ed differently.'

"'How did little Kaine die?'

"'In a way that pained us all very much. I told you that he stayed
longer among us than anyone else. We had become used to him. In
Antinea's room, on a little Kairouan table, painted in blue and gold,
there is a gong with a long silver hammer with an ebony handle, very
heavy. Aguida told me about it. When Antinea gave little Kaine his
dismissal, smiling as she always does, he stopped in front of her,
mute, very pale. She struck the gong for someone to take him away. A
Targa slave came. But little Kaine had leapt for the hammer, and the
Targa lay on the ground with his skull smashed. Antinea smiled all the
time. They led little Kaine to his room. The same night, eluding
guards, he jumped out of his window at a height of two hundred feet.
The workmen in the embalming room told me that they had the greatest
difficulty with his body. But they succeeded very well. You have only
to go see for yourself. He occupies niche number 26 in the red marble
hall.'

"The old woman drowned her emotion in her glass.

"'Two days before,' she continued, 'I had done his nails, here, for
this was his room. On the wall, near the window, he had written
something in the stone with his knife. See, it is still here.'

"'Was it not Fate, that on this July midnight....'

"At any other moment, that verse, traced in the stone of the window
through which the English officer had hurled himself, would have
killed me with overpowering emotion. But just then, another thought
was in my heart.

"'Tell me,' I said, controlling my voice as well as I could, 'when
Antinea holds one of us in her power, she shuts him up near her, does
she not? Nobody sees him any more?'

The old woman shook her head.

"'She is not afraid that he will escape. The mountain is well guarded.
Antinea has only to strike her silver gong; he will be brought back to
her immediately.'

"'But my companion. I have not see him since she sent for him....'

"The Negress smiled comprehendingly.

"'If you have not seen him, it is because he prefers to remain near
her. Antinea does not force him to. Neither does she prevent him.'

"I struck my fist violently upon the table.

"'Get along with you, old fool. And be quick about it!'

"Rosita fled frightened, hardly taking time to collect her little
instruments.

"'Was it not Fate, that on this July midnight....'

"I obeyed the Negress's suggestion. Following the corridors, losing my