will come to thy hand--see!" and he smiled, as Theos, not to be
outdone by his companion in physical courage, bent forward and
stroked the cruel-looking beast, who, while submitting to his
caress, never for a moment ceased her smothered snarling.
Presently, however, she was seized with a sudden fit of savage
playfulness,--and throwing herself on the ground before him, she
rolled her lithe body to and fro with brief thirsty roars of
satisfaction, . . roars that echoed through the whole pavilion with
terrific resonance: then rising, she shook herself vigorously and
commenced a stealthy, velvet-footed pacing up and down, lashing
her tail from side to side, and keeping those sly, emerald-like
eyes of hers watchfully fixed on Sah-luma, who merely laughed at
her fierce antics. Leaning against one of the dark, gnarled trees,
he tapped his sandaled foot with some impatience on the marble
pavement, while Theos, standing close beside him, wondered whether
the mysterious Lysia knew of their arrival.

Sah-luma appeared to guess his thoughts, for he answered them as
though they had been spoken aloud.

"Yes," he said, "she knows we are here--she knew the instant we
entered her gates. Nothing is or can be hidden from her! He who
would have secrets must depart out of Al-Kyris and find some other
city to dwell in, . . for here he shall be unable to keep even his
own counsel. To Lysia all things are made manifest; she reads
human nature as one reads an open scroll, and with merciless
analysis she judges men as being very poor creatures, limited in
their capabilities, disappointing and monotonous in their
passions, unproductive and circumscribed in their destinies. To
her ironical humor and icy wit the wisest sages seem fools; she