Rose Mortimer; Or, The Ballet-Girl's Revenge — page 88: what you’re looking at

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

82 ROSE MORTIMER ; OR, “Now, sir,’’? said Mermet, laying aside his amber mouthpiece, ‘‘ I am all attention for your business.” The young man was evidently impressed with ail this. He appeared rather embarrassed. ‘‘Ahem!’? hebegan. ‘‘ I—I wished to consult you upon a matter—” ‘‘ Pardon me,” said the- Arab calmly. not wish to do anything of the kind.” c¢ Sir 99) ‘‘ You have come here to see Mermet the Arab, to gibe and scoff.’’ “¢ T—sir, I—really—”’ “ Nay, I read itin your face. This is some wager —some idle boast that you would show me up to the world as an imposter.” . The visitor was dumbfounded. Speechless with astonishment. ‘* Have I said aright?’’? continued the Arab, per- fecty collected. “I confess.’’ ‘‘ Enough,” said the Arab, waving his hand. “I know what that means. But you might have spared me your ridicule. I court not the world: ’tis the world that runs after me.” The visitor bowed. “‘ Now you are here, if you would have aught of me, I am at your service. Ifnot, I pray you to leave me to myself.” ‘‘T would have something of you, then,” said the young man, recovering himself slightly. ‘‘T know you would.” “* You know.”’ ‘““Ay. Iread your face as a book; it needs no necromancer’s skill to do that.” “Then what do I desire, pray ?” ‘A proof of my skill.’ “‘ Granted.”’ The visitor was even more impressed at these words. “You would learn that I am a quack, a charlatan,”’ cc Nay.” ‘¢ Pardon me, you would. Put me to the test. I ask no more.” ‘*T will,” said the visitor. ‘“‘ Youread men’s faces,” ‘Some men’s.” | “‘ Can you read men’s hearts ?’’ ‘‘My reply must be again the same—some.” *¢ What is now passing in mine 2?” “The sensations are varied.” “To use your own words, it needed no necromancevr’s skill to tell that much.”’ “ Right,” said the Arab. outline I believe.’? . Do so, then.”’ ‘You are wondering now whether I am really a charlatan.”’ be Nay.” ‘¢ And mixed with this is a desire to know if I could tell you how to restore your scattered fortunes.” The stranger started. “Ah!” he exclaimed. know you that?” “‘Tt boots little to know that,’ returned the Arab with great coolness. “‘One word more,” said the visitor. “ These may be all guesses.”’ ** Doubtless.”’ ‘f A lucky hit, by which you would secure a reputa- tion for hidden knowledge.”’ “ Granted.” ‘Your proof, then. If you knowso much it would seem but natural that you should know me,’’ T3 I do.?? The visitor jumped back two or three paces, quite amazed. ‘You know me ?”? “* You do “ But I can give you the ‘* How, in the fiend’s name, “Ay.” «* And who am I?” ‘¢ A spendthrift.”’ ‘© Ay, and—” ** Gambler.” ‘Sir!’ began the stranger, indignantly. become personal.” “¢ You ask for it.” ‘Not so. I ask, as a proof of your boasted know- ledge and skill—” ““T boast none.” “T ask, I say, if you can tell me who I am—in short, what is my name ?” The Arab paused. Bent his gray head, and pursed up his bushy eye- brows. The visitor watched him with a surcastic smile upon his lips. “*' You are at a loss,” he said. “* Not quite.” “Yet you cannot say.” **T can and will.” Here Mermet clapped his hands and his attendant appeared. A few words were spoken in a foreign tongue, which the visitor could not comprehend, and the attendant brought in a musty-looking volume, filled with strange hieroglyphics. | The Arab studied a page in this attentively for somo moments. Then looked up. , . ‘“You have found it?” said the yisitor, with a satirical grin, ‘f Vesa “The devil !” ‘“‘ You are called Sir Harold King.” The amazement expressed upon the baronet’s countenance is beyond conception, He turned pale. Then red to the roots of his hair. Then glanced towards the door nncomfortably, evidently wishing himself out of such a strange man’s presence, The Arab sat leaning upon his hands, poring over the contents of his book, and peering occasionally at the electrified baronet from under his beetle brows. Then, when the visitor’s astonishment had had full sway, he looked up. *‘ Are you satisfied ?’’ he asked, in a tone implying that he had plenty in reserve if he desired to know more. ce Yes.” “You think now that I am no juggler, no charla- tan, quack, or humbug ?”’ “« Really, I—’”’ “Enough,” said the Arab. ‘‘I know the world too well, young man, believe me,”’ ‘Well, I confess that when I came here it was to see if I could—”’ “Detect me in a cheat,’ interrupted Mermet, “Now, look here, Sir Harold King, I can, if you like, run you through the whole story of your life. Every little incident could be made known to me eyen while you wait.” The baronet here interrupted him hastily. “‘Nay, I thank you, I have quite enough in what you have already said.” *“T thought so,”’ returned the necromancer drily, The visitor was silent for some minutes. Then he rose and looked about him, as if doubtful as to the next step to be taken in this mysterious Visit. “You have nothing more to know of me?” de- manded the Arab, * Nothing.” A “Vou Eeomicbooksucom