Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-13
THE GAMBLER
KATHERINE CECIL THURSTON,
Author Of Masquerader,"
downright Thnron.

new thought. She stood upright, and by a
strange, slow process of suggestion, her
eyes travelled to the mantelpiece where the
bundle of notes still protruded from under
the clock.
What if Larry had quasled before the
thought of confessing his losses to the
the money he had squandered? What If
Larry had not fought the storm last night
as 1t might have been fought? She sud-
denly contemplated last nights play from
Larry's point of Observation-Disclosures Larry s
losses by light of the hard monetary straits
that Ireland breeds.
Her blood seemed to turn to water; she
felt like one beyond the pale of human
emotion or superhuman help.
Leave me to myself, Hannah" she
said, family Il want to be alone"
Lave you? But, my darlin'-'
Il must be alone"
Hannah looked at her in agonized con-
cern
Miss Clodagh-' she began But some
thing in Clodagh's stony quiet daunted her;
she gave a muffled sob and moved slowly
across the ROOM
Cladogh was conscious Of the wailing
sounds of grief for several minutes after
she had disappeared; then gradually they
faded as she descended into the lower re-
g1ons, to share the appalling and yet grimly
fascinating news with Burke and the farm
laborers.
When full consciousness that she was
alone came to Clodagh she let her hands
drop from the back of the chair and. NOV
ing stiff1y, crossed the room to the fire.
place.
She made no attempt to touch the notes
that lay as Asshin had placed them; but
she looked at them for long with a species
of horror. And at last. as though the
thought of them had begotten other
thoughts, she raised her eyes to the picture
hanging above them-the picture of An
thony Asshlin in his lace ruffles and black
satin coat with his powdered hair, his gall
liant bearing and dark. eager face.
ho y,jpt TO
into her own eyes with an almost human
smile of satire. Innumerable years had
passed since that reckless presence had
filled the old room; dice and dueling were
gone out of fashion; but human nature was
unchanged-there were still Asshlins at Or
ristown.
'Oh, Cod she said aloud: then she stop
ped. There is no God.' she added, wildly.
There is no God!''
At the sudden sound of her voice Mick
rose from the corner where he had been
crouching. The sight of the dog Gained her.
she passed her hand once or twice across
He followed her closely: but at the door
she stopped and looked at him.
NO. Mick! You cannot come"
BY some extraordinary sagacity the ami
NAL whimpered and pressed closer to her
skirt
With fierce impulse she stopped, kissed
him once, then, holding him back, slipped
II.
He gave frantic bark of misery, but she
did not pause she did not even look back
Walking rapidly, she passed across the
hall and out into the open.
Turning to the right, she skirted the
stable yard and the orchard. and hurrying
past the spot where years ago Milbanke
had asked her to be his wife, took the path
to the Orristown cliffs.
Her thoughts trooped up like living things
as she stumbled forward along the uneven
track. She was conscious of no fear only
desolating lonelineSs-an enormous sense of
futility, of fnality. Last night she had
looked into the eyes of fate, propounding
the question of how she was to carry on
her life, and today she had read the an
swer in the face of the portrait
She hurried on unseeingly covering the
the night when he had ridden out and met
death on the dark headland.
From time to time she stopped and looked
at the sea-looked at the long curve of
shining beach, with its margin of dark
wreckage-looked at the clustering cottages
of Carrgmore and marveled in dumb
way at the tragedy that counId underlie so
calm a scene
She had none of the nervous pani~ that
had assailed her the night before. She was
conscious of nothing but black despair
a despair such as Denis Asshlin had been
wont to drown in drink and cards She had
lived her life; she had had her chance and
the end was a failure. She had tangled the
threads of her existence: and the one hand
that could have unraveled the tan.-e was
closed against her.
One thought alone she vigorously refused
to harbor-the thought of Nance. Nance
would have her husband-Nance would have
her home. she assured herself. Nance
would forget In vain the remembrance of