The Vestibule Limited Mystery — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

THE VESTIBULE LIMITED MYSTERY. 20 creature could play the confidence game to an almost unlimited extent. Nearly any man would be bamboozled by the specious tale she would tell, and have his hand in his pocket unconsciously, ere she was half done. As to appearing against her in court, hang me if a jury could be found who would look upon that face and convict her of such a trifling thing as getting money on false pretenses. I hardly know what I eat for my dinner, and yet when done, I am conscious of my satiety. My attention has been wholly given up to admiring that remarkable face, and wondering why Provi- dence gave it to the possessor of an unscrupulous ‘mind. ; There are queerly constructed creatures in this world of ours, who look as though some mistake had been made in the combination of mind and matter. One woman, brought prominently before the New York public not a great while since, in the notorious case of blackmail, is as beautiful as an houri, and has the look of a gentle, refined lady, yet she has seldom been heard to speak without uttering an oath. Surely the chemist who put the properties together, must have madea grave mis- take, and somewhere in this world walks a woman with the features of a fiend, and a disposition angelic in its character. At length Ileave the car and return througha couple of sleepers to the one where [ belong. As I enter, I see the nun leave the seat where the sallow- faced woman sits. The latter is busy tying up a cardboard box which evidently contains luncheon, which they have probably been enjoying together, taking advantage of the absence of the other party. Presently, the three come in. I am, at the time, comichoo cS co aa ‘