the straggling leaves. Curious birds flew hither and thither,
voiceless creatures, scarlet and amber winged; a huge gilded
brazier stood in one corner from whence ascended the constant
smoke of burning incense, and there were rose-shaded lamps all
about, that shed a subdued mysterious lustre on the scene, and
bestowed a pale glitter on a few fantastic clumps of arums and
nodding lotus-flowers that lazily lifted themselves out of a
greenish pool of stagnant water sunk deeply in on one side of the
marble flooring. Theos, holding Sah-luma's arm, stepped eagerly
across the threshold; he was brimful of expectation: . . and what
mattered it to him whether the weed-like things that grew in this
strange pavilion were pure or poisonous, provided he might look
once more upon the witching face that long ago had so sweetly
enticed him to his ruin! ... Stay! what was he thinking of? Long
ago? Nay, that was impossible,--since he had only seen the
Priestess Lysia for the first time that very morning! How
piteously perplexing it was to be thus tormented with these
indistinct ideas!--these half-formed notions of previous intimate
acquaintance with persons and places he never could have known
before!

All at once he drew back with a startled exclamation; an enormous
tigress, sleek and jewel-eyed, bounded up from beneath a tangled
mass of red and yellow creepers and advanced toward him with a low
savage snarl.

"Peace, Aizif, peace;" said Sah-luma, carelessly patting the
animal's head. "Thou art wont to be wiser in distinguishing 'twixt
thy friends and foes." Then turning to Theos he added--"She is
harmless as a kitten, this poor Aizif! Call her, good Theos, she