then--oh my eye!"



It was night, about ten o'clock indeed, the hour at which Alan generally
went to bed. No message had come and he began to hope that the Asika had
forgotten, or changed her mind, and was just going to say so to Jeekie
when a light coming from behind him attracted his attention and he
turned to see her standing in a corner of the great room, holding a lamp
in her hand and looking towards him. Her gold breastplate and crown were
gone, with every other ornament, and she was clad, or rather muffled in
robes of pure white fitted with a kind of nun's hood which lay back upon
her shoulders. Also on her arm she carried a shawl or veil. Standing
thus, all undecked, with her long hair fastened in a simple knot, she
still looked very beautiful, more so than she had ever been, thought
Alan, for the cruelty of her face had faded and was replaced by a
mystery very strange to see. She did not seem quite like a natural
woman, and that was the reason, perhaps, that Alan for the first time
felt attracted by her. Hitherto she had always repelled him, but this
night it was otherwise.

"How did you come here?" he asked in a more gentle voice than he
generally used towards her.

Noting the change in his tone, she smiled shyly and even coloured a
little, then answered:

"This house has many secrets, Vernoon. When you are lord of it you shall
learn them all, till then I may not tell them to you. But, come, there
are other secrets which I hope you shall see to-night, and, Jeekie, come