eyes of my uncle.

"My boy," said he, "if all the murders were done that men
conceive, the devil would live alone on earth. We shall know
some time--I tell you we shall know! Let us go to Rayel," he
said, rising and leading the way.

The interview had greatly excited him, and his speech seemed
even more halting and labored than before. Many of his words
were mispronounced and separated by long pauses; but his
manner was marvelously expressive, and often a peculiar turn
of the eye or movement of the hand made his meaning clear
when I was in doubt about his words.

I followed him through a long gymnasium and out upon a
grassy courtyard extending along the rear of the grounds
parallel with the river wall for a hundred yards or more,
and adorned with beds of flowers. It was completely shut off
from the eye of the outside world by a thick grove and an
impenetrable growth of underbrush that reached beyond the
lowest branches of the trees. Nothing but the blue sky, in
which the sun was on its downward course, the house, and the
walls of living green, were visible. Out of this Eden-like
spot we passed into another wing of the building with large
windows looking out upon it. Rayel met us at the door,
dressed in a black robe of silk that hung gracefully from
his shoulders. Again he took my hand and kissed it, then
looked into my eyes with the same expression of curious
interest upon his face that I had noted before. Still
holding my hand, he led me across the room. For the first