Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo

Grex of Monte Carlo, by E.
Phillips Oppenheim

Project Gutenberg's Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo, by E. Phillips
Oppenheim This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost
and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it
away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo
Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim
Illustrator: Will Grefé
Release Date: February 17, 2007 [EBook #20611]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. GREX
OF MONTE CARLO ***

Produced by Steven desJardins, Mary Meehan, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

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 GREFÉ
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