Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 12, 1927 — page 89: what you’re looking at

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

THE MASKED ENCHANTRESS. one he had never known or seen _ be- fore. For months he had been doing this, and many strange and illuminating experiences had resulted from his ventures out into life. Always, however, he hesitated almost in- voluntarily before plunging his hand into the letters to draw one forth. There, before him, they lay, and the thought, as always, came to him that each one of them might be compared to a mys- terious sealed door, opening upon some pathway that ran far out into life. It might lead up, it might lead down; it might pass through goodness or dally through evil; it might be fraught with danger or it might be quiet and peaceful. Which path would chance set his feet upon, and where would it lead him? He closed his eyes, and then, brushing letters aside until he was deep in the heart of the pile, he drew one out. He held it up to the light and looked at it curiously for a moment, and then, tear- ing it open, he sat down by the hearth and read it by the light of the flames. He smiled a little as he finished the inclosure, and then, rising hastily, went to the win- dow and looked out. A taxicab was draw- ing up to the corner, apparently in re- sponse to a hail from ‘the corpulent, muf- fled figure standing there under a light in the driving snow. Rod stepped back into the room and sounded the gong, and then went to the window again. He saw the man _ below looking into the front of the cab as if scrutinizing the driver, and then, as if sat- isfied with his inspection, step inside. “ Never mind, Foo,” said Rod, when his servant appeared in the studio. “I want- ed to get Mr. Corbin back, but it’s too late.” Foo inclined his head slightly, and re- tired as silently as he had entered, while Roderick Randall let the curtains fall to- cether and walked back to his seat by the fireplace. velope, and, reading it through once more, replaced it ‘and laid it on the mantel. Then again he called Foo, and, when the He drew the letter from the en-- “Take those and destroy them, Foo,” he ordered. ‘“ Doors that never will be opened, paths that I never will follow,’ thought Rod, a little regretfully, as he watched his man gather them up. Il. Ir was some minutes before ten o’clock when Roderick Randall, in a Pierrot cos- tume, found himself in the garishly deco- rated and dimly lighted dance hall. He had looked at his timepiece, and, discov- ering that he was a little early for his ap- pointment, he had paused for a moment by the great arched entrance to the ball- room and watched the scene before him. They glided past, in the subdued light, masked figures most incongruously coupled. A swaggering pirate, sashed with a red scarf, great golden earrings dangling against his cheeks, went by with a slender and fragile appearing Columbine. A cour- tier of the time of Elizabeth, ornately at- tired, glided along with a lithe, dark-haired girl who might have stepped out of the plaza of some little Spanish town. Other couples, seemingly an endless pro- cession, whirled into view in the half light, only to vanish-among the varicolored merry- makers who thronged the floor. The languid waltz, which an orchestra had been playing, melted into silence, and the dancers drifted from the center of the hall. Then the band struck up- a provoca- tive fox trot, and the floor became crowded again with lithesome bodies, swaying and turning in response to the barbaric rhythm of the music. Rod glanced once more at his watch, “At the head of the stairs leading up to the balcony,” he murmured to himself as he made his way through the jostling and laughing masqueraders who were lin- gering outside of the rail which separated the dance floor from the promenade. More than one fair face turned to fol- low him as he wove his way toward his destination, and once, as he was momen- tarily halted by the throng, he heard a girl behind him speak. test —. pe ees to. ue table nf ae ings dike og ae Randall, » she-_ 28 ~~. ony a ; Sa, e PoC l ae a be eens 4 o = es - “a = = rae -~ ——— ~ = ~s om OTIC BOOKe. com