t is that?' At this moment the gong in the passageway responded to
three measured strokes.

"'Confusion!' muttered the prince. 'What does this mean?' and turning
abruptly, he hastened to the doorway, swept aside the curtains, and
revealed the trembling figure of the wrinkled crone who had quitted the
apartment at his entrance.

"'What now?' cried the exasperated prince as he fixed his eyes, vivid
with rage at the unwelcome interruption, upon the miserable creature.

"In reply the woman raised her shriveled hand, with a gesture that was
not without its weird impressiveness, and pointed to his apartments.

"'Speak!' he demanded with a modification of his intensity, which he
perceived deprived the waiting-woman of the power of speech.

"'A messenger,' she croaked, 'from the palace of the moghul; he must
speak with thee at once.'

"With one long glance of such concentrated determination that it caused
the beautiful girl to tremble anew, the prince vanished through the
portal and hastened along the passageway.

"Scarcely had he departed when the demeanor of the waiting-woman
underwent a startling transformation.

"An incredible degree of energy quickened in the recoil of her bent form
to a disproportionate erectness of stature.

"Beneath level, unwavering lids, her eyes emitted gleams which had
pierced the retreating figure with deadly viciousness had they been
poniards.

"The servile vanished, the abject; and she stood, the silent embodiment
of evil, restrained purpose.

"The next instant, with an angry gesture that was vaguely significant of
future requital and present impotence, the vindictive creature swept
aside the curtains and re-entered the room leading to the apartment
occupied by Lal Lu.

"As she approached the disturbed beauty, the tension in her mien
relaxed, and she regarded the _distrait_ countenance before her with a
glance that was anything but unfriendly, in so far as it was possible to
determine the nature of the sentiment in hiding behind that austere
visage.

"Directly she stood by the table which Lal Lu had interposed as a sort
of barricade against advances of her impetuous lover, and with an
attempt at a smile, which could as readily find acceptance as a
repentant scowl, this singular being inserted her hand in the folds of
the tunic which defended her parchment bosom, and produced from that
barren demesne a folded missive, which she placed in the hands of the
astonished Lal Lu.

"Wit