To me, with even my slender knowledge of such matters, it had seemed rather remarkable4 that only such a door should guard a place that was so notorious. Once inside, however, the reason was apparent. It didn't. On the outside there was merely such a door as not to distinguish the house, a three-story and basement dwelling5, of old brownstone, from the others in the street.
As the outside door shut quickly, we found ourselves in a sort of vestibule confronted by another door. Between the two the lookout had his station.
The second door was of the "ice-box" variety, as it was popularly called at the time, of heavy oak, studded with ax-defying bolts, swung on delicately balanced and oiled hinges, carefully concealed7, about as impregnable as a door of steel might be.
There were, as we found later, some steel doors inside, leading to the roof and cellar, though not so thick. The windows were carefully guarded inside by immense steel bars. The approaches from the back were covered with a steel network and every staircase was guarded by a collapsible door. There seemed to be no point of attack that had been left unguarded.
Yet, unless one had been like ourselves looking for these fortifications, they would not have appeared much in evidence in the face of the wealth of artistic9 furnishings that was lavished10 on every hand. Inside the great entrance door was a sort of marble reception hall, richly furnished, and giving anything but the impression of a gambling house. As a matter of fact, the first floor was pretty much of a blind. The gambling was all upstairs.
We turned to a beautiful staircase of carved wood, and ascended11. Everywhere were thick rugs into which the feet sank almost ankle deep. On the walls were pictures that must have cost a small fortune. The furniture was of the costliest12; there were splendid bronzes and objects of art on every hand.
Gambling was going on in several rooms that we passed, but the main room was on the second floor, a large room reconstructed in the old house, with a lofty ceiling and exquisitely13 carved trim. Concealed in huge vases were the lights, a new system, then, which shed its rays in every direction without seeming to cast a shadow anywhere. The room was apparently14 windowless, and yet, though everyone was smoking furiously, the ventilation must have been perfect.
There was, apparently, a full-fledged poolroom in one part of the house, closed now, of course, as the races for the day were run. But I could imagine it doing a fine business in the afternoon. There were many other games now in progress, games of every description, from poker15 to faro, keno, klondike, and roulette. There was nothing of either high or low degree with which the venturesome might not be accommodated.
As Warrington conducted us from one room to another, Garrick noted16 each carefully. Along the middle of the large room stretched a roulette table. We stopped to watch it.
"Crooked17 as it can be," was Garrick's comment after watching it for five minutes or so.
He had not said it aloud, naturally, for even the crowd in evening clothes about it, who had lost or would lose, would have resented such an imputation18.
For the most part there was a solemn quiet about the board, broken only by the rattle19 of the ball and the click of chips. There was an absence of the clink of gold pieces that one hears as the croupier rakes them in at the casinos on the continent. Nor did there seem to be the tense faces that one might expect. Often there was the glint of an eye, or a quick and muffled20 curse, but for the most part everyone, no matter how great a loser, seemed respectable and prosperous. The tragedies, as we came to know, were elsewhere.
We sauntered into another room where they were playing keno. Keno was, we soon found, a development or an outgrowth of lotto, in which cards were sold to the players, bearing numbers which were covered with buttons, as in lotto. The game was won when a row was full after drawing forth21 the numbers on little balls from a "goose."
"Like the roulette wheel," said Garrick grimly, "the 'goose' is crooked, and if I had time I could show you how it is done."
We passed by the hazard boards as too complicated for the limited time at our disposal.
It was, however, the roulette table which seemed to interest Garrick most, partly for the reason that most of the players flocked about it.
The crowd around the table on the second floor was several deep, now. Among those who were playing I noticed a new face. It was of a tall, young man much the worse, apparently, for the supposed good time he had had already. The game seemed to have sobered him up a bit, for he was keen as to mind, now, although a trifle shaky as to legs.
He glanced up momentarily from his close following of the play as we approached.
"Hello, W.," he remarked, as he caught sight of our young companion.
A moment later he had gone back to the game as keen as ever.
"Hello, F.," greeted Warrington. Then, aside to us, he added, "You know they don't use names now in gambling places if they can help it. Initials do just as well. That is Forbes, of whom I told you. He's a young fellow of good family—but I am afraid he is going pretty much to the bad, or will go, if he doesn't quit soon. I wish I could stop him. He's a nice chap. I knew him well at college and we have chummed about a great deal. He's here too much of the time for his own good."
The thing was fascinating, I must admit, no matter what the morals of it were. I became so engrossed22 that I did not notice a man standing23 opposite us. I was surprised when he edged over towards us slowly, then whispered to Garrick, "Meet me downstairs in the grill24 in five minutes, and have a bite to eat. I have something important to say. Only, be careful and don't get me 'in Dutch' here."
The man had a sort of familiar look and his slang certainly reminded me of someone we had met.
"Who was it?" I inquired under my breath, as he disappeared among the players.
"Didn't you recognize him?" queried25 Garrick. "Why, that was Herman,
Dillon's man,—the fellow, you know, who is investigating this place."
I had not recognized the detective in evening clothes. Indeed, I felt that unless he were known here already his disguise was perfect.
Garrick managed to leave Warrington for a time under the pretext26 that he wanted him to keep an eye on Forbes while we explored the place further. We walked leisurely27 down the handsome staircase into the grill and luncheon28 room downstairs.
"Well, have you found out anything?" asked a voice behind us.
We turned. It was Herman who had joined us. Without pausing for an answer he added, "I suppose you are aware of the character of this place? It looks fine, but the games are all crooked, and I guess there are some pretty desperate characters here, from all accounts. I shouldn't like to fall afoul of any of them, if I were you."
"Oh, no," replied Garrick, "it wouldn't be pleasant. But we came in well introduced, and I don't believe anyone suspects."
Several others, talking and laughing loudly to cover their chagrin29 over losses, perhaps, entered the buffet30.
With the gratuitous31 promise to stand by us in trouble of any kind, Herman excused himself, and returned to watch the play about the roulette table.
Garrick and I leisurely finished the little bite of salad we had ordered, then strolled upstairs again.
The play was becoming more and more furious. Forbes was losing again, but was sticking to it with a grim determination that was worthy32 of a better cause. Warrington had already made one attempt to get him away but had not succeeded.
"Well," remarked Garrick, as we three made our way slowly to the coatroom downstairs, "I think we have seen enough of this for to-night. It isn't so very late, after all. I wonder if it would be possible to get into that ladies' poolroom on the next street? I should like to see that place."
"Angus could get us in, if anyone could," replied Warrington thoughtfully. "Wait here a minute. I'll see if I can get him away from the wheel long enough."
Five minutes later he came back, with Forbes in tow. He shook hands with us cordially, in fact a little effusively33. Perhaps I might have liked the young fellow if I could have taken him in hand for a month or two, and knocked some of the silly ideas he had out of his head.
Forbes called a taxicab, a taxicab apparently being the open sesame. One might have gone afoot and have looked ever so much like a "good thing" and he would not have been admitted. But such is the simplicity34 of the sophistication of the keepers of such places that a motor car opens all locks and bolts.
It seemed to be a peculiar35 place and as nearly as I could make out was in a house almost in the rear of the one we had just come from.
We were politely admitted by a negro maid, who offered to take our coats.
"No," answered Forbes, apparently with an eye to getting out as quickly as possible, "we won't stay long tonight. I just came around to introduce my friends to Miss Lottie. I must get back right away."
For some reason or other he seemed very anxious to leave us. I surmised36 that the gambling fever was running high and that he had hopes of a change of luck. At any rate, he was gone, and we had obtained admittance to the ladies' pool room.
We strolled into one of the rooms in which the play was on. The game was at its height, with huge stacks of chips upon the tables and the players chatting gayly. There was no large crowd there, however. Indeed, as we found afterward37, it was really in the afternoon that it was most crowded, for it was rather a poolroom than a gambling joint38, although we gathered from the gossip that some stiff games of bridge were played there. Both men and women were seated at the poker game that was in progress before the little green table. The women were richly attired39 and looked as if they had come from good families.
We were introduced to several, but as it was evident that they were passing under assumed names, whatever the proprietor40 of the place might know of them, I made little effort to remember the names, although I did study the faces carefully.
It was not many minutes before we met Miss Lottie, as everyone called the woman who presided over this feminine realm of chance. Miss Lottie was a finely gowned woman, past middle age, but remarkably41 well preserved, and with a figure that must have occasioned much thought to fashion along the lines of the present slim styles. There seemed to be a man who assisted in the conduct of the place, a heavy-set fellow with a closely curling mustache. But as he kept discreetly42 in the offing, we did not see much of him.
Miss Lottie was frankly43 glad to see us, coming so well introduced, and outspokenly44 disappointed that we would not take a seat in the game that was in progress. However, Garrick passed that over by promising46 to come around soon. Excise47 laws were apparently held in puny48 respect in this luxurious49 atmosphere, and while the hospitable50 Miss Lottie went to summon a servant to bring refreshments51—at our expense—we had ample opportunity to glance about at the large room in which we were seated.
Garrick gazed long and curiously52 at an arc-light enclosed in a soft glass globe in the center of the ceiling, as though it had suggested an idea of some sort to him.
Miss Lottie, who had left us for a few moments, returned unexpectedly to find him still gazing at it.
"We keep that light burning all the time," she remarked, noticing his gaze. "You see, in the daytime we never use the windows. It is always just like it is now, night or day. It makes no difference with us. You know, if we ever should be disturbed by the police," she rattled53 on, "this is my house and I am giving a little private party to a number of my friends."
I had heard of such places but had never seen one before. I knew that well-dressed women, once having been caught in the toils54 of gambling, and perhaps afraid to admit their losses to their husbands, or, often having been introduced through gambling to far worse evils, were sent out from these poker rendezvous55 to the Broadway cafes, there to flirt56 with men, and rope them into the game.
I could not help feeling that perhaps some of the richly gowned women in the house were in reality "cappers" for the game. As I studied the faces, I wondered what tragedies lay back of these rouged57 and painted faces. I saw broken homes, ruined lives, even lost honor written on them. Surely, I felt, this was a case worth taking up if by any chance we could put a stop or even set a limitation to this nefarious58 traffic.
"Have you ever had any trouble?" Garrick asked as we sipped59 at the refreshments.
"Very little," replied Miss Lottie, then as if the very manner of our introduction had stamped us all as "good fellows" to whom she could afford to be a little confidential60 in capturing our patronage61, she added nonchalantly, "We had a sort of wild time a couple of nights ago."
"How was that?" asked Garrick in a voice of studied politeness that carefully concealed the aching curiosity he had for her to talk.
"Well," she answered slowly, "several ladies and gentlemen were here, playing a little high. They—well, they had a little too much to drink, I guess. There was one girl, who was the worst of all. She was pretty far gone. Why, we had to put her out—carry her out to the car that she had come in with her friend. You know we can't stand for any rough stuff like that—no sir. This house is perfectly62 respectable and proper and our patrons understand it."
The story, or rather, the version of it, seemed to interest Garrick, as
I knew it would.
"Who was the girl?" he asked casually63. "Did you know her? Was she one of your regular patrons?"
"Knew her only by sight," returned Miss Lottie hastily, now a little vexed64, I imagined, at Guy's persistence65, "like lots of people who are introduced here—and come again several times."
The woman was evidently sorry that she had mentioned the incident, and was trying to turn the conversation to the advantages of her establishment, not the least of which were her facilities for private games in little rooms in various parts of the house. It seemed all very risque to me, although I tried to appear to think it quite the usual thing, though I was careful to say that hers was the finest of such places I had ever seen. Still, the memory of Garrick's questioning seemed to linger. She had not expected, I knew, that we would take any further interest in her story than to accept it as proof of how careful she was of her clientele.
Garrick was quick to take the cue. He did not arouse any further suspicion by pursuing the subject. Apparently he was convinced that it had been Rena Taylor of whom Miss Lottie spoke45. What really happened we knew no more now than before. Perhaps Miss Lottie herself knew—or she might not know. Garrick quite evidently was willing to let future developments in the case show what had really happened. There was nothing to be gained by forcing things at this stage of the game, either in the gambling den8 around the corner or here.
We chatted along for several minutes longer on inconsequential subjects, treating as important those trivialities which Bohemia considers important and scoffing66 at the really good and true things of life that the demi-monde despises. It was all banality67 now, for we had touched upon the real question in our minds and had bounded as lightly off it as a toy balloon bounds off an opposing surface.
Warrington had kept silent during the visit, I noticed, and seemed relieved when it was over. I could not imagine that he was known here inasmuch as they treated him quite as they treated us.
Apparently, though, he had no relish68 for a possible report of the excursion to get to Miss Winslow's ears. He was the first to leave, as Garrick, after paying for our refreshments and making a neat remark or two about the tasteful way in which the gambling room was furnished, rescued our hats and coats from the negro servant, and said good-night with a promise to drop in again.
"What would Mrs. de Lancey think of THAT?" Garrick could not help saying, as we reached the street.
Warrington gave a nervous little forced laugh, not at all such as he might have given had Mrs. de Lancey not been the aunt of the girl who had entered his life.
Then he caught himself and said hastily, "I don't care what she thinks.
It's none of her—-"
He cut the words short, as if fearing to be misinterpreted either way.
For several squares he plodded69 along silently, then, as we had accomplished70 the object of the evening, excused himself, with the request that we keep him fully6 informed of every incident in the case.
"Warrington doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve," commented Garrick as we bent71 our steps to our own, or rather his, apartment, "but it is evident enough that he is thinking all the time of Violet Winslow."
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1
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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costliest
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| adj.昂贵的( costly的最高级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的 | |
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exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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imputation
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| n.归罪，责难 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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grill
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| n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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gratuitous
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| adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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effusively
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| adv.变溢地，热情洋溢地 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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outspokenly
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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excise
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| n.(国产)货物税；vt.切除，删去 | |
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puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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refreshments
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| n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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53
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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54
toils
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| 网 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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56
flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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57
rouged
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| 胭脂，口红( rouge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
nefarious
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| adj.恶毒的，极坏的 | |
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59
sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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62
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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64
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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65
persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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66
scoffing
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| n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽 | |
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67
banality
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| n.陈腐；平庸；陈词滥调 | |
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68
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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69
plodded
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| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
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70
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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71
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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