Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 12, 1927 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

SOMEWHERE “ Disappointment, loss, grave physical dan- gers, even the possibility of disgrace. And it all leads from the same source, this scab- by king of spades. Get rid of him, Ilsa, I beg of you.” But she did not seem especially im- pressed. “JT think your prejudice is speaking now, more than the cards.” She laughed skep- tically. “And I have no illusions in re- gard to Luigi, either. I know just how tricky and dishonest he is; but on the other hand, I can’t conceive of any such dangers coming from our association’ as you sug- gest. ‘““T am not exactly a half wit,” she lifted her head a shade defiantly; “ and, believe me, Luigi is not putting anything over on me. You don’t understand the circum- stances, you see. I know quite well what I am doing, though; and Luigi is too useful to me just at present to be dispensed with. I’ve got to have a manager, a representa- tive of some sort; and where else would I find one?” “ All right.” Mickey shrugged. “ You know your own business, I suppose. But don’t say afterward that I didn’t warn you.” He hesitated a moment; then, gathering up the cards, shuffled them anew, and held them out to her to cut. “J have told you the past and the pres- ent,” he said. ‘“ Now, I am going to read your future.” Again he spread the cards out, fan shaped, on the barrel top and gave them serious scrutiny. ‘‘ Ambition,” he said, ‘is the ruling pas- sion of your mind. Hitherto, all your thoughts, all your efforts have been centered on the one aim, success. “But now ”—he laid a finger on the king of hearts, which had not before appeared IN NEVADA. 501 in the spread of the cards—“ a new element has come into your life, and that is love. “Jt frightened you. You have always put the thought of such a thing away from you. Love and marriage was not for you, you told yourself; you were wedded to your career. And now that love has swept sud- denly into your heart, you would drive it out, if you could. You are afraid that it will interfere with your plans for success. “ But,” he laughed triumphantly, “ love, all-conquering, will not be denied. I see here in the cards a wedding ring, the sym- bol of your surrender. I see a long journey with the man of your choice; and at the end of it, I see through that very love which you would now repel, the fruition of all your ambitions, hopes, and dreams. “Look!” He pointed to the cards. “Here is a great auditorium filled with — cheering people who are paying tribute to your genius. It is your night of victory.” He leaned toward her over the cards, and looked into her face, flushed and glowing at the picture he had painted. ‘* So that is why,” he said softly, “‘ I shall tell my grandchildren the story of how their grandmother saved my life in a Western dance hall. It is so written in the cards, and must come true.” Perhaps? But if an unprejudiced ob- server had happened to espy Luigi lurking outside, glaring through a knot hole in the board wall as he listened to the interchange between the two; or had seen the sheriff fingering his guns, as he leaned against the corner of the bar and stared with jealous gaze at that curtained doorway; or had ob- served Natushka sharpening a knife on a stone as she muttered black, gypsy curses— well, that unprejudiced - observer would probably have laid odds against Mickey’s living long enough to have grandchildren, or even to see to-morrow’s sun. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK Le} U Le) LOOK OVER THE FIELD and you will find that nowhere else can you obtain the value in assorted fiction that Arcosy-ALLstory gives you. Just think of it! books of sterling worth a year out of its serials alone. circulation extends around the world. Fifty-two No wonder its (€(0) vDOOK (©)