Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1914-07-22
THE SECRET OF LONESOME COVE.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE THREE
CHAPTER II.

EGGYw The artist had Wh1rled
at the name "Nobody's call
ed me that for ten years."
Just ten years ago that
you graduated, wasn't it?'
Yes. Then I knew you in college.
You must have been before my class"
The bearded one nodded. Senior to
your freshman" said he.
The younger man scrut1n1zed him.
Chester Kent!' said he softly. what
on earth are you doing behind that
bush?'
Kent caressed the maHgned whisk-
ers. Utility" he explained. Patent,
impenetrable mosquito screen. I've
been off in the wilds and amor was
going back presently
mot until you've stopped long
enough to get reacquainted," declared
Sedgwick. "Just at present you're go
ing to stay to dinner"
every good. Just now you happen
to be in my immediate line Of interest.
It is a fortunate circumstance for me
to find you here-possibly for you too"
Old interests sprang to life and
speech between them. Presently Fran
els 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
relative had died. willing to him
considerable fortune. the income Of
which he used in furtherance Of a
hitherto suppressed ambition to study
art. Paris, his Mecca, was first a
taskmistress. then temptress. finally
a vampire. Before succumbing be had
gone far in a few years toward the
development Of a curious technique of
his own. Followed then two years Of
dissipation, a year Of travel to recu-
perate and the return to Paris. which
was to be once more the taskmistress.
But, to his terror and self loathing. he
found the power of application gone
The muscles of his mind had become
fabby.
''All by virtue of a womans laugh;
the laugh of woman without virtue
he told Kent 1T was at the Moulin
de Ia GaIette-perhaps you know the
dance 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
absinth soaked to hear or understand
as | sat half asleep at my table. At
all events she answered. full voiced.
her companions question. Who is the
drunken foreigner? by saying: He
was an artist The studios talked of
him five 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 it | staggered up, made her
bow and IL promise and left her laugh
ing. Last month redeemed the prom
Use; sent her the first thousand dol
lars l made by my own work and de
clared my debt discharged. How about
yOurself?"
Postgraduate science. Agriculture
al department job. Lectures. Inven-
ton. Judiciary department expert.
Signed. Chester Kent Ten words
count them-ten."
Interesting. but unsatisfying," re-
torted his friend. Cant you expand
bit? l 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"
Eth? Won't let you? Am I to infer
that you've become a famous person?
What are you, anyway?
What l told you. an expert in the
service of the department of justice.
l like to fatter myself that my pur-
suit is scientific
Pursuit? What do you pursue"
Men and motives.''
Sedgwick's intelligent eyes widened.
wait" he said; something occurs to
me, an article in a French journal
about a wonderful new American ex-
pert in criminology who knows all
there is to know and takes only the
most abstruse cases. l recall now that
the article called him lie Professor
Chetre Kennat.' That would be about
as near as they would come tC
your name. The Frenchman made
you out a most superior species OF
highfalutin detective. working along
lines peculiarly your own
Rot" interjected Kent. '"The only
lines a detective can work along sue
cessfully are the lines laid down fol-
him by the man he is after"
Sounds more reasonable than 70
mantle" admitted the artist. "Com
now, Kent, open up and tell me some
thing about yourself"
"You remember l got into troubl
my senior year with the college au
thorities by proving the typhoid ep1
demic direct against a forgotten dc
feet in the sewer system. 1t nearl
cost me my diploma. but it helped N
too, later. for scientist in the depart
p ment of agriculture at Washingto
learned of it and sent for me afte
graduation. He mapped out for me
three years postgraduate course. whic
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