"You will find that yours is of a different
color. But _I_ am not the Galloping Dick; it was only a hare-brained
lark on my part, and I had no idea it would turn out serious like this.
I was going to disappear before they unmasked. What would you advise
me to do?"
She took the card, studied it, and finally returned it. There followed
an interval of silence.
"I have known the imposition from the first," she said.
"What!"
She touched the signet-ring on my little finger. "I have seen that
once before to-night. No," she mused, "you will not blow up the
post-office to-night, nor the police-station."
She lifted the corner of her mask, and I beheld the girl I had met in
Mouquin's!
"You?"
"Silence! So this is the meaning of your shuffling those cards? Oh,
it is certainly droll!" She laughed.
"And are you Miss Hawthorne?"
"I am still in the mask, sir; I shall answer none of your questions."
"This is the finest romance in the world!" I cried.
"You were talking about getting out," she said. "Shall I lend you my
domino? But that would be useless. Such a prestidigitator as Signor
Fantoccini has only to say--Presto! and disappear at once."
"I assure you, it is no laughing matter."
"I see it from a different angle.
Pages:
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62