Arizona republican., 1909-05-30
THE LURE OF THE MASK By A copyrIaht 1903 HAROL Aa'GRATH The Bobbs. O.
(continued from yestcrday.)

You will have your joke
 "Yes. even at the expense of being
 blind in one eye; for I can't see
 through this glass; positive stove-lid.
 Every time 1 focus you, you grow
 as big as a house. No, I'd never be
 happy as a lord. Well, let us have
 our last fling. You might as well let
 me have my letter of credit now"
 You will not set eyes upon it till
 we return to Genoa. That's final l
 know you, my boy. and know Monte
 Carlo. Even with your fifty, watch
 and ring, I'm afraid to trust you
 out of sight.
 T can see that you will ne-er for \ give nor forget-those cigars. Come on. We'll take look at our Italian friends. He's a bad loser. I have seen
 him lose his temper, too. It's my Il opinion that he's desperate man." "They usually are when they come to Monte Carlo"
 | So they walked round to the en- trance to the gaming halls, where the l lights, the gowns, the jewels, the l sparkling eyes, the natural beauty l and the beauty of enamel, the vague | perfumes, the low murmur of voices, | the soft rustic of silks, the music of | ringing gold, all combine to produce ! picture and ensemble as beautiful as | a mirage and as false. Nothing is real in Monte Carlo but the little | pieces of gold and me passion to win them. The two renewed their | tickets of admission and passed on | into the famous atrium, stared | while at the news bulletin, whereon | all the important evenss of the day are briefly set forth, and gazed mus | ingly at the bats dariing across the ! ceiling, real bats, u sinister omen such as one sees in imaginative paint | ings of the Door of Hades. At nine l. they joined the never-ending process sion which passes in and out of the swinging doors day after day, year after year.
 The faces one sees in the Hall of ] Roulette! Here and there one which will haunt the onlooXer through the rest of his days. Packed about the long tables were young faces flushed with hope or grey with despair; middie-aged faces which expressed ex- citement or indifference; old, old faces scared and lined and scanned, where ! avarice. selfishness, cruelty( dishon- esty crossed and recrossed till human semblance was literally plotted out. Light-o-loves( gay and careless: hid eous old crones, who watched the un- wary and stole the unwary's bets; old women in back, who figured and figured imaginary winnings and never risked anything but their nerves. And there were beautiful women, beau tifully gowned, beautiruIly gemmed, some of them good, some of them indifferent and some of them bad. Invariably Hillard found himself spec ulating on the history of this woman or that; the more gems, the more history. Here the half-wOrld of Eu- rope finds its kingdom and rules it madly. The fortunes these women have poured into this whirligig of chance will never be computed. And there was the gentlemanly black-leg the ticket-of-leave man, and outcasts and thieves; but all cf them were well dressed, and, for the time being. well behaved.
 Occasionally Merrihew caught some daring beauty's eye, and usually there followed a conversation, familiar to all ages and to all peoples, confined to the eyebrow, the eyelid, and the merry little wrinkles at the corner. When any spoke to him, however, and many did, for his face was fresh and pleasing, he would reply in English that he spoke no Frencn, regretfully.
 There's the chap wfth the scar. He is a handsome beggar," Hiliard admitted. T wonder what sort of a blackleg he is? He's no ordinary one, taf I tI, face of the man with him. He's a distinguished diplomat, and he would not associate with a man who was thoroughly bad, according to law, leaving out the moral side of it Let us watch them
 The Italian played like an old hand a number once in a while, but mak- ing it a point to stake on the colors Red began to repeat itself. He doubled and doubled. On the sixth consecu- tive turn he played the maximum of twelve thousand francs, and won. The diplomat touched him on the arm sig nificantly, but the player shook his head. Ten minutes later he had won forty thousand francs. Again he re- fused to leave his chair.
 "If he stays now" said Hillard. "he will lose it all. His friend is right"
 Forty thousand francs, eight thou sand dollars!" murmured Merrihew sadly. Why couldn't ne have luck like this?
 Hillard was a true prophet. There came change in ene smile of for tune. The game jumped from color to color, seldom repeating, with zero making itself conspicuous. The man with the scar played on, but he be- gan to lose, small sums at first, then