Red Masquerade

shoulder to a wall of the dingy salesroom and idly thumbing a catalogue of effects about to be put up at auction; but his insouciance was

imagine, or cared to, who was a thundering success in his own conceit and in fact as well; since all the world for whose regard he cared a twopenny-bit ad

entures all piquant, picturesque, and profitable. With the happy assurance of lucky young impudence he figured the world to himself as his oyster; and if his method of helping himself to the succulent contents of its s

gination as some well-worn piece of furniture--say an ancient escritoire with ink stains on its green baize writing-bed (dried life-blood of love letters long since dead!) and all its pigeon-holes and little drawers empty of everything but dust an

wellery of quaintest old-time artistry; a misprized bit of bronze; a book, it might be an overlooked copy of a first edition inscribed by some immortal author to a forgotten love; or even--if one were in rare luck--a picture, its pristin

eing something of a celebrity, in England and on the C

llows, wielding a sort of rugged wit singular to their calling, masters of deep guile, endowed with intuitions which enabled them at a glance or from the mere intonation of a voice to discriminat

r provocative. And for such moments Lanyard was always on the qui vive, but quietly, who knew that nothing so quickly stifles spontaneity as self-consciousness. So,

gin--something for which the weather was largely to blame, for the day was dismal with a clammy drizz

alesman's pulpit: by his attire a person of fashion (though his taste might have been thought a trac

nd sufficiently well-to-do to dress the part he chose to play in life. Certainly he had a conscientious

with the hints of Asiatic strain which one thought to detect in his lineaments. Nevertheless, it were difficult otherwise to account for the faintly indicated slant of those little black e

adjective to suit it, and was content only when he hit on the word evil. Indeed, evil seemed

confidently what could hardly fail

far accentuated rather than disturbed by the routine grind of hansoms and four-wheelers, w

nyard had a partial view of a handsomely appointed private equ

n umbrella and climbed to his place beside the driver. As the ve

ntered the