The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gambler, by Katherine Cecil Thurston

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Title: The Gambler
A Novel

Author: Katherine Cecil Thurston

Release Date: August 22, 2010 [EBook #33490]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAMBLER ***

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[Illustration: He lowered the candles and drew back.]

THE GAMBLER

_A NOVEL_

By

KATHERINE CECIL THURSTON

Author of "The Circle," "The Masquerader," etc.

With Illustrations by JOHN CAMERON

TORONTO
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
1905

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one
thousand nine hundred and five, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY, Toronto,
Ontario, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.

TO

THE MEMORY

OF

MY MOTHER

Transcriber's Note: Only the Frontispiece and illustration on page 61
are included in this ebook.

ILLUSTRATIONS

He lowered the candles and drew back _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

With a fierce gesture he took another step forward 61

The little crowd of curious idlers 123

The younger ... stared at her 141

"The End!" she said to Serracauld 210

Night after night she had sat in the stifling atmosphere 241

The two dogs looked swiftly from her face to their master's 287

She slipped to the door--opened it 337

THE GAMBLER

_PART I_

CHAPTER I

An eight-mile drive over rain-washed Irish roads in the quick-falling
dust of autumn is an experience trying to the patience, even to the
temper, of the average Saxon. Yet James Milbanke made neither comment
nor objection as mile after mile of roadway spun away like a ribbon
behind him, as the mud rose in showers from the wheels of the
old-fashioned trap in which he sat, and the half-trained mare between
the shafts swerved now to the right, now to the left--her nervous
glance caught by the s