in a vice, not this time by the force of its beauty, but by the power of fascinated terror. The beauty was still there, indeed, but the agony, the blind passion, and the awful vindictiveness displayed upon those quivering features, and in the tortured look of the upturned eyes, were such as surpass my powers of description.

For a moment she stood still, her hands raised high above her head, and as she did so the white robe slipped from her down to her golden girdle, baring the blinding loveliness of her form. She stood there, her fingers clenched, and the awful look of malevolence gathered and deepened on her face.

Suddenly, I thought of what would happen if she discovered me, and the reflection made me turn sick and faint. But even if I had known that I must die if I stopped, I do not believe that I could have moved, for I was absolutely fascinated. But still I knew my danger. Supposing she should hear me, or see me through the curtain, supposing I even sneezed, or that her magic told her that she was being watched-- swift indeed would be my doom.

Down came the clenched hands to her sides, then up again above her head, and, as I am a living and honourable man, the white flame of the fire leapt up after them, almost to the roof, throwing a fierce and ghastly glare upon She herself, upon the white figure beneath the covering, and every scroll and detail of the rockwork.

Down came the ivory arms again, and as they did so she spoke, or rather hissed, in Arabic, in a note that curdled my blood, and for a second stopped my heart.

`Curse her, may she be everlastingly accursed.'

The arms fell and the flame sank. Up they went again, and the broad tongue of fire shot up after them; then again they fell.

`Curse her memory--accursed be the memory of the Egyptian.'

Up again, and again down.

`Curse her, the fair daughter of the Nile, because of her beauty.'

`Curse her, because her magic hath prevailed against me.'

`Curse her, because she kept my beloved from me.'

And again the flame dwindled and shrank.

She put her hands before her eyes, and, abandoning the hissing tone, cried aloud:--

`What is the use of cursing?--she prevailed, and she is gone.'

Then she recommenced with an even more frightful energy:--

`Curse her where she is. Let my curses reach her where she is and disturb her rest.

`Curse her through the starry spaces. Let her shadow be accursed.

`Let my power find her even there.

`Let her hear me even there. Let her hide herself in the blackness.

`Let her go down into the pit of despair, because I shall one day find her.'

Again the flame fell, and again she covered her eyes with her hands.