osite,
in the shadows of the distant box, the mock Prince Shan seemed always to
be gazing at her with that cryptic smile upon his lips.

Presently the door was stealthily opened. A face as pale as death, with
black eyes like pieces of coal, was framed for a moment in the shadowed
slit. A little waft of familiar perfume stole in. La Belle Nita, her
flaming lips widely parted, as soon as she recognised the sole occupant
of the box, crept through the opening and closed the door again.

"You are here?" she exclaimed incredulously. "Your courage failed you?
You did not go?"

"I have been and returned," Maggie answered. "Now tell me what I have
done that you should have plotted this thing against me?"

The girl sat on the edge of a chair and for a moment hummed the refrain
of a sad chant, as she rocked slowly backwards and forwards.

"'What have you done?' the rose asked the butterfly. 'What have you
done?' the mimosa blossom asked the little blue bird, whose wings
fluttered amongst her leaves. 'You have taken love from me, love which
is the blossom of life.'"

"It sounds very picturesque," Maggie said coldly, "but I do not follow
your allegory. What I want to know is why you lied to me, why you sent
me to that house to meet Prince Shan?"

"How did I lie to you?" Nita demanded. "The papers you sought were
there. Were they not yours for the asking, or was the price too great?"

"The papers were there, certainly," Maggie acquiesced, "but you knew
very well--"

She stopped short. Slowly the Oriental idea of it all was beginning to
frame itself in her mind. She dimly understood the bewilderment in the
other's face.

"The papers were there, and he, the most wonderful of all men, was
there," Nita murmured, "yet you leave him while the night is yet young,
you return here without them!"

Maggie rose from her chair, moved to the side table and poured herself
out a glass of wine, which she drank hastily. Anything to escape from
the scornful wonder of those questioning eyes!

"I did not go there," she said, "to make bargains with Prince Shan. I
believed as you wished me to believe, that he was here in that box. I
believed that I should have found the house empty, should have found
what I wanted and have escaped with it. Why did you do this thing? Why
did you send me on that errand when you knew that Prince Shan was
there?"

"It was my desire that he should know that you are no different from
other women," was the calm r