nd as he told me in a Mysterious Whisper the Story of the Malay Dagger,
"Guiltless of all Guile," the Vitreous Eye of that Quaintly Carved
Odalisque--for such my fevered fancy Pictured it--was ever Glaring at
me with its Sinister Glare!

And when our Ghostly Talk was Interrupted By the Entrance of other
Guests, I Quaffed Another Crystal Goblet of My Friend's Brain-Maddening
Concoction, and casting a long, lingering Look at the Persian Rug which
hid the Graeco-Romanesque Architecture of the vaulted Ceiling, I passed
from the Gothic Portals of this Esthetic Shrine into the outer
darkness--beyond the glamour of the Seven Lamps of Architecture.

But,--Oh Fitful Fate!--as I passed though The Long, Quiet Hall and
by the wine-colored Plush Corner from whose Voluptuous Shadow The
Sinister-Eyed, Carved-Ivory-Handle Odalisque cast an Alluring,
Appealing Look toward Me, and all Unconsciously, Unintentionally, and
Unresistingly I Took it from its Hand-Painted China Receptacle, and
closing the Heavy doors of Rolled, Cathedral Plate Glass After me,
I Unfurled its Sun-Tanned Gingham Folds to the aforementioned warring
elements. And as I Wended my Desolate Way to the Sainted Shrine of
Pendennis, my Seething Brain Peopled the Valley of Unrest with Elfs,
And Ravens and Brahman Gods, and the Dagger whose blood-stain belonged
to a Venetian Duke. When I Presently Entered the Resounding Cloisters of
the Order of ST. PENDENNIS--when I entered this "House without a Woman"
I sought the seclusion of a dark, Wine-Colored, Plush-Lined Cell, and
carelessly placing the Tanned Gingham, Vegetable-Ivory-handled Umbrella
on the Eighteenth Century Hearth before me,

I threw my mentally-exhausted frame into a a Massive, Damask-covered
Chair with heavily-carved Arms of highly-polished Oak, and sounded the
Tiny, Tintinnabulating Call-Bell for Something to Counteract the Effects
of the Too-exhilerating Potables of my Friend, and his no less Harrowing
Stories!

But while I thus sat waiting, with my feet to The Comfortable Fire, all
at once my Gaze was Unconsciously, Unintentionally and Unresistingly
Transfixed by the Sinister Glance of The Dexter Eye of the Carved-Ivory
Odalisque.

And as I sat there in the Twilight Glare of the Slowly-Consuming
Embers on the Wide and Deep, Old-Fashioned, Open Fire-place, with
Lacquered-Brass Fire-Dogs--beneath the Spell of those Stealthy, Roguish
Glances, I, against My Wish and Will, was led to Think of The dark,
stran