The Mask: A Story of Love and Adventure
Before his hostess could answer, the drawing-room door opened and Mr.
Parker entered. Helen rose and went forward to greet the president of
the Americo-African Mining Company.
"Oh, Mr. Parker, how are you? I am so glad you came to see us."
The visitor advanced smiling into the room. With a salute to all
present, he asked cheerily:
"Well, what news of the wanderer?"
Helen sighed.
"None as yet."
The visitor chuckled as he crossed the room to shake hands with Ray and
Mr. Steell.
"Oh, well you must be patient. He'll soon be there, and then we shall
hear wonderful tales."
"What's the latest news from the seat of war--I mean the mines?" asked
Ray roguishly.
Mr. Parker smiled.
"Everything is going well, thank you."
"No new big finds?" demanded Mr. Steell.
The president laughed. Shaking his head, he said:
"We can't expect to make such finds every day. If we often picked up
stones of that size, we'd soon own all the wealth in the world."
"More likely," retorted Ray quickly, "that diamonds would become so
cheap that children would buy them for marbles."
Mr. Steell looked interested.
"What is the real market value of the two big gems you have already
picked up?"
The president looked at him for a moment in silence. Then, slowly, he
said:
"A very conservative estimate is $1,200,000 for both stones. They are
the purest white. There are larger stones in the world, but none of
finer quality."
"What do you expect to do with them?"
"First, they will be brought here and exhibited in their crude state.
You can easily realize the value to our company of such a gigantic
advertisement. Crowds will flock to see the wonderful crystals. The
newspapers all over the country will give them the widest publicity.
After everybody has seen them, we shall probably send them to Amsterdam
to be cut."
"Then, what will you do with them?"
"To tell you the truth, we have not made up our minds. Such very large
stones have really no commercial value. Take for instance the famous
Cullinan, the wonder of the modern world. That gem was so huge that it
was of no real value to the owners; so, unable to realize on it
themselves, they induced the Transvaal government to buy it and present
it to the King of England. We shall try to be a little more practical.
Our first duty is to our stockholders. We shall probably have the
stones cut up into a number of smaller stones, on which we shall be
able to realize a large sum. It's a rare stroke of good fortune for
us."
Helen had said nothing, but stood listening in silence. It was less of
the money involved in the adventure that she was thinking than of her
husband's safety.
"Suppose Kenneth loses the gems?" she faltered.
The old gentleman laughed.
"There's no fear of him losing them. He may have to fight for them,
but he'll never lose them I know him too well for that."
Helen's eyes opened wide.
"He may have to fight for them," she echoed. "Do you mean that?"
"No--no, of course not," said the president hastily. "No one will even
know he has them in his possession. We have kept the matter very
quiet."
Mr. Steell shrugged his shoulders. Drily he said:
"Oh, I guess Ken is big enough to take care of himself. It does look
as if it were tempting Providence to carry loose on one's person
valuables for so large an amount, but it's hardly likely that any of
the denizens of the underworld know of his departure. Still less that
he is carrying a million loose in his clothes. I don't see that
there's any reason to worry."
"That's precisely my opinion," said a musical voice immediately behind
them.
All started and looked up. Everyone had been so intent on the
conversation that they had not noticed a man who had entered the room.
He was a tall, dark-complexioned man of five and thirty with strong,
stern features, which, in repose, were actually forbidding. The mouth,
partly concealed by a long, bristling moustache, was firm, suggesting
relentless will power, and his eyes, restless, keen and searching, had
taken in every person there long before anyone was aware of his
presence. He was fashionably, even elegantly dressed, and on his left
hand he wore a solitaire of uncommon size and luster. His hair,
carefully curled, scented and parted, was extraordinarily dark,
contrasting sharply with the unusual pallor of his face. He spoke low
and musically, with a slight foreign accent.
Helen started involuntarily on hearing the sound of his voice, and a
cloud passed momentarily over her face. It lasted only a moment. She
was too tactful, too much the woman of the world not to greet with at
least apparent cordiality any visitor under her roof, no matter how
unwelcome he might really be. Turning quickly, she advanced and held
out her hand.
"How do you do, Signor Keralio? How you startled us! I did not hear
you come in."
The newcomer's black eyes flashed, and his thin lips parted in a smile
as he bent low and ceremoniously kissed his hostess' hand in
continental fashion. Fond, as are most men of the Latin race, of
making extravagant compliments, he murmured softly:
"Your tiny ears, Madam, were not intended to distinguish such gross
sounds as ordinary mortal's footsteps. Dainty and delicately fashioned
as the shells strewn along the beach, they were modeled only to listen
to the gods or re-echo the music of the murmuring sea." Apologetically
he added:
"But I'm afraid I intrude. Possibly you discuss family affairs----"
A look of annoyance crossed Helen's face. Quickly withdrawing her
hand, she said:
"Oh, not at all. We were only talking about my husband. You know he
sailed for South Africa two weeks ago. This is Mr. Steell, Signor
Keralio. I think you know my sister. Mr. Parker--Signor Keralio."
The old gentleman nodded affably, and, putting on his glass,
scrutinized the newcomer narrowly. The president of the
Americo-African Mining Company had always made it a point not to
neglect any chance introduction. He had no idea who the visitor was,
but he looked prosperous. Possibly with a little careful manipulation,
he might be induced to invest in some A. A. M. stock. Holding out his
hand, he said affably:
"Signor Keralio---- Let me see. Where have I heard that name before?"
Ray came to the rescue.
"Signor Keralio is the well-known fencing master."
A look of disappointment came over the president's face. Only a
fencing master? Ugh! He was hardly worth bothering about. He
wondered whether the business were profitable and if all fencing
masters dressed like millionaires and had such polished manners. Helen
explained:
"Signor Keralio is a friend of my husband. Kenneth enjoys fencing, and
Signor Keralio is his teacher."
"Oh, yes, to be sure," smiled Mr. Parker. "Capital idea--splendid
exercise. I'd try it myself, only I'm afraid I'd do my adversary some
injury."
The Italian gave a low chuckle. With veiled irony, he said:
"Monsieur is right. He no doubt has a good eye, a supple wrist. An
encounter might be very unpleasant for his opponent."
Ray, unable to control her mirth, hastily beat a retreat, followed more
leisurely by Mr. Steell, and taking refuge at the far end of the room
sat down at the piano, and began to play softly a Chopin nocturne.
Waving the newcomer to a seat, Mr. Parker offered him a cigar, which
the fencing master, with a courteous bow, asked his hostess' permission
to smoke.
"By all means," she said, "and with your permission I'll leave you
gentlemen alone a few moments. I have a letter to finish. It must go
tonight to catch the boat."
"It's to your husband, I wager," said Keralio, with a sardonic smile.
"An easy guess," she retorted. "I write him every day."
The fencing master gave a sigh as he exclaimed:
"Ah, such devotion is truly beautiful! Why have I never known such
love as that?"
"Perhaps you never deserved it!" she retorted.
Mr. Parker chuckled.
"That's what we in the American vernacular call 'a knock-out.'"
Helen laughed lightly. There was a swish of silken petticoats, and she
disappeared in an alcove, where she sat down at a desk. Keralio looked
after her with undisguised admiration and puffed his cigar in silence
for a few moments. Then he said:
"It's a big job which you and Traynor are doing out there in South
Africa. I see by the papers that you've already made some valuable
finds."
He appeared unconcerned, and looked narrowly at his _vis a vis_ to see
what effect his words had on him, possibly to draw him out. But Mr.
Parker was too old a bird to be caught napping, even by a clever
adventurer. Instantly on his guard, he said carelessly:
"The outlook is very bright, very promising indeed. Our stockholders
are quite satisfied, and it is likely that we shall make good money.
But of course everything is in the experimental stage as yet."
"But you have found diamonds--big diamonds?"
"Oh, yes," replied the president with affected carelessness; "we have
picked up a few stones. As I told you, the prospects are very
promising."
"But haven't you recently made some extraordinary finds?"
Mr. Parker shook his head.
"No--nothing worth mentioning.'"
Keralio smiled skeptically.
"Isn't your memory somewhat at fault, cher monsieur? Surely you
haven't forgotten the two stones of enormous size just picked up--finds
of sensational importance. The newspapers have been full of the story."
Mr. Parker made a deprecatory gesture.
"Pshaw! My dear sir, you ought to know what newspaper talk is worth!
No yarn is too fantastic to print so long as it sells their papers. We
found two stones of fair size, it is true, but to say that they are of
priceless value is a gross exaggeration."
The Italian eyed his companion closely. Significantly he said:
"They're valuable enough, however, to justify you in refusing to trust
their shipment to ordinary channels and in going to the expense of
sending to South Africa one of your officers to whom is confided the
task of bringing the gems home."
"How did you know that?" demanded Mr. Parker, surprised.
"There is very little I do not know," smiled Keralio ironically, as he
blew a ring of cigar smoke up to the ceiling.
His curiosity aroused, the president of the A. A. M. Co. was about to
question his companion farther, but at that moment Helen rose from the
desk and came toward them.
"I'm not in the humor to write now," she said. "I'd rather talk."
Sitting in a chair near them, she added quickly: "Won't you let me get
you some tea?"
Both men shook their heads. Mr. Parker rose. With a mischievous
twinkle in his eye, he said:
"I'll go over to the others and take a hand at bridge. I want to make
some money, Signor--I'll leave you to entertain Mrs. Traynor."
With a courteous salutation to his hostess, a graceful act of
chivalrous politeness of which he was a past master, Mr. Parker crossed
the room in the direction of the card table.
CHAPTER VI
An awkward silence followed the president's departure. Helen would
have detained him had she dared. Being alone with Keralio was very
distasteful to her. Ill at ease in such close proximity to this man,
whom she feared even more than she disliked, she sat still without
saying a word. Presently between puffs of his cigar, he said:
"You really don't mind my smoking?"
"Oh, not at all."
He bowed and again relapsed into silence. She looked at him sideways
and wondered why this foreigner had always inspired her with such
dislike. His manner was courteous, and he was decidedly handsome. He
had white teeth and fine eyes. They were bold eyes, but so were the
eyes of other men. They had a habit of looking a woman through and