derstood that if I chose to peer
through the eye-pieces I should see a succession of strange dances.

To gaze upon dancing was not what I had gone forth to do, but I saw no
reason why I should not do so, as I was thus strangely bidden. I
lowered my head until my eyes were close to the two openings at the top
of the stand. I looked into blackness at first, and yet I thought that
I could detect a mystic commotion of the invisible particles at which I
was staring. I made no doubt that, if I waited, in due season the
promise would be fulfilled. After a period of expectancy which I could
not measure, infinitesimal sparks darted hither and thither, and there
was a slight crackling sound. I concentrated my attention on what I was
about to see; and in a moment more I was rewarded.

The darkness took shape and robed itself in color; and there arose out
of it a spacious banquet-hall, where many guests sat at supper. I could
not make out whether they were Romans or Orientals; the structure
itself had a Latin solidity, but the decorations were Eastern in their
glowing gorgeousness. The hall was illumined by hanging lamps, by the
light of which I tried to decide whether the ruler who sat in the seat
of honor was a Roman or an Oriental. The beautiful woman beside him
struck me as Eastern beyond all question. While I gazed intently he
turned to her and proffered a request. She smiled acquiescence, and
there was a flash of anticipated triumph in her eye as she beckoned to
a menial and sent him forth with a message. A movement as of expectancy
ran around the tables where the guests sat at meat. The attendants
opened wide the portals and a young girl came forward. She was perhaps
fourteen or fifteen years of age, but in the East women ripen young,
and her beauty was indisputable. She had large, deep eyes and a full
mouth; and there was a chain of silver and golden coins twisted into
her coppery hair. She was so like to the woman who sat beside the ruler
that I did not doubt them to be mother and daughter. At a word from the
elder the younger began to dance; and her dance was Oriental, slow at
first, but holding every eye with its sensual fascination. The girl was
a mistress of the art; and not a man in the room withdrew his gaze from
her till she made an end and stood motionless before the ruler. He said
a few words I could not hear, and then the daughter turned to the
mother for guidance; and again I caught the flash of triumph in the