United States or Costa Rica ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Pardon me," he said, "but will you join me?" proffering the handsome gold case. I took a cigarette and fired it. I blew a cloud of smoke at the candle-flame. There was a sparkle of admiration in the girl's eyes. "Mr. Comstalk, my respect for you increases each moment." The rogue sat down. "And to whom might this handsome case belong?" I asked, examining it closely.
I wouldn't have thought it of you, and a nice lady in speaking distance!" He disappeared. The girl laid a hand on my arm. "You have acted very sensibly, Mr. Comstalk. If you had not, it is quite certain he would have shot you." "It would have been a good thing for me if he had. He has gone, and the jewels have gone with him. I hadn't the least chance; the wretch!
You haven't told me your name." "Haven't I? My name is Richard Comstalk. My friends call me Dickey." "Dickey," she murmured. "It's a nice name." "Won't you have another apple?" I asked impulsively. "My appetite is appeased, thank you." An idea came to me. "Hamilton said there were three tens of hearts. That meant that only one was out of order. Where did you get your card?"
Positive, fool; comparative, fooler; superlative, foolest. You are marching on with your degrees, Mr. Comstalk." "You might call me Dicky," I said in an aggrieved tone. "Dicky? Never! I should always be thinking of paper collars." "I wish I were witty like that!" She snuggled down beneath the robes. An artist's model, thought I. Never in this world.
The wine-cellar was walled apart from the main cellar, and had the semblance of a huge cistern with a door opening into it. As we passed it, the vague perfume of the grape drifted out to us. "Let's have a bottle," I began. "Mr. Comstalk!" "By absent-treatment!" I hastened to add. "You will make a capital comrade if we ever get out of this cellar." "Trust me for that!" I replied gaily.
"Here it is," and she passed the engraved card to him. "I beg a thousand pardons!" said Hamilton humbly. "Everything seems to have gone wrong." "Will you guarantee this man?" asked the chief of Hamilton, nodding toward me. "I have said so. Mr. Comstalk is very well known to me. He is a retired army officer, and to my knowledge a man with an income sufficient to put him far beyond want."
Without rhyme or reason, I was in love; and without rhyme or reason, I was glad of it. "Shall you ever be able to solve such a mystery?" quizzically. "It all depends upon you." "Mr. Comstalk, you will not mar the exquisite humor of our adventure by causing me any annoyance. I am sure that some day we shall be very good friends. But one does not talk of love on eight hours' acquaintance.
Presently he caught it up and presented it to the girl, who eyed him in astonishment. "I only wanted to look at it," he said courteously. "I like your grit as much as I admire your beauty. Keep the ring." She slipped it mechanically over her finger. "But you, my dear Mr. Comstalk!" he cried, turning his shining eyes upon me, while his fingers deftly replaced the gems in the bag.
Comstalk," said the girl, smiling bravely into my eyes. "This gentleman would not appreciate it." The master rogue picked up the ring and rolled it lovingly about his palms. "Beautiful, beautiful!" he murmured. "Finest pigeon-blood, too. It is easily worth a thousand. Shall I give you my note of exchange for it?" humorously. The girl scorned to reply.
Haggerty, with the deadly affability of a Macaire, "I beg of you, Mr. Comstalk, I beg of you not to move or to become unduly excited. Physicians tell us that excitement wastes the red corpuscles, that is to say, the life of the blood." "Your blood, sir, must be very thin," I returned coolly. But I cursed him soundly in my mind.
Word Of The Day