om me the price must be paid to the
uttermost pang of the doom that it may bring with it."

"I care nothing about your knowledges, Phadrig," laughed the Prince,
still holding out his hand. "It is enough for me to know that it is the
most glorious gem on earth, and that it shall help me to win the
divinest woman on earth. So, once more, give it to me!"

"Take it, then, Highness," said the Egyptian, with a ring of solemnity
in his voice. "Take, and with it all that the High Gods may have in
store for you!"

He dropped the more than priceless gem into his hand with as little
reluctance as he would have given him a brass trinket. Then he turned
away to take another cigar, leaving Oscarovitch gazing in silent ecstasy
at, as he thought, his easily-come-by treasure. Then the Prince went to
a large panel picture fixed to the wall on the left-hand side of the
fireplace, touched it with his finger, and it swung aside, disclosing
the door of a small safe built into the wall. He unlocked this, placed
the stone in an inner drawer, closed the safe, and put the picture back
in its place.

When he sat down again, he said:

"My good friend, I know that it is useless for me to thank you, for even
if you wanted thanks I could not do justice to the occasion, as they say
in speeches: but I want to ask you just one more question, and then I
won't keep you any longer from that delightful Oriental Club of yours
which I suppose you are bound to. Now that I have got the stone I am, as
you may well believe, more than anxious to find the lady to whom it
shall belong--again, as I suppose you would say. To my great disgust,
the Professor and his daughter have disappeared from the sphere of
London society for a holiday _a deux_, and have, apparently with intent,
left all their friends in ignorance of their destination. Have you any
idea of it? I know that that Coptic woman whom you employ has been
ordered to keep a sharp watch on the movements of Miss Nitocris."

"Yes, Highness," replied Phadrig, "and she has obeyed her orders. The
day before they left she waylaid that pretty maid of Miss Marmion's on
the Common, and told her fortune. Of course, she talked the usual jargon
about lovers and letters and going on a journey, and the maid quite
innocently let out that she was going with her master and mistress by
steamer to Denmark and up the coast of Norway, and then over to Iceland
by the passenger steamers, and that she did not like the idea at a