The Mask

The Mask, by Arthur Hornblow,
Illustrated by

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Illustrated by Paul Stahr
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Title: The Mask A Story of Love and Adventure
Author: Arthur Hornblow

Release Date: December 18, 2006 [eBook #20131]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MASK***
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THE MASK
A Story of Love and Adventure
by
ARTHUR HORNBLOW
Author of the Novels "The Lion and the Mouse," "The Gamblers,"
"Bought and Paid For," "By Right of Conquest," "The End of the
Game," Etc.
Illustrations by Paul Stahr

[Frontispiece: A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth.]

G. W. Dillingham Company Publishers -------- New York Copyright,
1913, by G. W. Dillingham Company

The Mask

ILLUSTRATIONS
A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth. . . . Frontispiece
"Yes, you are my brother. We are twins."
"I adore you--I adore you," he murmured, as he kissed her again.

THE MASK
CHAPTER I
"There! What did I tell you? The news is out!"
With a muttered exclamation of annoyance, Kenneth Traynor put down
his coffee cup with a crash and, leaning over the table, pointed out to
his wife a despatch from London, given prominence in the morning
paper, which ran as follows:
Advices from Cape Town report the finding on a farm near Fontein, a
hundred miles north of here, of a diamond which in size is only second
to the famous Koh-i-noor. The stone, which is in the shape of an egg
with the top cut off, weighs 1,649 carats, and was discovered after
blasting at the foot of some rocks on land adjacent to the tract owned
by the Americo-African Mining Company of New York. It is
understood that the American Company is negotiating for the property;
some say the transfer has already been made. If this is true, the finding
of this colossal stone means a windfall for the Yankee stockholders.
The Traynor home, No. ---- Gramercy Park, was one of those dignified,
old-fashioned residences that still remain in New York to remind our
vulgar, ostentatious nouveaux riches of the days when culture and
refinement counted for something more than mere wealth. Overlooking
the railed-in square with its green lawns, pretty winding paths and
well-dressed children romping at play, it had a high stoop which
opened into a wide hall, decorated with obsolete weapons and trophies
of the hunt. On the right were rich tapestries, masking the folding doors
of a spacious drawing-room, richly decorated and furnished in Louis
XIV. period. Beyond this, to the rear of the house which had been built
out to the extreme end of the lot, was the splendidly appointed
dining-room with its magnificent fireplace of sculptured white marble,
surmounted by a striking portrait in oils by Carolus Duran of Mrs.
Traynor--a painting which had been one of the most successful pictures
of the previous year's salon.

In a clinging, white silk negligée gown, the gossamer folds of which
only partially veiled the outlines of a slender, graceful figure, Helen sat
at the breakfast table opposite her husband, toying languidly with her
knife and fork. It was nearly noon, long past the usual breakfast time,
and by every known gastronomical law her appetite should have been
on keen edge. But this morning she left everything untasted. Even the
delicious wheat cakes, which none better than Mammy, their Southern
cook, knew how to do to a point, did not tempt her. They had been out
to dinner the night before. Her head ached; she was nervous and
feverish. Always full of good spirits and laughter, ever the soul and life
of the house, it was unusual to find her in this mood, and if her husband,
now voraciously devouring the tempting array of ham and eggs spread
before him, had not been so absorbed in the news of the day, he would
have quickly noticed it, and guessed there was something amiss.
Certainly the appearance of the dining-room was enough to upset the
nerves of anyone, especially a sensitive young woman who prided
herself on her housekeeping. All around was chaos and confusion. The
usually sedate, orderly dining-room was littered with trunks, grips,
umbrellas and canes enveloped in rugs--all the confusion incidental to a
hurried departure.
She took the newspaper, read the despatch and handed it back