The Knave of Diamonds

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The Knave of Diamonds, by Ethel May Dell

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Title: The Knave of Diamonds
Author: Ethel May Dell
Release Date: June 1, 2004 [eBook #12484]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE KNAVE OF DIAMONDS
By ETHEL M. DELL
Author of "The Way Of An Eagle"
1912

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO MY FRIEND AND SISTER IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF HER SYMPATHY AND HELP

O Charity, all patiently Abiding wrack and scaith! O Faith that meets ten thousand cheats Yet drops no jot of faith! Devil and brute Thou dost transmute To higher, lordlier show, Who art in sooth that lovely Truth The careless angels know!
To the True Romance.
RUDYARD KIPLING

CONTENTS

PART I
CHAPTER
I.--THE MISSING HEART
II.--THE QUEEN'S JESTER
III.--THE CHARIOT OF THE GODS
IV.--CAKE MORNING
V.--THE FIRST ENCOUNTER
VI.--AT THE MEET
VII.--THE FALL
VIII.--THE RIDE HOME
IX.--THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE
X.--THE HAND OF A FRIEND
XI.--THE STING OF A SCORPION
XII.--BROTHERS
XIII.--THE JESTER'S INFERNO
XIV.--A BIG THING
XV.--THE CHAMPION
XVI.--THE MASQUERADE
XVII.--THE SLAVE OF GOODNESS
XVIII.--THE DESCENT FROM OLYMPUS
XIX.--VENGEANCE
XX.--THE VISION
XXI.--AT THE MERCY OF A DEMON
XXII.--THE CITY OF REFUGE

PART II
I.--THE JESTER'S RETURN
II.--THE KERNEL OF THE DIFFICULTY
III.--THE FIRST ORDEAL
IV.--THE FATAL STREAK
V.--THE TOKEN
VI.--THE BURIAL OF A HATCHET
VII.--A QUESTION OF TRUST
VIII.--A SUDDEN BLOW
IX.--THE BOON
X.--A DAY IN PARADISE
XI.--THE RETURN TO EARTH
XII.--IN THE FACE OF THE GODS
XIII.--AN APPEAL AND ITS ANSWER
XIV.--THE IRRESISTIBLE
XV.--ON THE EDGE OF THE PIT
XVI.--DELIVERANCE

PART III
I.--THE POWER DIVINE
II.--THE WORKER OF MIRACLES
III.--THE WOMAN'S
PART
IV.--THE MESSAGE
V.--THE SLOUGH OF DESPOND
VI.--A VOICE THAT CALLED
VII.--THE UNINVITED GUEST
VIII.--THE HEART OF A SAVAGE
IX.--THE DIVINE SPARK
X.--THE QUEEN'S PARDON
XI.--SOMETHING GREAT
XII.--A FRIENDLY UNDERSTANDING
XIII.--THE FINAL DEFEAT
XIV.--AT THE GATE OF DEATH
XV.--THE KING'S DECREE
XVI.--THE STRAIGHT GAME
XVII.--THE TRANSFORMING MAGIC
XVIII.--THE LAST ORDEAL
XIX.--OUT OF THE FURNACE
XX.--THE PROMOTION OF THE QUEEN'S JESTER
XXI.--THE POWER THAT CASTS OUT DEVILS


CHAPTER I
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PART I
CHAPTER I
THE MISSING HEART
There came a sudden blare of music from the great ballroom below, and the woman who stood alone at an open window on the first floor shrugged her shoulders and shivered a little. The night air blew in brisk and cold upon her uncovered neck, but except for that slight, involuntary shiver she scarcely seemed aware of it. The room behind her was brilliantly lighted but empty. Some tables had been set for cards, but the cards were untouched. Either the attractions of the ballroom had remained omnipotent, or no one had penetrated to this refuge of the bored--no one save this tall and stately woman robed in shimmering, iridescent green, who stood with her face to the night, breathing the chill air as one who had been on the verge of suffocation. It was evidently she who had flung up the window. Her gloved hands leaned upon the woodwork on each side of it. There was a certain constraint in her whole attitude, a tension that was subtly evident in every graceful line. Her head was slightly bent as though she intently watched or listened for something.
Yet nothing could have been audible where she stood above the hubbub of music, laughter, and stamping feet that rose from below. It filled the night with uproar. Nor was there anything but emptiness in the narrow side-street into which she looked.
The door of the room was ajar and gradually swinging wider in the draught. Very soon it would be wide enough for anyone passing in the passage outside to spy the slim figure that stood so motionless before the open window. It was almost wide enough now. Surely it was wide enough, for suddenly it ceased to move. The draught continued to eddy round the room, stirring the soft brown hair about the woman's temples, but the door stood still as at the behest of an unseen hand.
For fully half a minute nothing happened; then as suddenly and silently as a picture flashed from a magic lantern slide, a man's head came into view. A man's eyes, dusky, fierce, with something of a stare in them, looked the motionless figure keenly up and down.
There followed another interval as though the intruder were debating with himself upon some plan of action, then, boldly but quite quietly, he pushed the door back and entered.
He was a slight, trim man, clean-shaven, with high cheek-bones that made a long jaw seem the leaner by contrast. His sleek black hair was parted in the middle above his swarthy face, giving an unmistakably foreign touch to his appearance. His tread was light and wary as a cat's.
His eyes swept the room comprehensively as he advanced, coming back to the woman at the window as though magnetically drawn to her. But she remained quite unaware of him, and he,