
Irene. my assistant, had put the red
pencil on it when she sorted out the
mail to show it 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 were married last week.
"She quoted poetry, swell poetry
First off she signed herself An Adept
l gave her the Personal No. 8 and fol-
lowed it up with the Special Friendly
No. 5. Irene never liked that No. B.
She says it's spOOny. Just the same.
it 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
No% Not h.
couldn't There were reasons. It look
ed like the old game-fitter headed
wife and jealous husband. Nothing in
that game unless you go in for the
straight holdup. And blackman was
always too strong for my taste. So l
did the natural thing-gave her special
readings and doubled On the price.
She paid like lamb.
'Then, blame If it didn't slip out
she wasn't married at all! lost that
letter. ! It was kind Of endearing.
Irene put up howl. 1t was getting
too personal for her taste. I told her
I would cut 1t out. Then I gave my
swell lady another address and wrote
her for picture. Nothing doing. But
she began to hint around at meeting.
One day letter came with hundred
dollar bill in it. Loose, too, just like
you or me might send a two cent
stamp. For expenses she wrote, and
l was to come at once. Our souls had
returned to recognize and join each
other, she said. Here is the only part
of the letter l could dig up from the
wastebasket"
Here page was pasted upon the
document.
"'You have pointed out to 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 cetera," continued
! the narrative. 'Well, of course, sh,
was nutty-that is, about the star bust
ness. But that don't prove anything
The dippiest star chaser ever worked
was the head of department in on
Of the big stores, and the f1ercest littl
business woman in business hours yo1
ever knew. That was the letter sh
first called me Hermann in and signe
Astraea to. Said there was no use pre-
tending to conceal her identity an
longer from me. Seemed to think
knew all about it. That Jared m
some. And. with the change Of writ
ing in the signature, it all looked pref
ty queer. You remember the last lei
ter with the copperplate writing nam
at the bottom? Well. they all cam
that way after this; the body of th
letter very bold and careless; sfgnatur
written in an entirely different hand.
"But hundred dollar bills loose in le
, tiers mean big stake. l wrote her
J would come, and I signed it He
mann just to play up to her Leaf
Irene got on and threw f1t- She sal
her woman's intuition told her the1
, was danger in it. Truth is. she wa
stuck on me herself, and l was on he
, but we did not find 1t out until afte
tho nroch Go UoS all for YnrviY,