Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo   By: Edward Phillips Oppenheim (1866-1946)

BY E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM

AUTHOR OF "THE VANISHED MESSENGER," "A PEOPLE'S MAN," "THE MISCHIEF MAKER"

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILL GREFÉ

BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1915

THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS CO., BOSTON, U. S. A.

[Illustration: She leaned across and with trembling fingers backed number fourteen en plein .]

CONTENTS

I. An Unexpected Meeting

II. By Accident or Design

III. A Warning

IV. Enter the American

V. "Who is Mr. Grex?"

VI. Cakes and Counsels

VII. The Effrontery of Richard

VIII. Up the Mountain

IX. In the Mists

X. Signs of Trouble

XI. Hints to Hunterleys

XII. "I Cannot Go!"

XIII. Miss Grex at Home

XIV. Dinner for Two

XV. International Politics

XVI. A Bargain with Jean Coulois

XVII. Duty Interferes Again

XVIII. A Midnight Conference

XIX. "Take Me Away!"

XX. Wily Mr. Draconmeyer

XXI. Assassination!

XXII. The Wrong Man

XXIII. Trouble Brewing

XXIV. Hunterleys Scents Murder

XXV. Draconmeyer is Desperate

XXVI. Extraordinary Love Making

XXVII. Playing for High Stakes

XXVIII. To the Villa Mimosa

XXIX. For His Country

XXX. "Supposing I Take This Money"

XXXI. Nearing a Crisis

XXXII. An Interesting Meeting

XXXIII. The Fates Are Kind

XXXIV. Coffee for One Only

XXXV. A New Map of the Earth

XXXVI. Checkmate!

XXXVII. An Amazing Elopement

XXXVIII. Honeymooning

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

She leaned across and with trembling fingers backed number fourteen en plein

"For the last time, then to Monte Carlo!"

"Come on, you fellows!" he shouted

"What we ask of France is that she looks the other way"

"That two hundred shall be five hundred, but it must be a cemetery to which they take him!"

Mr. Grex, with his daughter and Lady Hunterleys on one side and Monsieur Douaille on the other, were in the van.

MR. GREX OF MONTE CARLO

CHAPTER I

AN UNEXPECTED MEETING

The eyes of the man who had looked in upon a scene inordinately, fantastically brilliant, underwent, after those first few moments of comparative indifference, a curious transformation. He was contemplating one of the sights of the world. Crowded around the two roulette tables, promenading or lounging on the heavily cushioned divans against the wall, he took note of a conglomeration of people representing, perhaps, every grade of society, every nationality of importance, yet with a curious common likeness by reason of their tribute paid to fashion. He glanced unmoved at a beautiful Englishwoman who was a duchess but looked otherwise; at an equally beautiful Frenchwoman, who looked like a duchess but was otherwise. On every side of him were women gowned by the great artists of the day, women like flowers, all perfume and softness and colour. His eyes passed them over almost carelessly. A little tired with many weeks' travel in countries where the luxuries of life were few, his senses were dulled to the magnificence of the scene, his pulses as yet had not responded to its charm and wonder. And then the change came. He saw a woman standing almost exactly opposite to him at the nearest roulette table, and he gave a noticeable start. For a moment his pale, expressionless face was transformed, his secret was at any one's mercy. That, however, was the affair of an instant only. He was used to shocks and he survived this one. He moved a little on one side from his prominent place in the centre of the wide flung doorway. He stood by one of the divans and watched.