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 [Illustration: FLORA GILSEY.] NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1908 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY APRIL * * * * * CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE VANISHING MYSTERY 1 II A NAME GOES ROUND A TABLE 24 III ENCOUNTERS ON PARADE 63 IV FLOWERS BY THE WAY 82 V ON GUARD 93 VI BLACK MAGIC 105 VII A SPELL IS CAST 129 VIII A SPARK OF HORROR 142 IX ILLUMINATION 162 X A LADY UNVEILED 175 XI THE MYSTERY TAKES HUMAN FORM 197 XII DISENCHANTMENT 213 XIII THRUST AND PARRY 216 XIV COMEDY CONVEYS A WARNING 231 XV A LADY IN DISTRESS 248 XVI THE HEART OF THE DILEMMA 285 XVII THE DEMIGOD 293 XVIII GOBLIN TACTICS 330 XIX THE FACE IN THE GARDEN 345 XX FLIGHT 361 XXI THE HOUSE OF QUIET 381 XXII CLARA'S MARKET 410 XXIII TOUCHE 422 XXIV THE COMIC MASK 435 XXV THE LAST ENCHANTMENT 451 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.