The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mask, by Arthur Hornblow, Illustrated by
Paul Stahr

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Title: The Mask
A Story of Love and Adventure

Author: Arthur Hornblow

Release Date: December 18, 2006 [eBook #20131]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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THE MASK

A Story of Love and Adventure

by

ARTHUR HORNBLOW

Author of the Novels "The Lion and the Mouse," "The Gamblers," "Bought
and Paid For," "By Right of Conquest," "The End of the Game," Etc.

Illustrations by Paul Stahr

[Frontispiece: A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth.]

G. W. Dillingham Company
Publishers -------- New York
Copyright, 1913, by
G. W. Dillingham Company

_The Mask_

ILLUSTRATIONS

A small jewelled hand struck him full on the mouth. . . . _Frontispiece_

"Yes, you are my brother. We are twins."

"I adore you--I adore you," he murmured, as he kissed her again.

THE MASK

CHAPTER I

"There! What did I tell you? The news is out!"

With a muttered exclamation of annoyance, Kenneth Traynor put down his
coffee cup with a crash and, leaning over the table, pointed out to his
wife a despatch from London, given prominence in the morning paper,
which ran as follows:

Advices from Cape Town report the finding on a farm near Fontein, a
hundred miles north of here, of a diamond which in size is only second
to the famous Koh-i-noor. The stone, which is in the shape of an egg
with the top cut off, weighs 1,649 carats, and was discovered after
blasting at the foot of some rocks on land adjacent to the tract owned
by the Americo-African Mining Company of New York. It is understood
that the American Company is negotiating for the property; some say the
transfer has already been made. If t