Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-22

n cepteu cigar. .
well, Spike, get your note"
Divitt closed the door, turned to the
marquesa. Must 1 tell you again not
to call me that?" he asked. DO 1 call
YOU 'Craps?"
The marquesa shook her head, head
that would have been iron-gray had 1t
not been dyed to more than its pristine
blackness. Her rouged face with its
heavy nose and fine black eyes lit with
a smile, not without charm, not without
irony.
Excuse. I will remember. When ve
say Spike so long, the tongue make the
word hiss H. Your note say 10 come
! hope you are gon' pay me the money
lose on your roulette wheel"
1T was not my fault that you came
here to play" said Divitt. i hadn't
even known you Were i'll New Orleans"
Il didn' come to play roulette. 1 come
to talk to you When you see me you
act like you dor know me. Oh, l onder-
stand" with a slight dismissing ges-
ture. But VIII II you will not talk. 1
play roulette and lose the money l have
save to take me back to Spain"
III talk to you now said Divitt.
But cut out that Spike business. What
did you do after they raided us in Phil
adelphla? Soon as l kncW what was up
gave you all the money and you vert
you do after that?"
Il go over to Jersey. I become a
gypsy and tell fortunes. l make money
enough to take me back to Spain"
You didn't care what happened to
me. did you?'
Yes. 1 ask about you all round.
At last I am told you are in New Or
leans, so l say to myself, 1 can sail for
Spain from there, and see him too
GNN'Kp-th9t
head one, passing cigarettes? l never
believe you would marry, Mister Divitt.
l never believe any woman can make
you forget yourself enough.
She is pretty like a curly doll. And
she fix up this place, they say. Yer
diffrunt from our place in Philly-Si?
Yes, l think about you, or l would not
have come here to sail for Spain. And
eef you need me 1 would not have sail
for Spain. would have stay right here,
like I did anyhow, like l must after 1
lose my monY to you l ought know
better than play roulette. But l tell
myself l know the trick"
Tricks are not the same" said Divitt
watching her.
1t was not protastations of devotion
that he wished from thu maruuesa. but
merely to remind her of certain cards
he hold How old she was now-47?
40? She had changed somewhat
since that evening five years before when
HI had watched her vanish up the fire
escape.
In her role of enchantress, she had
always been partial to red He had
rather liked it himself in those days.
Molly had given him subtlar sense
In decoration and in Women'S clothes
Perhaps it was with this sense that
he now saw the marquesa. Perhaps she
had not really changed.
Yes, she was fatter-bulbous was the
word. And tobacco was making her
teeth ugly, and her fingers. Yet she
was not alone in theSa Disbursements.
would not be impaired for the thing he
had in mind.
The marquesa was talking. She had
pretty blurring accent, like Juanitas.
When you say that night you do not
need me and will not talk, 1 go back
to palm-r-ading. 1t is not so good here
as in New Jersey. There are too many
SO you've been reading palms the
month you've been here?"
Odd, that. Sha had been reading
palms that first time he had seen her
in the back-street hotel in Philadelphia.
reading them in the lobby for fun; tell
ing people all sorts Of things about
the future, their wives, husbands and
affinitieS.
Divitt had not had his hand read,
but he had stood watching the maruuesa
in her wine-colored dress and great
Moorish earrings. waiting until the
crowd withdrew to the dining room He.
had talked with h-r then, discovering
that her powers OF diViniatiOn had not
served to avert calamitieS in her own
case. The small fortune she had brought
to America was gone. She had paWned
everything she had except her heavy.
creScent-shaped earrings with dull red
stones. Divitt wondered now if she
had paWned the earrings since She had
not p1Wned them thsn.
When he knew her better his newly
laid plans for their work together an
pealed to her. StresSing its possibilities
OF wealth, he had learned in time that
the marquesa loved danger as we'll 1t
was of this trait he was thinking when
n had written her to come.
The marqueSa leaned toward him.
You need me here?"
Perhaps. But if people know Won
already as fortune teller"
They will not remember. I am SO
disguise. Like a gypsy"
This is tlcklish business" said Di-
witt. High society. and all that. You
really did move in court circles at home.
the scion of noble family, though a
black eWe?"
Carlota bridled somewhat. Il am
nothing black. II go into business