Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1897-10-14

which pierced into the narrow court, and
showed the woodwork to be shabby and
unpre.entious, they saw to the lift of the
door small barred window with no light
in it, which suggested watchful eye be-
hind, and under the bell the number 81
in very small figures. Lord Kildonan
pulled the bell. opened the door, and walk
ed in confidently, Armathwaitc following,
with a sense that all his youthful nerve
did not enable him to put on 50 bold
front as the old Scetchman seemed to
wear with ease. They were in a small,
bare, stone paved passage, with nothing
to distinguish it from the kitchen en-
trance of an ordinary private house.
Straight in front of the door was pas
sage, down which Lord Kildonan prompt
~ proceeded to make his way. Arma-
thwaite. who was following, heard step
behind him. and a mans voice saying:
II beg your pardon. sir Turning, both
gentlemen saw little man. with baize
apron on, innocently occupied i'll brush
ing boots. Nothing could have seemed
more genuine than this diligent man-ser-
wants surprise at the intrusion of two
strangers. but for q certain look of shrewd
inquiry in his little black eyes. which the
visitors did not fail TO notice. Arma-
thwaite would have been completely .is
concerted but for Lord Ki!donan. who,
tossing the man sovereign, said briefly,
Members and turned again to walk on.
Armathwaite remembered, with flash of
intelligence suddenly grown keencr,
suspicion which had occurred to him be-
fore; by the time they had reached the
- ~, rl, No
into what kind of house they had come,
and was prepared for the sight which
met their eyes when, directed by the sound
of voices which broke upon their ears
when they pulled open baize-covered
swing door on the left at the end of the
passage, they entered a room, the atmos-
phere of which was almost unbearably
close, containing four or five small card
tables. With hardly a glance ut the play
ers in this room and without releasing
the young mans arm, Lord Kildonan
crossed the room to a doorway, before
which hung thick curtain. Raising this,
they passed through together.
The apartment they now entered was
much larger than the first. In addition to
small tables in two of the corners, it con-
tanned one long table, upon which the
deepest interest of the assembly was evil
IDENTIFY concentrated.
Armathwaite felt the elder mans grip
tighten ON his arm He looked up quick
ly, and felt as if he had been turned to
ice. Following the direction of the old
mans eyes, he saw Crosmont, his face
set md livid with sullen anxiety and de-
spair, standing among the onlookers OH
the opposite side Of the room, watching,
not the cards. but an insigniticantly dress
ed woman. She was sitting next but one
to the dealer, stalking her money, watch.
ing the game, with the stolid steadiness
of an old hand. Through the thickness
of her veil, as Armathwaite watched, he
saw two steel-bright eyes fash like sparks
of light; underneath the thick black edge
he saw two coral-red lips tightly set. In
spite of his suspicious, in spite Of his fears,
it was he who staggered, and not the older
man by his side, when he recognized in
the one person in the crowded room whom
on careful inspection he would have chos-
en- as the ideal representative of the pas
sion for play, the well-disguised but I'M
mistakable face and form of Lady Kildo-
nan.
lac secret was out: she WAS gambler;
not from pleasure, not from choice, but be.
cause it was in her blood, bred by genera
tons of spendthrift, fast-living ancestors,
whom nothing but laws Of entail, and the
occasional happy accident of possessor
of the estates who was free from the fam.
lily vice, had stopped in the race of ruin.
Her fathers strange injunctions; her few
erish anxiety to go abroad; her exhausted
calm after the visits to Liverpool; all was
explained. As she sat with her brilliant
eyes incapable of seeing anything but the
cards, all the passion of her ardent, en-
ergetic animal nature concentrated in the
one absorbing pursuit, so that in the very
presence of her husband, her judge she
remained as unmoved, as unconscious, as
if he had been statue, the pity and hor-
TOR of it all-for the deceived husband
for the guilty but iu-starred wife-struck
Armathwaite with a force that turned
him giddy, and sick, and trembling.
Lord Kildonan looked at him, meeting
his grief-stricken eyes with cold gray
ones.
1.-The room is over warm for ye," he
said, in a low voice, with strong accent.
And they made their way quite quietly,
disturbing nobody, exciting no remark, in
to the first room.
Ito be continued)