Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo

Grex of Monte Carlo, by E. Phillips Oppenheim

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Title: Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo
Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim
Illustrator: Will Gref��
Release Date: February 17, 2007 [EBook #20611]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MR. GREX OF MONTE CARLO
BY E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM
AUTHOR OF "THE VANISHED MESSENGER," "A PEOPLE'S MAN," "THE MISCHIEF MAKER"

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILL GREF��
BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1915
THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS CO., BOSTON, U. S. A.

[Illustration: She leaned across and with trembling fingers backed number fourteen en plein.]

CONTENTS
I. An Unexpected Meeting
II. By Accident or Design
III. A Warning
IV. Enter the American
V. "Who is Mr. Grex?"
VI. Cakes and Counsels
VII. The Effrontery of Richard
VIII. Up the Mountain
IX. In the Mists
X. Signs of Trouble
XI. Hints to Hunterleys
XII. "I Cannot Go!"
XIII. Miss Grex at Home
XIV. Dinner for Two
XV. International Politics
XVI. A Bargain with Jean Coulois
XVII. Duty Interferes Again
XVIII. A Midnight Conference
XIX. "Take Me Away!"
XX. Wily Mr. Draconmeyer
XXI. Assassination!
XXII. The Wrong Man
XXIII. Trouble Brewing
XXIV. Hunterleys Scents Murder
XXV. Draconmeyer is Desperate
XXVI. Extraordinary Love-Making
XXVII. Playing for High Stakes
XXVIII. To the Villa Mimosa
XXIX. For His Country
XXX. "Supposing I Take This Money"
XXXI. Nearing a Crisis
XXXII. An Interesting Meeting
XXXIII. The Fates Are Kind
XXXIV. Coffee for One Only
XXXV. A New Map of the Earth
XXXVI. Checkmate!
XXXVII. An Amazing Elopement
XXXVIII. Honeymooning

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
She leaned across and with trembling fingers backed number fourteen en plein
"For the last time, then--to Monte Carlo!"
"Come on, you fellows!" he shouted
"What we ask of France is that she looks the other way"
"That two hundred shall be five hundred, but it must be a cemetery to which they take him!"
Mr. Grex, with his daughter and Lady Hunterleys on one side and Monsieur Douaille on the other, were in the van.

MR. GREX OF MONTE CARLO
CHAPTER I
AN UNEXPECTED MEETING
The eyes of the man who had looked in upon a scene inordinately, fantastically brilliant, underwent, after those first few moments of comparative indifference, a curious transformation. He was contemplating one of the sights of the world. Crowded around the two roulette tables, promenading or lounging on the heavily cushioned divans against the wall, he took note of a conglomeration of people representing, perhaps, every grade of society, every nationality of importance, yet with a curious common likeness by reason of their tribute paid to fashion. He glanced unmoved at a beautiful Englishwoman who was a duchess but looked otherwise; at an equally beautiful Frenchwoman, who looked like a duchess but was--otherwise. On every side of him were women gowned by the great artists of the day, women like flowers, all perfume and softness and colour. His eyes passed them over almost carelessly. A little tired with many weeks' travel in countries where the luxuries of life were few, his senses were dulled to the magnificence of the scene, his pulses as yet had not responded to its charm and wonder. And then the change came. He saw a woman standing almost exactly opposite to him at the nearest roulette table, and he gave a noticeable start. For a moment his pale, expressionless face was transformed, his secret was at any one's mercy. That, however, was the affair of an instant only. He was used to shocks and he survived this one. He moved a little on one side from his prominent place in the centre of the wide-flung doorway. He stood by one of the divans and watched.
She was tall and fair and slight. She wore a high-necked gown of shimmering grey, a black hat, under which her many coils of hair shone like gold, and a necklace of pearls around her throat, pearls on which his eyes had rested with a curious expression. She played, unlike many of her neighbours, with restraint, yet with interest, almost enthusiasm. There was none of the strain of the gambler about her smooth, beautiful face. Her delicately curved lips were free from the grim lines of concentrated acquisitiveness. She was thirty-two years old but she looked much younger as she stood there, her lips a little parted in a pleased smile of anticipation. She was leaning a little over the table and her eyes were fixed with humorous intentness upon the spinning wheel. Even amongst that crowd of beautiful women she possessed a certain individual distinction. She not only looked what she was--an Englishwoman of good birth--but there was a certain delicate aloofness about her expression and bearing which gave an added charm to a personality which seemed to combine