The Gates of Chance

truders had made thorough work in their search. The carpet had been removed and the flooring partially torn up; the walls had been sounded for secret receptacles, the pictures strippe

th, stiff as I am, to

e 'Bridge'?" And forthwith they sat down to the great solitaire with the ut

aid another visit

ked Indiman, glancing at the familiar smooth bands of hai

en, for a few minutes," and she disappeared into the back room, to shortly reappear with the rebellious bands tightly swathed in a dozen little rolls o

g day the comed

ravely, "you have again f

ir the omission." Re-enter madame in curl-papers, and

n," said Indiman, and he threw down the cards. Madam

," said

en

lowed those stupid detectives to search your

complaint of the affair at Police Headquarters

and if the letter is within th

wishes,

the window stock, a grotesque figure of a woman in all conscience. But I had nerved myself for the ordeal, and we drove away am

successf

t I hav

d-day, gentlem

d Indiman to me as we drove home.

u have

es

andez. There was the usual badinage about the curl-papers, and madame r

o me to come and look. In the mirror was plainly visible a vertically reversed reflection of L. Hernandez. Standing in front of a long dressing-glass in her bedroom, she deliberately removed her chevelure in i

k!" whispe

d with curl-papers; the adjustment took but a minute or two; the d

did not see fit to make the nature of his inquiries known to me. On the su

uently the reflection must be projected upward to a particular point on the ceiling. Supposing a small looking-glass to be fixed at this point, the rays impinging upon it will be cast downward and ON OUR SIDE OF THE PARTITION, for the angle of reflection is always equal to that of incidence. We have, therefore, only to place in position a second cheval-glass, arranged at the proper inclin

d n

to-morrow,"

emember, that in the final fall of the cards it was necessary that they should be in four packs, headed by the ace of clubs, king of diamonds, que

," said L. Hernandez, with a s

made an imperceptible signal to Brownson, who, with two other plain-clothes men, was lounging in a door-way across the street. They seem

n of spades, the packets would be completed in their proper order and the solitaire would be made; if it w

er it had been pasted a small carte-de-visite photograph-that of a man dressed in the coarse uniform of one of the Russian penal settlement

horrible nightmare of a hat of which I have so often spoken, and which, quite by chance, as it seemed, had been lying there. Brownson sprang forward and raised the

n, sententiously. "He wasn't

made at last. He slipped the cards into his pocket and rose to go. "Brownson," he said, with a little catch in his voice, "I

that letter. However, we can take a good

so," said

fellow, one of the 'Blacks,' you know. I picked his picture out in a moment at Police Headquarters, after seeing his reflection in the mirror. I knew it was necessar

on said, how ab

in French on one side of the paper and in violet ink. "It will be easy enough to piece it together again," he said. "Plain enough now, isn't it, why L. Hernande

you are goi

sail Th

ill be gon

e Countess Gilda. I may be back in a fortnight, and in that case I will ma

ed,"

was lounging in the deserted common room of the Utin

ed to-day

the Deu

nquiry that rose to my lips. Indiman he

asked me to stay on, but I had a previous engagement to plead: you rem

the subject of dinner; it will be cooler up at Thirty-fourth

tarted down Fifth Avenue, and near Madison Square we ran squarely into Indiman's cousin, George Estes. He was standi

u think of this?" He held out to us a small button fashioned of some semi

st alive," com

, you're not so far out, f

orge?" asked In

ay be a mistake-probably is.

too much and too little. Cab there!" he

." He motioned to the boy to enter; he o