a square
of snow-white gleaming marble, with verandahs built out and supported
by fairy marble pillars, so as to throw the lower rooms into complete
shade; more fairy pillars springing from the upper side of the
verandahs to support the wide edge of the roof, and so make a great
covered-in balcony to the second floor.

The French windows, divided by columns of different coloured marble,
terminated in perfect arches, studded with great lumps of uncut
amethyst, turquoise matrix, and blocks of quartz in which dully gleamed
the yellow of gold, reminding Jill somewhat of the outer decorations of
a shop she had once seen in the Nevski Prospekt, the owner of which,
dealing in _objets d'arts_, and precious bibelots of jade and sich, had
quite successfully thought out the novel and expensive advertising
method of plastering the front of his shop with chunks of the precious
metal with which the bibelots were made. The drops of a myriad slender
fountain jets, caught in the light of the hanging lanterns, sparkled
and flashed like handfuls of precious stones, and an almost
overpowering perfume filled the air from flowers only half-asleep.

A great gate of silver and bronze opened silently to admit them to the
inner courtyard, only the rolling, glistening eyeballs of Mustapha, the
eunuch, showing that there was any life whatever in the massive black
hulk standing within the shadow.

Just for a moment the girl stood absolutely motionless, and then turned
sharply as a noiseless shape stole past her, and purring loudly rose on
its hind feet and laid its velvety paws upon the Arab's shoulder,
dropping back in a crouching position as Jill, exclaiming softly,
involuntarily stepped forward and laid her hand protectingly upon the
man's arms.

It takes a long time to write, but hardly a second had passed before
the great animal, snarling viciously, shot out its velvety paw, plus a
row of steel-strong claws, and ripped the girl's cloak open from neck
to knee. And then indeed did black Mustapha rise to the occasion, and
in his master's esteem, as also without a sound he shot out an ebony
black arm, gnarled and knotted like any centuries old bough of oak,
terminating in an ebony black hand, which could have easily been
divided between four normal men, and still left a bit over, and picking
up the fighting, clawing animal by the neck, held it lightly at arm's
length, whilst awaiting dumbly his master's order.

"Kill it," said Hahmed brief