"When?"

"At once! As soon as you can get over here in a taxi, from that
incredibly stupid club of yours. You can get to _Niss'rosh_ even
though it's after seven. Take the regular elevator to the forty-first
floor, and I'll have Rrisa meet you and bring you up here in the
special.

"That's a concession, isn't it? The sealed gates that no one else ever
passes, at night, are opened to you. It's very important. Be here in
fifteen minutes you say? First-rate! Don't fail me. Good-bye!"

He was smiling a little now as he pressed the button again and rang
off. He put the faun's head back on the table, got up and stretched
his vigorous arms.

"By Allah!" he exclaimed, new notes in his voice. "What if--what if it
_could_ be, after all?"

He turned to the wall, laid his hand on an ivory plate flush with the
surface and pressed slightly. In silent unison, heavy gold-embroidered
draperies slid across every window. As these draperies closed the
apertures, light gushed from every angle and cornice. No specific
source of illumination seemed visible; but the room bathed itself in
soft, clear radiance with a certain restful greenish tinge, throwing
no shadows, pure as the day itself.

The man pulled open a drawer in the table and silently gazed down at
several little boxes within. He opened some. From one, on a bed of