t up and
leave her, she would take no notice, but lie there just the same,
drowsy-eyed and indifferent, turning and turning the golden snake. This
slipped from her fingers after a time and dropped to the floor at his
feet. He picked it up, and as she held out her hand to receive it back,
he clasped her wrist gently and began to coil the snake about her arm,
above the elbow. She let him do it; emboldened, he kept her hand, when
the jewel was in place, and pressed it gently. But she drew it away, not
as though in rebuke, however, and examined the armlet to see that it was
on properly.

"Is it not right?" Marius asked, amused. "Let me do it again; this time
I will make sure."

She shook her head, with a slow smile at him. Greatly daring, he leaned
nearer, and fastened the loosened pin on her shoulder. In the operation,
his fingers touched her soft flesh. But she seemed not to notice him at
all; so that quite suddenly he felt baffled and perplexed.

"You are a strange girl!" he said abruptly. Again she smiled.

"Why?" she asked. "Because you cannot understand me, you call me
strange?"

He laughed.

"Perhaps that is it, O my Lady Wisdom. But truly I begin to think you a
riddle worth the reading. It may be, that with somewhat of teaching, you
might prove a pupil apt enough for any man."

She looked at him eagerly.

"Is it a game?" she asked. "You taught me one before, and I liked it.
Wilt teach me also this other game? Is it a good game?"

"Ay," said Marius, amusement in his voice. "It is a good game--the
finest game in the world, for the one who wins. And, indeed, I have it
in mind to teach thee, thou pretty witch, the more so since I should
have the methods of no other to unteach. See, then, I'll show thee the
first move. Give me thy hand--so."

Varia held out her hand, leaning back on her pillows with eager eyes of
anticipation. Marius took the hand. It was small and soft and fragrant,
with rosy, polished nails.

"This, you must know, is a game at which but two can properly play," he
explained, as a schoolmaster might propound theories to a class. "Three
have sometimes tried it, but the third in most cases has wished he had
kept away. Most players divide it into three parts, for the sake of
convenience. The first, for the woman; the second, for the man; the
third, usually, for the lawyers. This latter may be played in various
ways--sometimes is omitted altogether. A great advantage of this game is
that so ma