The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-25
BY CHARLES GARVICE
CHAPTER I. The EracaS.

The Fracas.
 In the outer world 1t was still light. with the delicious clearness of an evening in early summer; but in the card-room of the Ace of Spades Club the heavy crimson plush curtains were drawn closely across the windows, and the light from the carefully shad- ed electric lamps fell on the green tables and the players seated at them
 There were ladies as we'll as gen. tlemen present, for the Club was composed of both sexes. The mem- bers were in evening dress; the toil cites of the women were of the latest and most costly mode; diamonds sparkied on white bosoms. on taper fingers, and on deftly moving wrists as they dealt or played the cards; some of the men. and some of the women also. were smoking cigarettes; for all the members of this exclusive Club belonged to the Smart Set. that set which has sprung up like an un- wholesome fungus in the centre of our modern clvliiZdtlON.
 The room was strangely quiet. for the players conversed in low tones so that their work should not be dis turbed. For it was work, rather than play, that these foolish people, most of them young. were engaged in.
 They were playing bridge, a game which, however more or less harm less in itself. can be made. like any other game. a source of evil; the stakes were hieh-that they should be so was one of the reasons for the existence of the Club-ahd the varied emotions which excite. and torment the soul of the gambler were depict ed. in many cases, on the faces of the players; greed of gold shone in the eyes of some of the women, though their carefully lowered lids strove to conceal it; a white hand would culver just perceptibly as it dealt the cards or played one; the mems faces were hard set, or masked with an assumed indifference.
 At small tables, placed convenient ly near the green ones. stood glasses and bottles of champagne; two or three of the Club footmen, in hand some but subdued livery, moved to and fro noiseless on the thick pile carpet.
 Within almost a stone's throw If this magnificent room in Mayfair were noisome slums, in which men and women struggled and fought for a bare subsistence; and just beneath the windows carriages and cabs rattled loudly; the great world was moving rapidly around this little group of sell fish pleasure-seekers; but they were dead to the life about them, absorb ed in their evil task of winning each others money. To them it was matter of indifference that the cry of the unemployed was rising through out the land more loudly and omin. ously every day; that philosophers and statesmen were wearily trying to cope with great social problems of the gravest kind. These men in their immaculate evening dress, these wo- men clad in silks and satins and re- splendent with gems. cared for noth- ing at that moment but the turning of a card, the making of a trick.
 Nero fiddied while Rome was burn ing; certain kinds of men and women would gamble-on the Stock Ex- change or the card-table-while the fate of a great Empire trembled in the balance. and dynasties tottered and fell. The world. alas! is made so.
 At the end of the room, near the door, was an unoccupied table, the four chairs placed ready. two packs of cards waiting temptingly. One of the players glanced at it, in an in- terval of dealing. and said in a low voice:
 "Lydstone and the Princess have not turned up."
 "Oh. they will be here presently" said his partner. lady. They were dining somewhere tonight. They made match with Ronnie Des- borough and another man."
 Its to be hoped that Lydstone will keep his temper, tonight" said the man who had first spoken. I'm of opinion that man who loses his wool SO quickly should chuck cards or. for that matter. any game of skill.''
 'Lydstone is an fll-tempered fellow at most times" said third. ''It's a good thing he's playing against Bonnie Desborough. Now, there's a man who never cuts up rough, what ever happens. Win or lose, it's all the same to him; he's the best-na- tured man know-a thoroughly good chap"
 Most of those big, strong men are like than" observed the lady. "I never saw Bonnie Desborough out of temper, and I have seen him tried pre-v severely, especially by Lyd- stone: but. all the same, If I were a man, | shouldn't like to see him reused, or be the one who had reused him"
 '.No,'' said her partner with a