Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 148: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

* ciding factor. se 455 he would lose double the amount of money. - The proposition did not appeal to him from any angle. He shook his head. Natalie freed herself from him. They were standing in the hall of the restaurant; other diners were waiting to obtain their coats. “Then you can take that check and frame it, for all I care.” Natalie took no pains to speak in @ low voice. When she was angry she never cared who knew it. Wade appreciated that this was an ulti- matum. He considered whether he would accept a declaration of war. If he did, he could harm her, but he would not do him- self any good. On the other hand, if he lent her more money to gamble again, her luck might change and she might get free from him altogether. The story he had just learned about her husband proved the de- Had she still been happily married and only anxious to regain her _ money so that she could return to the man - she loved, he would not have agreed. But _ she was adrift and—well, the case was dif- ferent. Kindness often brought its own ee . teward. . Tit. hey returned to the club and made up ea, table of five. One of the other players was Boe Summers, and it was from him I near what happened. He knew more or Tess how matters stood between Natalie and _ Wade Caley. At least he knew Natalie had - lost-a great deal more than she could af- ~ ford and that she owed the money to Wade. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. lie, Mrs. Montagu and Bluett directly op- posite. Play began. A stranger coming into the room half an hour later might have guessed Natalie’s luck had remained atrocious. The expression on her face while the cards were being dealt told its story. She looked taut, and there was a stunted gleam of hopeful- ness in her eyes, infallible signs that she had sold her soul to the god of chance and Jost her faith in him. In ali countries the unlucky gambler’s expression is the same. In the Cercle Privé of Monte Carlo, in the Fantan Dens of Macao, the imprint is universal; but it stamps itself much more deeply upon the faces of the women than upon those of the men. Nevertheless, it was impossible not to admire the way Natalie rose to the emergency when the crisis came. It is easy to bluff when the cards are running well and you are playing with the table’s money; but when every hand throughout the night has gone against you —when you are down to your last chip— when the fellow opposite has bet the maxi- mum and doesn’t look as though he cared a hang whether he won or lost—when the others have dropped out one by one and the card you have drawn has made a busted flush—then it takes a good player to keep hands steady and eyes inscrutable and dou- ble the bet. There came such a time for Natalie. Wade Caley had been winning; he seemed literally to be expanding in the genial warmth of his success. Leaning back > eR. ~~ a. See oy = a a = ae aes ree in his chair, his fat cheeks sunk in his col- lar, his pearl-studded shirt front bulging, his little pig eyes watching now one player, now another, he looked like a puff adder ~ Bob and Natalie were old friends, and she - admitted as.much to him while the table was being prepared. — 3 a The othier players only knew Natalie had coe - been losing heavily. In the short time she sunning itself. == had played she had already earned the © Then came an ace pot, rich from sev- ee: reputation of being a reckless gambler. eral deals. The pot had gone round un- SESS They had followed her to her table for opened for the sixth time when. Wade === the pickings while she was out’ of luck. spoke. ae There. are always vultures of this sort in ‘“T’ll open it,” he said, putting out twe every club. The Mrs. Montagu who had __ five-pound counters. -_ invited Natalie to Cannes was one of them, An experienced eye could have told in- and a man called Bluett. stantly those who were sorry. Natalie as As the table was arranged, Bob Sum- looked content. ~*~ --_s-mers sat between Wade Caley and Nata- Wade, catching her expression, smiled at Ss Eomichooks:com- ih © % :