Danischeff--as we may call her for
the purpose of this story--trembled when she thought of their fate,
and that it might be hers. Certain books that she read, certain
conversations on the subject of heredity that she heard in Petersburg
society fed her terror. Occasionally, too, when she stood under a strong
light she felt a slight pain in her eyes. She never spoke of her fear,
but she fell into a condition of nervous exhaustion that alarmed her
husband and her physician. The latter recommended foreign travel as a
tonic. The former, who was detained in the capital by political affairs,
reluctantly agreed to a separation from his wife. And thus it came
about, that, late one night of spring, the Princess and her companion,
the elderly Countess de Rosnikoff, arrived in Tunis at the close of a
tour in Algeria, and put up at the Hotel Royal.

The bazaars of Tunis are among the best that exist in the world of
bazaars, and, on the morning after her arrival, the Princess was anxious
to explore them with her companion. But Madame de Rosnikoff was fatigued
by her journey from Constantine. She begged the Princess to go without
her, desiring earnestly to be left in her bedroom with a cup of weak
tea and a French novel. The Princess, therefore, ordered a guide and set
forth to the bazaars.

The guide's name was Abdul. He was a talkative young Eastern, and as he
turned with the Princess into the network of tiny alleys that spreads
from the Bab-el-bahar to the bazaars, he poured forth a flood of
information about the marvels of his native city. The Princess listened
idly. That morning she was cruelly pre-occupied. As she stepped out
of the hotel into the bright sunshine she had felt a sharp pain in her
eyes, and now, though she held over her head a large green parasol, the
pain continued. She looked at the light and thought of the darkness that
might be coming upon her, and the chatter of Abdul sounded vague in her
ears. Presently, however, she was forced to attend to him, for he asked
her a direct question.

"To-day they sell jewels by auction near the Mosquee Djama-ez-Zitouna,"
he said. "Would the gracious Princess like to see the market of the
jewels?"

The Princess put her hand to her eyes and assented in a low voice. Abdul
turned out of the sunshine into a narrow alley covered with a wooden
roof. It was full of shadows and of squatting men, who held out brown
hands to the Princess as she passed. But she was staring at the sh