THE CARDINAL MOTH

"'The Cardinal Moth,' Frobisher said, hoarsely." (Chapter I.)

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I.—FLOWERS OF BLOOD
II.—ANGELA
III.—CROSSED SWORDS
IV.—A DUSKY POTENTATE
V.—AN INTERRUPTED FEAST
VI.—BIT OF THE ROPE
VII.—A GRIP OF STEEL
VIII.—THE WEAKER VESSEL
IX.—A WORD TO THE WISE
X.—A WORD TO THE WISE.
XI.—BORROWED PLUMES
XII.—A MODEL HUSBAND
XIII.—THE QUEEN OF THE RUBIES
XIV.—"UNEASY LIES THE HEAD——"
XV.—HUNT THE SLIPPER
XVI.—DIPLOMACY
XVII.—A FRIEND IN NEED
XVIII.—A DEFENSIVE ALLIANCE
XIX.—WHAT DID SHE MEAN?
XX.—CHECK TO FROBISHER
XXI.—DENVERS LEARNS SOMETHING
XXII.—STRANDS OF THE ROPE
XXIII.—A LUNCH AT THE BELGRAVE
XXIV.—A WOMAN'S WAY
XXV.—A STRIKING LIKENESS
XXVI.—A BAD QUARTER OF AN HOUR
XXVII.—MRS. BENSTEIN INTERVENES
XXVIII.—NEMESIS
XXIX.—THE TIGHTENED CORD

THE CARDINAL MOTH

CHAPTER I.

FLOWERS OF BLOOD.

The purple darkness seemed to be filled with a nebulous suggestion of things beautiful; long trails and ropes of blossoms hung like stars reflected in a lake of blue. As the eye grew accustomed to the gloom these blooms seemed to expand and beautify. There was a great orange globe floating on a violet mist, a patch of pink swam against an opaque window-pane like a flight of butterflies. Outside the throaty roar of Piccadilly could be distinctly heard; inside was misty silence and the coaxed and pampered atmosphere of the Orient. Then a long, slim hand—a hand with jewels on it—was extended, and the whole vast dome was bathed in brilliant light.

For once the electric globes