Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-09-15

a lady knelt one evening before the
image of the Virgin in TIE church of
Sainte Devote, and whispered wildly,
20 Blessed Mother, forgive me my
sinsi" it was the Woman in Red who
finished softly for her, "and those who
sin against me-" This made her some
thing more than CONSPICUOUS and mys-
terious-it made her awesome.
No n ever saw her smoke, but her
scarlet garments always exhaled q faint
odor Of cigarettes. Every night she
came into the roulette room and sat
there in her scarlet dress, with a red
flower in her hair, and put down her
stakes with as much emotion as though
the gold and notes were worthless.
Consistent in her color scheme, she in
variably placed her money on the red,
and nine times out of ten she won.
To make her a trifie more conspic-
uous. mysterious and eerie, she had
for a chaperon a woman SO thin and
wrinkled and old as to seem hardly
capable Of life. When some one ven
tured to ask her a question about the
Woman in Red the creature cackled:
"Oh, the devil, the devil, the devil.
How should I know"
mo wonder the men like her." chat
tered a lively little French woman.
They'd like us if we mufied our faces
and wore clothes like that. I'll wager
she has the face of a blanchisseuse-
any n could be fascinating behind a
velvet mask"
"She is, certainly" said a bystander,
dryly.
"Peste!" exclaimed the sallow critic
angrily. mo one wants that old count
or that stupid baron or that pink
checked English boy, anyway"
1t is true that the Woman in Red
had found ardent admirers in the old
count and the stupid baron and the
English boy-the one to whom she had
whispered that night behind tie cacti-
and the rivalry between them increased
as the season passed. To-day one was
In favor, tomorrow another, and the
frequenters Of the Casino got to bet
ting or the chances of the several
suitors till it became almost as exciting
as a game at one of the tables.
But throughout it all the woman re-
manned calm, inscrutable, mysterious.
Neither Of the three could persuade her
to tell her name or take off her mask.
Il answer to any name" she said.
Il have forgotten my own, and as for
my face, what makes you think it beau
tiful?"
ooh, you," said the courtly old count.
Your hands," said the stupid baron.
"Your hair" said the blond young
Englishman, with British egotism.
In answer to each she only laughed
a hard little laugh, not altogether
pleasant to hear.
To be much talked about and to say
little appeared to suit her. A month
after her advent no n in Monte Carlo
or Monaco knew a whit more about
her than at first, and no one would have
hesitated to give half his f~ortune-had
he had one-to know everything. The
mystery of the masked woman was
exasperating-the theories concerning
her innumerable. Perhaps the majority
of the women believed that, being ugly,
she had adopted this means Of attract
ing the attention rightfully belonging
to beauty. She was a problem which
might be studied for weeks without
arriving at a solution.
The warm southern days crept lazily
along, and as sometimes happens even
in the sheltered paradise, began to
grow progressively hot. 1t was on the
languid evening of n Of these scorch-
ing days that the Woman in Red and
the young Englishman were gaming
side by side at the roulette table. The
air of the Casino was heavy and
scented, there was a murmur of laugh
ter and talk, and the frequent click
clack of the roulette balls. The woman
pushed back her chair impatiently and
said to the a
do come out into the garden-it is
insufferably hot in here!"
II should think" said the young man
at length, as they strolled through the
shrubbery, chat your mask would be
unbearable!"
at is"
''Then why not take it OFF,"
81 did not come out to talk Of that"
"But perhaps 1 did" The British
shoulders squared themselves agrees
sively.
The woman made no reply, but con-
tinued her occupation of listlessly slip
ping a ring up and down her finger.
ooh, l have dropped it," she sud-
denly cried, and stopped quickly to
search for ii. The low branch Of a tree
caught in the coils of her yellow hair,
TO free it she impatiently drew up her
head. There was a sharp click, as of
tho release of a metal catch, and the
velvet mask, loosened, fell softly to the
ground. She made an inarticulate
noise in her throat, and her hands were |
thrown up in an Intellectual attempt to
conceal her face, but the young man
was too quick for her. There, in the
bright white moonlight, he looked full
at the face Of the Woman in Red and,
with a terrible cry of horror, fell like
one dead upon the grass.
1t was a long time before he opened
his eyes ant felt the touch of the
woman's hand upon his brow and the
cool trickle Of water over his face. He
lay passive, thinking Of nothing. Then
suddenly it all came back.
"Oh, don't, don't, don't touch mel"
he gasped. Keep away from mel"
He staggered to his feet, and pressed
his hands to his eyes to shut out the
vision that would return. His knees
trembled and his teeth chartered.
as white as the moonlight