"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 085 - The Mardi Gras Mystery" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

MARDI GRAS MYSTERY
by Maxwell Grant
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? CHAPTER I. THE EBONY BOX
? CHAPTER II. ADVICE IS FOLLOWED
? CHAPTER III. THE SHADOW BEFORE
? CHAPTER IV. THE NOD IS GIVEN
? CHAPTER V. A SPY BY DAY
? CHAPTER VI. THE CHANCE MEETING
? CHAPTER VII. CROOKS PREPARE
? CHAPTER VIII. THE OPENED BOX
? CHAPTER IX. WITHIN THE SNARE
? CHAPTER X. THE NEXT MORNING
? CHAPTER XI. THE SHADOW WAITS
? CHAPTER XII. HARRY OBSERVES
? CHAPTER XIII. THE FINAL MOVES
? CHAPTER XIV. THREADS IN THE NIGHT
? CHAPTER XV. AFTER DUSK
? CHAPTER XVI. THE DOUBLE CROSS
? CHAPTER XVII. CHANCE TAKES CHARGE
? CHAPTER XVIII. AT THE BONTEZAN
? CHAPTER XIX. CROOKS PLAY THEIR PARTS
? CHAPTER XX. DEATH AND THE SHADOW

CHAPTER I. THE EBONY BOX
THE Mardi Gras had reached its final hour. New Orleans was a city that teemed with its spirit of
Carnival. Beneath the brilliance of Canal Street, throngs persisted in their revelry, amid the remnants of
festooned decorations that had marked the last day's celebration.

This was Mardi Gras Day, itself. The climax to three weeks of intermittent merrymaking. By day, the
pageant of Rex had rolled along Canal Street, with all its marchers and its mammoth floats bedecked with
tinsel. The wide thoroughfare had been packed with humanity, pressed to the edges of the narrow strip
allotted to the grand parade.

Evening had brought Comus, with the last display of pageantry. Flares of vari-colored lights had
accompanied this brilliant procession. Then crowds had spread, to carry their hilarity everywhere, in one
last outburst of enthusiasm.

Masqueraders, detaching themselves from more sedate spectators, were seeking the streets of the old
Latin Quarter. This district, the Vieux Carre, formed a natural magnet for those who embarked in revelry.
Small wonder; for the Latin Quarter remained as a relic of old New Orleans. It was from streets as these
that the Mardi Gras had risen, more than a century before.
This modern Mardi Gras had centered about the superb pageantry of Momus; of Proteus, Rex and
Comus. Yet with all the festivities held by those resplendent groups, the lure of the Vieux Carre had not
been forgotten.

Here was the mellow glow of antiquated street lamps, that healed the scars of long-built walls. Balconies,