Arizona republican., 1909-06-22
THE LURE OF THE MASK
 By Copyright 1909 HARSLD MGRATH The Bobbs-R1errm Go.
Continued fire Friday.)

full authority to act as her proX, in giving the ball; that in case o any difficulty with the civil authori' ties to wire her at once and sht would come. As for the invitation she knew absolutely nothing about it
 This last statement rather stagger- ed the erstwhile concierge. If tho princess hadn't issued the invitation who the deuce had? This leaves me confused, but it improves the scenery a whole lot. But who, then, has done this thing"
 ITO solve that we must look nearer home"
 Have you any idea who did it?" he inquired anxiously.
 No"
 Have you another invitation?
 T tore up the only one"
 That's too bad. A stationers im- print might have helped us"
 'I was angry and did not think. Tomorrow a dozen temporary ser wants will be added to the household. We shall be very busy"
 Before and after" said O'Mally dryly. He wondered what she on her part had telegraphed the real princess. II was all very mystlfyng.
 "Listeni" she said.
 Horses" declared O'Mally.
 TWO" said Pietro, with a hand to his ear.
 La Signorina's color deepened
 Our friends" laughed O'Mally 'come up to see if We are still out of jail"
 The dreamy, pleasurable days at the Villa Ariadne were no more. The spirit of suspicion, of unrest, of doubt now stalked abroad, peering from yelled eyes, lowering on lips. And there was a coming and going of Inenials. a to-and-froing of extra gardeners and carpenters, and the sound of many hammers. The ball room and the dining room were open ed and aired, the beautiful floors polished, and the dust and cobwebs of twenty years were vanquished.
 In Florence there was a deal of excitement over the coming affair, for the Villa Ariadne had once been the scene of many a splendid enter tainment. Men chatted about it in their cafes and the women chattered about it in their boudoirs. And there was here and there a mysterious smile, a knowing look, a shrug. There had always been a mystery regard ing the Principessa di Monte Blanca; many doubted her actual existence. But the prince was known all over Europe as a handsome spendthrift. And the fact that at this precise mo- ment he was quartered with the eighth corps in Florence added large -,F 1aff he. nobility and the military, which are one and the same thing, would be present at the ball; they were alto gether too inquisitive to decline.
 Daily the inspector of seals made his solemn round, pOking into the forbidden chambers, into the lofts, into the cellars. He scrutinized every chest and closet with all the provoca- tive slowness of a physiolo3ist view ing under the microscope the cor puscles of some unhappy frog. The information he had received from Rome had evidently quieted his larger doubts; but these people. from the princess down to the impossible con- cierge, were a new species to him, well worth watching. An American princess; this accounted for much. He had even looked up the two Americans who rode up from Florence every day, but he found that they were outside the pale of his sus- picions; one of them was a million aire, known to the Italian ambassa dor in the United States; so he dis missed them as negligible quantities. He had some pretty conflicts with Pietro; but Pietro was also a Tuscan, which explains why the inspector never obtained any usable informa- tion from this quarter.
 Hillard and Merrihew eyed these noisy preparations broOdingly. To the one it was a damper to his rosal romance; to the other it was the beginning of the end: this woman, so brilliant, so charming, so lovely and human, could never be his. Well, indeed, he understood now why Mrs. Sandford had warned him; he un- derstood now what the great mis- take was. Had fate sent her under his window only for this? Bitter ness charged his heart and often passed his lips. And this other man, who, what, and where was he all this time?
 he was dlWdyS dl neT HeelS nOWJ saving her a care here, doing a ser vice there, but speaking no more of his love. She understood and was grateful Once she plucked a young rose and gave it to him, and he was sure that her hand touched his with pity, though she would not meet his eyes.
 And so Merrihew found little diff ficulty in picking up the thread of his romance
 As for O'Maliy, he spent most of his leisure studying timetables.
 At four o'clock on the afternoon of the day before the ball, now that the noise had subsided and the ser wants were in their quarters, La Signorina went into the gardens alone. An hour earlier she had seen Hillard mount and ride away the last time but once. There seemed to bear down upon her that oppression which one experiences in a night mare, of being able to fly so high. to run madly and yet to move slow ly, always pursued by terror. Strive as she would, she could not throw off this sense. After all it was a nightmare from the day she landed fin New York up to this very mo- ment. But how to wake? Verify, she was mad WOuld any sane per