The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Coast of Chance, by Esther Chamberlain and Lucia Chamberlain This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Coast of Chance Author: Esther Chamberlain Lucia Chamberlain Illustrator: Clarence F Underwood Release Date: January 25, 2007 [EBook #20445] Last updated: March 2, 2009 Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COAST OF CHANCE *** Produced by Alicia Williams, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE COAST OF CHANCE By ESTHER AND LUCIA CHAMBERLAIN WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLARENCE F UNDERWOOD NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1908 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY APRIL Flora Gilsey FLORA GILSEY CONTENTS I THE VANISHING MYSTERY II A NAME GOES ROUND A TABLE III ENCOUNTERS ON PARADE IV FLOWERS BY THE WAY V ON GUARD VI BLACK MAGIC VII A SPELL IS CAST VIII A SPARK OF HORROR IX ILLUMINATION X A LADY UNVEILED XI THE MYSTERY TAKES HUMAN FORM XII DISENCHANTMENT XIII THRUST AND PARRY XIV COMEDY CONVEYS A WARNING XV A LADY IN DISTRESS XVI THE HEART OF THE DILEMMA XVII THE DEMIGOD XVIII GOBLIN TACTICS XIX THE FACE IN THE GARDEN XX FLIGHT XXI THE HOUSE OF QUIET XXII CLARA'S MARKET XXIII TOUCHE XXIV THE COMIC MASK XXV THE LAST ENCHANTMENT ADVERTISEMENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS COVER FLORA GILSEY YES, HE WAS MAGNIFICENT, SHE THOUGHT HE TOOK THE LILIES UP DAINTILY, AND RETURNED TO HER "FORGIVE ME, I FOLLOWED YOU." THE COAST OF CHANCE I THE VANISHING MYSTERY Flora Gilsey stood on the threshold of her dining-room She had turned her back on it She swayed forward Her bare arms were lifted Her hands lightly caught the molding on either side of the door She was looking intently into the mirror at the other end of the hall All the lights in the dining-room were lit, and she saw herself rather keenly set against their brilliance The straight-held head, the lifted arms, the short, slender waist, the long, long sweep of her skirts made her seem taller than she actually was; and the strong, bright growth of her hair and the vivacity of her face made her seem more deeply colored She had poised there for the mere survey of a new gown, but after a moment of dwelling on her own reflection she found herself considering it only as an object in the foreground of a picture That picture, seen through the open door, reflected in the glass, was all of a bright, hard glitter, all a high, harsh tone of newness In its paneled oak, in its glare of cut-glass and silver, in the shining vacant faces of its floors and walls, there was not a color that filled the eye, not a shadow where imagination could find play As a background for herself it struck her as incongruous Like a child looking at the landscape upside down, she felt herself in a foreign country Yet it was hers She turned about to bring it into familiar association There was nothing wrong with it But its great capacity suggested large parties rather than close intimacies In the high lift of its ceilings, the ample openings of its doors, the swept, garnished, polished beauty of its cold surfaces, it proclaimed itself conceived, created and decorated for large, fine functions She thought whimsically that any one who knew her, coming into her house, would realize that some one other than herself had the ordering of it She glanced over the table It was set for three It lacked nothing but the serving of dinner She looked at the clock It wanted a few minutes to the hour Shima, the Japanese butler, came in softly with the evening papers She took them from him Nothing bored her so much as a paper, but to-night she knew it contained something she really wanted to see She opened one of the damp sheets at the page of sales There it was at the head of the column in thick black type: ... humor, for all things that did not pertain to the essence of the life it struggled for The wonder of the western flare of day, the magic in the white eyes of the stars before sunrise, the mystery in the pulse of the pounding mine heard in the dark... Her hands lightly caught the molding on either side of the door She was looking intently into the mirror at the other end of the hall All the lights in the dining-room were lit, and she saw herself rather keenly set against their brilliance... *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COAST OF CHANCE *** Produced by Alicia Williams, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE COAST OF CHANCE