THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
ZISKA
THE PROBLEM OF A WICKED SOUL
A Dramatic Version of this Story has been duly
copyrighted in Great Britain and the United States
COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY
STONE AND KIMBALL
PR
TO THE
PRESENT LIVING RE-INCARNATION
OF
ARAXES
G8OO72
ZISKA.
THE PROBLEM OF A WICKED SOUL.
PROLOGUE.
DARK against the sky towered the Great
Pyramid, and over its apex hung the moon.
Like a wreck cast ashore by some titanic
storm, the Sphinx, reposing amid the un-
dulating waves of grayish sand surrounding
it, seemed for once to drowse. Its solemn
visage that had impassively watched ages
come and go, empires rise and fall, and
generations of men live and die, appeared
for the moment to have lost its usual ex-
pression of speculative wisdom and intense
disdain its cold eyes seemed to droop, its
stern mouth almost smiled. The air was
calm and sultry ; and not a human foot dis-
turbed the silence. But towards midnight
a Voice suddenly arose as it were like a
wind in the desert, crying aloud : "Araxes!
7
8 PROLOGUE
Araxes ! " and wailing past, sank with a
profound echo into the deep recesses of the
vast Egyptian tomb. Moonlight and the
Hour wove their own mystery ; the mystery
of a Shadow and a Shape that flitted out like
a thin vapor from the very portals of Death's
ancient temple, and drifting forward a few
paces resolved itself into the visionary fair-
ness of a Woman's form a Woman whose
dark hair fell about her heavily, like the black
remnants of a long-buried corpse's wrap-
pings ; a Woman whose eyes flashed with
an unholy fire as she lifted her face to the
white moon and waved her ghostly arms
upon the air. And again the wild Voice
pulsated through the stillness.
" Araxes ! . . . Araxes ! Thou art here,
and I pursue thee ! Through life into
death ; through death out into life again !
I find thee and I follow ! I follow !
Araxes ! . . . "
Moonlight and the Hour wove their own
mystery ; and ere the pale opal dawn flushed
the sky with hues of rose and amber the
Shadow had vanished ; the Voice was heard
no more. Slowly the sun lifted the edge of
its golden shield above the horizon, and the
great Sphinx awaking from its apparent
brief slumber, stared in expressive and eter-
PROLOGUE 9
nal scorn across the tracts of sand and tufted
palm-trees towards the glittering dome of
El-Hazar that abode of profound sanctity
and learning, where men still knelt and wor-
shipped, praying the Unknown to deliver
them from the Unseen. And one would al-
most have deemed that the sculptured Mon-
ster with the enigmatical Woman-face and
Lion-form had strange thoughts in its huge
granite brain ; for when the full day sprang
in glory over the desert and illumined its
large features with a burning saffron radi-
ance, its cruel lips still smiled as though
yearning to speak and propound the terrible
riddle of old time ; the Problem which killed !
CHAPTER I.
IT was the full " season " in Cairo. The
ubiquitous Britisher and the no less ubiqui-
tous American had planted their differing
" society " standards on the sandy soil wa-
tered by the Nile, and were busily engaged
in the work of reducing the city, formerly
called Al Kahira or The Victorious, to a more
deplorable condition of subjection and slav-
ery than any old-world conqueror could ever
have done. For the heavy yoke of modern
fashion has been flung on the neck of Al
Kahira, and the irresistible, tyrannic domin-
ion of " swagger " vulgarity has laid The
Victorious low. The swarthy children of
the desert might, and possibly would, be
ready and willing to go forth and fight men
with men's weapons for the freedom to live
and die unmolested in their own native
land ; but against the blandly-smiling, white-
helmeted, sun-spectacled, perspiring horde
of Cook's " cheap trippers," what can they
do save remain inert and well-nigh speech-
II
12 ZISKA
less ? For nothing like the cheap tripper
was ever seen in the world till our present
enlightened and glorious day of progress ;
he is a new-grafted type of nomad, like
and yet unlike a man. The Darwin theory
asserts itself proudly and prominently in
bristles of truth all over him in his restless-
ness, his ape-like agility and curiosity, his
shameless inquisitiveness, his careful cleans-
ing of himself from foreign fleas, his general
attention to minutiae, and his always vora-
cious appetite ; and where the ape ends and
the man begins is somewhat difficult to dis-
cover. The " image of God " wherewith he,
together with his fellows, was originally sup-
posed to be impressed in the first fresh days
of Creation, seems fairly blotted out, for
there is no touch of the Divine in his mortal
composition. Nor does the second created
phase the copy of the Divine namely, the
Heroic, dignify his form or ennoble his
countenance. There is nothing of the heroic
in the wandering biped who swings through
the streets of Cairo in white flannels, laugh-
ing at the staid composure of the Arabs, flick-
ing thumb and finger at the patient noses of
the small hireable donkeys and other beasts
of burden, thrusting a warm red face of in-
quiry into the shadowy recesses of odorifer-
ZISKA 13
ous bazaars, and sauntering at evening in
the Esbekiyeh Gardens, cigar in mouth and
hands in pockets, looking on the scene and
behaving in it as if the whole place were but
a reflex of Earl's Court Exhibition. History
affects the cheap tripper not at all ; he
regards the Pyramids as "good building"
merely, and the inscrutable Sphinx itself as
a fine target for empty soda-water bottles,
while perhaps his chiefest regret is that the
granite whereof the ancient monster is hewn
is too hard for him to inscribe his distin-
guished name thereon. It is true that there
is a punishment inflicted on any person or
persons attempting such wanton work a
fine or the bastinado ; yet neither fine nor
bastinado would affect -the " tripper" if he
could only succeed in carving " 'Any " on
the Sphinx's jaw. But he cannot, and here-
in is his own misery. Otherwise he com-
ports himself in Egypt as he does at Mar-
gate, with no more thought, reflection, or
reverence than dignify the composition of
his far-off Simian ancestor.
Taking him all in all, he is, however, no
worse, and in some respects better, than the
" swagger " folk who " do " Egypt, or rather,
consent in a languid way to be " done " by
Egypt. These are the people who annually
14 ZISKA
leave England on the plea of being unable to
stand the cheery, frosty, and in every respect
healthy winter of their native country that
winter, which with its wild winds, its spark-
ling frost and snow, its holly trees bright
with scarlet berries, its merry hunters gal-
loping over field and moor during daylight
hours, and its great log fires roaring up the
chimneys at evening, was sufficiently good
for their forefathers to thrive upon and live
through contentedly up to a hale and hearty
old age in the times when the fever of travel-
ling from place to place was an unknown
disease, and home was indeed " sweet home."
Infected by strange maladies of the blood
and nerves, to which even scientific physi-
cians find it hard to give suitable names,
they shudder at the first whiff of cold, and
filling huge trunks with a thousand foolish
things which have, through luxurious habit,
become necessities to their pallid existences,
they hastily depart to the Land of the Sun,
carrying with them their nameless languors,
discontents and incurable illnesses, for which
Heaven itself, much less Egypt, could pro-
vide no remedy. It is not at all to be won-
dered at that these physically and morally
sick tribes of human kind have ceased to
give any serious attention as to what may
ZISKA 15
possibly become of them after death, or
whether there is any " after," for they are
in the mentally comatose condition which
precedes entire wreckage of brain-force ;
existence itself has become a " bore ; " one
place is like another, and they repeat the
same monotonous round of living in every
spot where they congregate, whether it be
east, west, north, or south. On the Riviera
they find little to do except meet at Rum-
pelmayer's at Cannes, the London House at
Nice, or the Casino at Monte-Carlo ; and in
Cairo they inaugurate a miniature London
" season " over again, worked in the same
groove of dinners, dances, drives, picnics,
flirtations, and matrimonial engagements.
But the Cairene season has perhaps some
advantage over the London one so far as
this particular set of "swagger" folk are
concerned it is less hampered by the pro-
prieties. One can be more " free," you
know ! You may take a little walk into
" Old " Cairo, and turning a corner you may
catch glimpses of what Mark Twain calls
" Oriental simplicity," namely, picturesquely-
composed groups of " dear delightful " Arabs
whose clothing is no more than primitive
custom makes strictly necessary. These
kind of " tableaux vivants " or " art studies "
16 ZISKA
give quite a thrill of novelty to Cairene-
English Society, a touch of savagery, a
soupgon of peculiarity which is entirely lack-
ing to fashionable London. Then, it must
be remembered that the " children of the
desert " have been led by gentle degrees to
understand that for harboring the strange
locusts imported into their land by Cook,
and the still stranger specimens of unclassi-
fied insect called Upper Ten, which imports
itself, they will receive " backsheesh."
" Backsheesh " is a certain source of com-
fort to all nations, and translates itself
with sweetest euphony into all languages,
and the desert-born tribes have justice on
their side when they demand as much of
it as they can get, rightfully or wrong-
fully. They deserve to gain some sort of
advantage out of the odd-looking swarms
of Western invaders who amaze them by
their dress and affront them by their
manners. " Backsheesh," therefore, has
become the perpetual cry of the Desert-
Born, it is the only means of offence and
defence left to them, and very naturally they
cling to it with fervor and resolution. And
who shall blame them ? The tall, majestic,
meditative Arab superb as mere man, and
standing naked-footed on his sandy native
ZISKA 17
soil, with his one rough garment flung round
his loins and his great black eyes fronting,
eagle-like, the sun merits something con-
siderable for condescending to act as guide
and servant to the Western moneyed civilian
who clothes his lower limbs in straight, fun-
nel-like cloth casings, shaped to the strict re-
semblance of an elephant's legs, and finishes
the graceful design by enclosing the rest of
his body in a stiff shirt wherein he can
scarcely move, and a square-cut coat which
divides him neatly in twain by a line imme-
diately above the knee, with the effect of
lessening his height by several inches. The
Desert-Born surveys him gravely and in civil
compassion, sometimes with a muttered
prayer against the hideousness of him, but
on the whole with patience and equanimity,
influenced by considerations of " back-
sheesh." And the English " season " whirls
lightly and vaporously, like blown egg-froth,
over the mystic land of the old gods, the
terrible land filled with dark secrets as yet
unexplored, the land "shadowing with
wings," as the Bible hath it, the land in
which are buried tremendous histories as yet
unguessed, profound enigmas of the super-
natural, labyrinths of wonder, terror and
mystery, all of which remain unrevealed to
2
1 8 ZISKA
the giddy-pated, dancing, dining, gabbling
throng of the fashionable travelling lunatics
of the day, the people who " never think
because it is too much trouble," people
whose one idea is to journey from hotel to
hotel and compare notes with their acquaint-
ances afterwards as to which house provided
them with the best-cooked food. For it is
a noticeable fact that with most visitors to
the " show " places of Europe and the East,
food, bedding and selfish personal comfort
are the first considerations, the scenery and
the associations come last. Formerly the
position was reversed. In the days when
there were no railways, and the immortal
Byron wrote his Childe Harold, it was cus-
tomary to rate personal inconvenience
lightly; the beautiful or historic scene was
the attraction for the traveller, and not the
arrangements made for his special form of
digestive apparatus. Byron could sleep on
the deck of a sailing vessel wrapped in his
cloak and feel none the worse for it ; his
well-braced mind and aspiring spirit soared
above all bodily discomforts ; his thoughts
were engrossed with the mighty teachings of
time ; he was able to lose himself in glorious
reveries on the lessons of the past and the
possibilities of the future ; the attitude of
ZISKA 19
the inspired Thinker as well as Poet was his,
and a crust of bread and cheese served him
as sufficiently on his journeyings among
the then unspoilt valleys and mountains of
Switzerland as the warm, greasy, indigest-
ible fare of the elaborate table-cThdtes at
Lucerne and Interlaken serve us now. But
we, in our " superior " condition, pooh-pooh
the Byronic spirit of indifference to events
and scorn of trifles, we say it is " melo-
dramatic," completely forgetting that our
attitude towards ourselves and things in
general is one of most pitiable bathos. We
cannot write Childe Harold, but we can
grumble at both bed and board in every
hotel under the sun ; we can discover teas-
ing midges in the air and questionable in-
sects in the rooms ; and we can discuss each
bill presented to us with an industrious per-
sistence which nearly drives landlords frantic
and ourselves as well. In these kind of im-
portant matters we are indeed " superior " to
Byron and other ranting dreamers of his
type, but we produce no Childe Harolds,
and we have come to the strange pass of pre-
tending that Don Juan is improper, while
we pore over Zola with avidity ! To such
a pitch has our culture brought us ! And,
like the Pharisee in the Testament, we thank
2O ZISKA
God we are not as others are. We are glad
we are not as the Arab, as the African, as
the Hindoo ; we are proud of our elephant-
legs and our dividing coat-line ; these things
show we are civilized, and that God approves
of us more than any other type of creature
ever created. We take possession of nations,
not by thunder of war, but by clatter of din-
ner-plates. We do not raise armies, we build
hotels ; and we settle ourselves in Egypt as
we do at Homburg, to dress and dine and
sleep and sniff contempt on all things but
ourselves, to such an extent that we have
actually got into the habit of calling the
natives of the places we usurp " foreigners."
We are the foreigners ; but somehow we
never can see it. Wherever we condescend
to build hotels, that spot we consider ours.
We are surprised at the impertinence of
Frankfort people who presume to visit
Homburg while we are having our " season "
there ; we wonder how they dare do it !
And, of a truth, they seem amazed at their
own boldness, and creep shyly through the
Kur-Garten as though fearing to be turned
out by the custodians. The same thing
occurs in Egypt ; we are frequently as-
tounded at what we call " the impertinence
of these foreigners," i.e. the natives. They
ZISKA 21
ought to be proud to have us and our ele-
phant-legs ; glad to see such noble and beau-
tiful types of civilization as the stout parvenu
with his pendant paunch, and his family of
gawky youths and maidens of the large-
toothed, long-limbed genus ; glad to see the
English " mamma," who never grows old,
but wears young hair in innocent curls,
and has her wrinkles annually "massaged"
out by a Paris artiste in complexion. The
Desert-Born, we say, should be happy and
grateful to see such sights, and not demand
so much " backsheesh." In fact, the Desert-
Born should not get so much in our way as
he does ; he is a very good servant, of course,
but as a man and a brother pooh ! Egypt
may be his country, and he may love it as
much as we love England ; but our feelings
are more to be considered than his, and there
is no connecting link of human sympathy
between Elephant-Legs and sun-browned
Nudity !
So at least thought Sir Chetwynd Lyle, a
stout gentleman of coarse build and coarser
physiognomy, as he sat in a deep arm-chair
in the great hall or lounge of the Gezireh
Palace Hotel, smoking after dinner in the
company of two or three acquaintances with
whom he had fraternized during his stay in
22 ZISKA
Cairo. Sir Chetwynd was fond of airing his
opinions for the benefit of as many people
who cared to listen to him, and Sir Chetwynd
had some right to his opinions, inasmuch as
he was the editor and proprietor of a large
London newspaper. His knighthood was
quite a recent distinction, and nobody knew
exactly how he had managed to get it. He
had originally been known in Fleet Street
by the irreverent sobriquet of " greasy Chet-
wynd," owing to his largeness, oiliness and
general air of blandly-meaningless benev-
olence. He had a wife and two daughters,
and one of his objects in wintering at Cairo
was to get his cherished children married.
It was time, for the bloom was slightly off
the fair girl-roses, the dainty petals of the
delicate buds were beginning to wither.
And Sir Chetwynd had heard much of Cairo ;
he understood that there was a great deal
of liberty allowed there between men and
maids, that they went out together on
driving excursions to the Pyramids, that
they rode on lilliputian donkeys over the
sand at moonlight, that they floated about
in boats at evening on the Nile, and that,
in short, there were more opportunities of
marriage among the " flesh-pots of Egypt "
than in all the rush and crush of London.
ZISKA 23
So here he was, portly and comfortable, and
on the whole well satisfied with his expedi-
tion ; there were a good many eligible bach-
elors about, and Muriel and Dolly were really
doing their best. So was their mother, Lady
Chetwynd Lyle ; she allowed no "eligible "
to escape her hawk-like observation, and on
this particular evening she was in all her
glory, for there was to be a costume ball at
the Gezireh Palace Hotel, a superb affair,
organized by the proprietors for the amuse-
ment of their paying guests, who certainly
paid well, even stiffly. Owing to the prep-
arations that were going on for this festivity,
the lounge, with its sumptuous Egyptian
decorations and luxurious modern fittings,
was well-nigh deserted save for Sir Chetwynd
and his particular group of friends, to whom
he was holding forth, between slow cigar-
puffs, on the squalor of the Arabs, the fright-
ful thievery of the Sheiks, the incompetency
of his own special dragoman, and the mis-
take people made in thinking the Egyptians
themselves a fine race.
" They are tall, certainly," said Sir Chet-
wynd, surveying his paunch, which lolled
comfortably, and as it were by itself, in front
of him, like a kind of waistcoated air-balloon.
" I grant you they are tall. That is, the
24 ZISKA
majority of them are. But I have seen short
men among them. The Khedive is not
taller than I am. And the Egyptian face
is very deceptive. The features are often
fine, occasionally classic, but intelligent
expression is totally lacking."
Here Sir Chetwynd waved his cigar de-
scriptively, as though he would fain suggest
that a heavy jaw, a fat nose with a pimple at
the end, and a gross mouth with black teeth
inside it, which were special points in his
own physiognomy, went further to make
up " intelligent expression " than any well-
moulded, straight, Eastern type of sun-
browned countenance ever seen or imagined.
" Well, I don't quite agree with you there,"
said a man who was lying full length on one
of the divans close by and smoking. " These
brown chaps have deuced fine eyes. There
doesn't seem to be any lack of expression in
them. And that reminds me, there is at
fellow arrived here to-day who looks for all
the world like an Egyptian, of the best form.
He is a Frenchman, though ; a Provencal,
every one knows him, he is the famous
painter, Armand Gervase."
" Indeed ! " and Sir Chetwynd roused
himself at the name " Armand Gervase !
The Armand Gervase ? "
ZISKA 25
" The only one original," laughed the other.
" He's come here to make studies of Eastern
women. A rare old time he'll have among
them, I daresay ! He's not famous for
character. He ought to paint the Princess
Ziska."
" Ah, by-the-bye, I wanted to ask you
about that lady. Does anyone know who
she is? My wife is very anxious to find out
whether she is well er quite the proper
person, you know ! When one has young
girls, one cannot be too careful."
Ross Courtney, the man on the divan, got
up slowly and stretched his long athletic
limbs with a lazy enjoyment in the action.
He was a sporting person with unhampered
means and large estates in Scotland and Ire-
land ; he lived a joyous, " don't-care " life of
wandering about the world in search of ad-
ventures, and he had a scorn of civilized
conventionalities newspapers and their edi-
tors among them. And whenever Sir Chet-
wynd spoke of his " young girls " he was
moved to irreverent smiling, as he knew the
youngest of the twain was at least thirty.
He also recognized and avoided the wily
traps and pitfalls set for him by Lady Chet-
wynd Lyle in the hope that he would yield
himself up a captive to the charms of Muriel
26 ZISKA
or Dolly ; and as he thought of these two
fair ones now and involuntarily compared
them in his mind with the other woman
just spoken of, the smile that had begun to
hover on his lips deepened unconsciously
till his handsome face was quite illumined
with its mirth.
" Upon my word, I don't think it matters
who anybody is in Cairo ! " he said with a
fine carelessness. " The people whose fami-
lies are all guaranteed respectable are more
lax in their behavior than the people one
knows nothing about. As for the Princess
Ziska, her extraordinary beauty and intelli-
gence would give her the entree anywhere
even if she hadn't money to back those
qualities up."
" She's enormously wealthy, I hear," said
young Lord Fulkeward, another of the
languid smokers, caressing his scarcely per-
ceptible moustache. "My mother thinks
she is a divorcee"
Sir Chetwynd looked very serious, and
shook his fat head solemnly.
" Well, there is nothing remarkable in be-
ing divorced, you know," laughed Ross
Courtney. " Nowadays it seems the natural
and fitting end of marriage."
Sir Chetwynd looked graver still. He
ZISKA 27
refused to be drawn into this kind of flip-
pant conversation. He, at any rate, was
respectably married; he had no sympathy
whatever with the larger majority of people
whose marriages were a failure.
" There is no Prince Ziska then ? " he in-
quired. " The name sounds to me of Russian
origin, and I imagined my wife also im-
agined, that the husband of the lady might
very easily be in Russia while his wife's
health might necessitate her wintering in
Egypt. The Russian winter climate is incle-
ment, I believe."
" That would be a very neat arrangement,"
yawned Lord Fulkeward. " But my mother
thinks not. My mother thinks there is not
a husband at all, that there never was a
husband. In fact my mother has very strong
convictions on the subject. But my mother
intends to visit her all the same."
" She does ? Lady Fulkeward has decided
on that ? Oh, well, in that case ! " and Sir
Chetwynd expanded his lower-chest air-
balloon. '* Of course, Lady Chetwynd Lyle
can no longer have any scruples on the sub-
ject. If Lady Fulkeward visits the Princess
there can be no doubt as to her actual status."
" Oh, I don't know ! " murmured Lord
Fulkeward, stroking his downy lip. " You
28 ZISKA
see my mother's rather an exceptional per-
son. When the governor was alive she
hardly ever went out anywhere, you know,
and all the people who came to our house in
Yorkshire had to bring their pedigrees with
them, so to speak. It was beastly dull!
But now my mother has taken to ' studying
character,' don'cher know ; she likes all sorts
of people about her, and the more mixed
they are the more she is delighted with
them. Fact, I assure you ! Quite a change
has come over my mother since the poor old
governor died ! "
Ross Courtney looked amused. A change
indeed had come over Lady Fulkeward a
change, sudden, mysterious and amazing to
many of her former distinguished friends
with " pedigrees." In her husband's life-
time her hair had been a soft silver-gray ;
her face pale, refined and serious ; her form
full and matronly ; her step sober and dis-
creet ; but two years after the death of the
kindly and noble old lord who had cherished
her as the apple of his eye and up to the
last moment of his breath had thought her
the most beautiful woman in England, she
appeared with golden tresses, a peach-bloom
complexion, and a figure which had been so
massaged, rubbed, pressed and artistically
ZISKA 29
corseted as to appear positively sylph-like.
She danced like a fairy, she who had once
been called " old " Lady Fulkeward ; she
smoked cigarettes ; she laughed like a child
at every trivial thing any joke, however
stale, flat and unprofitable, was sufficient to
stir her light pulses to merriment ; and she
flirted oh, heavens ! how she flirted !
with a skill and a grace and a knowledge
and an aplomb that nearly drove Muriel and
Dolly Chetwynd Lyle frantic. They, poor
things, were beaten out of the field alto-
gether by her superior tact and art of
"fence," and they hated her accordingly
and called her in private a "horrid old
woman," which perhaps, when her maid un-
dressed her, she was. But .she was having a
distinctly "good time" in Cairo; she called
her son, who was in delicate health, " my
poor dear little boy ! " and he, though twen-
ty-eight on his last birthday, was reduced to
such an abject condition of servitude by her
assertiveness, impudent gayety and general
freedom of manner, that he could not open
his mouth without alluding to " my mother,"
and using " my mother " as a peg whereon
to hang all his own opinions and emotions
as well as the opinions and emotions of
other people.
30 ZISKA
" Lady Fulkeward admires the Princess
very much, I believe?" said another lounger
who had not yet spoken.
" Oh, as to that ! " and Lord Fulkeward
roused himself to some faint show of energy.
" Who wouldn't admire her ? By Jove !
Only, I tell you what there's something
weird about her eyes. Fact ! I don't like
her eyes."
" Shut up, Fulke ! She has beautiful
eyes ! " burst out Courtney, hotly ; then
flushing suddenly he bit his lips and was
silent.
"Who is this that has beautiful eyes?"
suddenly demanded a slow, gruff voice, and
a little thin gentleman, dressed in a kind of
academic gown and cap, appeared on the
scene.
" Hullo ! here's our F.R.S.A. ! " exclaimed
Lord Fulkeward. " By Jove ! Is that the
style you have got yourself up in for to-
night ? It looks awfully smart, don'cher
know ! "
The personage thus complimented ad-
justed his spectacles and surveyed his ac-
quaintances with a very well-satisfied air. In
truth, Dr. Maxwell Dean had some reason
for self-satisfaction, if the knowledge that
he possessed one of the cleverest heads in
ZISKA 31
Europe could give a man cause for pride.
He was apparently the only individual in
the Gezireh Palace Hotel who had come to
Egypt for any serious purpose. A purpose
he had, though what it was he declined to
explain. Reticent, often brusque, and some-
times mysterious in his manner of speech,
there was not the slightest doubt that he
was at work on something, and that he also
had a very trying habit of closely studying
every object, small or great, that came
under his observation. He studied the
natives to such an extent that he knew
every differing shade of color in their skins ;
he studied Sir Chetwynd Lyle and knew
that he occasionally took bribes to " put
things " into his paper ; he studied Dolly
and Muriel Chetwynd Lyle, and knew that
they would never succeed in getting hus-
bands ; he studied Lady Fulkeward, and
thought her very well got up for sixty ; he
studied Ross Courtney, and knew he would
never do anything but kill animals all his
life ; and he studied the working of the
Gezireh Palace Hotel, and saw a fortune ris-
ing out of it for the proprietors. But apart
from these ordinary surface things, he studied
other matters " occult " peculiarities of tem-
perament, " coincidences," strange occur-
32 ZISKA
rences generally. He could read the Egyp-
tian hieroglyphs perfectly, and he under-
stood the difference between " royal car-
touche " scarabei and Birmingham-manufac-
tured ones. He was never dull ; he had
plenty to do ; and he took everything as it
came in its turn. Even the costume ball for
which he had now attired himself did not
present itself to him as a " bore," but as a
new vein of information, opening to him fresh
glimpses of the genus homo as seen in a state
of eccentricity.
" I think," he now said, complacently,
" that the cap and gown look well for a man
of my years. It is a simple garb, but cool,
convenient and not unbecoming. I had
thought at first of adopting the dress of an
ancient Egyptian priest, but I find it diffi-
cult to secure the complete outfit. I would
never wear a costume of the kind that was
not in every point historically correct.
No one smiled. No one would have dared
to smile at Dr. Maxwell Dean when he spoke
of " historically correct " things. He had
studied them as he had studied everything,
and he knew all about them.
Sir Chetwynd murmured :
" Quite right er the ancient designs
were very elaborate "
ZISKA 33
" And symbolic," finished Dr. Dean.
" Symbolic of very curious meanings, I as-
sure you. But I fear I have interrupted
your talk. Mr. Courtney was speaking about
somebody's beautiful eyes ; who is the fair
one in question? "
" The Princess Ziska," said Lord Fulke-
ward. " I was saying that I don't quite like
the look of her eyes."
" Why not ? Why not ? " demanded the
doctor with sudden asperity. " What's the
matter with them ? "
" Everything's the matter with them ! "
replied Ross Courtney with a forced laugh.
" They are too splendid and wild for Fulke ;
he likes the English pale-blue better than
the Egyptian gazelle-black."
" No, I don't," said Lord Fulkeward,
speaking more animatedly than was custom-
ary with him. " I hate, pale-blue eyes. I
prefer soft violet-gray ones, like Miss
Murray's."
" Miss Helen Murray is a very charming
young lady," said Dr. Dean. " But her
beauty is quite of an ordinary type, while
that of the Princess Ziska "
" Is extra-ordinary exactly ! That's just
what I say ! " declared Courtney. " I think
she is the loveliest woman I have ever seen."
3
34 ZISKA
There was a pause, during which the little
doctor looked with a ferret-like curiosity
from one man to the other. Sir Chetwynd
Lyle rose ponderously up from the depths
of his arm-chair.
" I think," said he, " I had better go and
get into my uniform the Windsor, you
know ! I always have it with me wherever
I go ; it comes in very useful for fancy balls
such as the one we are going to have to-
night, when no particular period is observed
in costume. Isn't it about time we all got
ready ? "
" Upon my life, I think it is ! " agreed
Lord Fulkeward. " I am coming out as a
Neapolitan fisherman ! I don't believe Nea-
politan fishermen ever really dress in the
way I'm going to make up, but it's the ac-
cepted stage-type, don'cher know."
" Ah ! I daresay you will look very well
in it," murmured Ross Courtney, vaguely.
" Hullo ! here comes Denzil Murray ! "
They all turned instinctively to watch the
entrance of a handsome young man, attired
in the picturesque garb worn by Florentine
nobles during the prosperous reign of the
Medicis. It was a costume admirably adapt-
ed to the wearer, who, being grave and
almost stern of feature, needed the bright-
ZISKA 35
ness of jewels and the gloss of velvet and satin
to throw out the classic contour of his fine
head and enhance the lustre of his brooding,
darkly-passionate eyes. Denzil Murray was
a pure-blooded Highlander, the level brows,
the firm lips, the straight, fearless look, all
bespoke him a son of the heather-crowned
mountains and a descendant of the proud
races that scorned the " Sassenach," and
retained sufficient of the material whereof
their early Phoenician ancestors were made
to be capable of both the extremes of hate
and love in their most potent forms. He
moved slowly towards the group of men
awaiting his approach with a reserved air of
something like hauteur ; it was possible he
was conscious of his good looks, but it was
equally evident that he did not desire to be
made the object of impertinent remark. His
friends silently recognized this, and only
Lord Fulkeward, moved to a mild transport
of admiration, ventured to comment on his
appearance.
" I say, Denzil, you're awfully well got up !
Awfully well ! Magnificent ! "
Denzil Murray bowed with a somewhat
wearied and sarcastic air.
"When one is in Rome, or Egypt, one
must do as Rome, or Egypt, does," he
36 ZISKA
said, carelessly. " If hotel proprietors will
give fancy balls, it is necessary to rise to
the occasion. You look very well, Doctor.
Why don't you other fellows go and get
your toggeries on? It's past ten o'clock,
and the Princess Ziska will be here by
eleven."
"There are other people coming besides
the Princess Ziska, are there not, Mr.
Murray ? " inquired Sir Chetwynd Lyle,
with an obtrusively bantering air.
Denzil Murray glanced him over disdain-
fully.
" I believe there are," he answered coolly.
" Otherwise the ball would scarcely pay its
expenses. But as the Princess is admittedly
the most beautiful woman in Cairo this
season, she will naturally be the centre of
attraction. That's why I mentioned she
would be here at eleven."
" She told you that ? " inquired Ross
Courtney.
" She did."
Courtney looked up, then down, and
seemed about to speak again, but checked
himself and finally strolled off, followed by
Lord Fulkeward.
" I hear," said Dr. Dean then, addressing
Denzil Murray, " that a great celebrity has
ZISKA 37
arrived at this hotel the painter, Armand
Gervase."
Denzil's face brightened instantly with a
pleasant smile.
" The dearest friend I have in the world ! "
he said. " Yes, he is here. I met him out-
side the door this afternoon. We are very
old chums. I have stayed with him in Paris,
and he has stayed with me in Scotland. A
charming fellow ! He is very French in his
ideas ; but he knows England well, and speaks
English perfectly."
" French in his ideas ! " echoed Sir
Chetwynd Lyle, who was just preparing to
leave the lounge. "Dear me! How is
that?"
" He is a Frenchman," said Dr. Dean,
suavely. " Therefore that his ideas should
be French ought not to be a matter of sur-
prise to us, my dear Sir Chetwynd."
Sir Chetwynd snorted. He had a sus-
picion that he the editor and proprietor of
the Daily Dial was being laughed at, and
he at once clambered on his high horse of
British Morality.
" Frenchman or no Frenchman," he ob-
served, " the ideas promulgated in France
at the present day are distinctly profane and
pernicious. There is a lack of principle a
38 ZISKA
want of rectitude in er the French Press,
for example, that is highly deplorable."
" And is the English Press immaculate ? "
asked Denzil languidly.
" We hope so," replied Sir Chetwynd.
" We do our best to make it so."
And with that remark he took his paunch
and himself away into retirement, leaving
Dr. Dean and young Murray facing each
other, a singular pair enough in the contrast
of their appearance and dress, the one
small, lean and wiry, in plain-cut, loose-
flowing academic gown ; the other tall,
broad and muscular, clad in the rich attire
of mediaeval Florence, and looking for all
the world like a fine picture of that period
stepped out from its frame. There was a
silence between them for a moment, then
the Doctor spoke in a low tone :
" It won't do, my dear boy, I assure you
it won't do ! You will break your heart
over a dream, and make yourself miserable
for nothing. And you will break your
sister's heart as well ; perhaps you haven't
thought of that ? "
Denzil flung himself into the chair Sir
Chetwynd had just vacated, and gave vent
to a sigh that was almost a groan.
"Helen doesn't know anything yet,"
ZISKA 39
he said hoarsely. " I know nothing myself ;
how can I ? I haven't said a word to to
her. If I spoke all that was in my mind, I
daresay she would laugh at me. You are
the only one who has guessed my secret.
You saw me last night when I when I ac-
companied her home. But I never passed
her palace gates, she wouldn't let me. She
bade me ' good-night ' outside ; a servant
admitted her, and she vanished through the
portal like a witch or a ghost. Sometimes
I fancy she is a ghost. She is so white, so
light, so noiseless and so lovely ! "
He turned his eyes away, ashamed of the
emotion that moved him. Dr. Maxwell
Dean took off his academic cap and ex-
amined its interior as though he considered
it remarkable.
" Yes," he said slowly ; " I have thought
the same thing of her myself sometimes."
Further conversation was interrupted by
the entrance of the military band of the
evening, which now crossed the "lounge,"
each man carrying his instrument with him ;
and these were followed by several groups
of people in fancy dress, all ready and eager
for the ball. Pierrots and Pierrettes, monks
in drooping cowls, flower-girls, water-car-
riers, symbolic figures of " Night " and
40 ZISKA
" Morning," mingled with the counterfeit
presentments of dead-and-gone kings and
queens, began to flock together, laughing
and talking on their way to the ball-room ;
and presently among them came a man
whose superior height and build, combined
with his eminently picturesque, half-savage
type of beauty, caused every one to turn
and watch him as he passed, and murmur
whispering comments on the various qualities
wherein he differed from themselves. He
was attired for the occasion as a Bedouin
chief, and his fierce black eyes, and close-
curling, dark hair, combined with the nat-
ural olive tint of his complexion, were well
set off by the snowy folds of his turban and
the whiteness of his entire costume, which
was unrelieved by any color save at the waist,
where a gleam of scarlet was shown in the
sash which helped to fasten a murderous-
looking dagger and other " correct " weap-
ons of attack to his belt. He entered the
hall with a swift and singularly light step,
and made straight for Denzil Murray.
" Ah ! here you are ! " he said, speaking
English with a slight foreign accent, which
was more agreeable to the ear than other-
wise. " But, my excellent boy, what mag-
nificence ! A Medici costume ! Never say
ZISKA 41
to me that you are not vain ; you are as
conscious of your good looks as any pretty
woman. Behold me, how simple and unob-
trusive I am ! "
He laughed, and Murray sprang up from
the chair where he had been despondently
reclining.
" Oh, come, I like that ! " he exclaimed.
" Simple and unobtrusive ! Why everybody
is staring at you now as if you had dropped
from the moon ! You cannot be Armand
Gervase and simple and unobtrusive at the
same time ! "
"Why not?" demanded Gervase, lightly.
" Fame is capricious, and her trumpet is not
loud enough to be heard all over the world
at once. The venerable proprietor of the
dirty bazaar where I managed to purchase
these charming articles of Bedouin costume
had never heard of me in his life. Miserable
man! He does not know what he has
missed ! "
Here his flashing black eyes lit suddenly
on Dr. Dean, who was " studying " him in
the same sort of pertinacious way in which
that learned little man studied everything.
" A friend of yours, Denzil ? " he in-
quired.
" Yes," responded Murray readily ; " a
42 ZISKA
very great friend Dr. Maxwell Dean. Dr.
Dean, let me introduce to you Armand Ger-
vase ; I need not explain him further ! "
" You need not, indeed ! " said the doctor,
with a ceremonious bow. " The name is
one of universal celebrity."
" It is not always an advantage this uni-
versal celebrity," replied Gervase. " Nor
is it true that any celebrity is actually univer-
sal. Perhaps the only living person that is
universally known, by name at least, is Zola.
Mankind are at one in their appreciation of
vice."
" I cannot altogether agree with you
there," said Dr. Dean slowly, keeping his
gaze fixed on the artist's bold, proud features
with singular curiosity. " The French Acad-
emy, I presume, are individually as appre-
ciative of human weaknesses as most men ;
but taken collectively, some spirit higher
and stronger than their own keeps them
unanimous in their rejection of the notorious
Realist who sacrifices all the canons of art
and beauty to the discussion of topics un-
mentionable in decent society."
Gervase laughed idly.
" Oh, he will get in some day, you may
be sure," he answered. " There is no spirit
higher and stronger than the spirit of natural-
ZISKA 43
ism in man ; and in time, when a few prej-
udices have died away and mawkish senti-
ment has been worn threadbare, Zola will
be enrolled as the first of the French Aca-
demicians, with even more honors than if he
had succeeded in the beginning. That is
the way of all those ' select ' bodies. As
Napoleon said, ' Le monde ment a celui qui
salt attendre! "
The little Doctor's countenance now
showed the most lively and eager interest.
" You quite believe that, Monsieur Ger-
vase ? You are entirely sure of what you
said just now? "
" What did I say ? I forget ! " smiled
Gervase, lighting a cigarette and beginning
to smoke it leisurely.
" You said, ' There is no spirit higher or
stronger than the spirit of naturalism in man.'
Are you positive on this point ? "
" Why, of course ! Most entirely posi-
tive ! " And the great painter looked amused
as he gave the reply. " Naturalism is Nature,
or the things appertaining to Nature, and
there is nothing higher or stronger than
Nature everywhere and anywhere."
" How about God ? " inquired Dr. Dean
with a curious air, as if he were propound-
ing a remarkable conundrum.
44 ZISKA
" God ! " Gervase laughed loudly. " Par-
don ! Are you a clergyman ? "
" By no means ! " and the Doctor gave a
little bow and deprecating smile. " I am
not in any way connected with the Church.
I am a doctor of laws and literature, a
humble student of philosophy and science
generally. . ."
" Philosophy ! Science ! " interrupted
Gervase. " And you ask about God ! Par-
bleu / Science and philosophy have pro-
gressed beyond Him ! "
" Exactly ! " and Dr. Dean rubbed his
hands together pleasantly. " That is your
opinion ? Yes, I thought so ! Science and
philosophy, to put it comprehensively, have
beaten poor God on His own ground ! Ha !
ha ! ha ! Very good very good ! And
humorous as well ! Ha ! ha ! "
And a very droll appearance just then had
this " humble student of philosophy and
science generally," for he bent himself to
and fro with laughter, and his small eyes
almost disappeared behind his shelving brows
in the excess of his mirth. And two cross-
lines formed themselves near his thin mouth
such lines as are carven on the ancient
Greek masks which indicate satire.
Denzil Murray flushed uncomfortably.
ZISKA 45
" Gervase doesn't believe in anything but
Art," he said, as though half apologizing for
his friend : " Art is the sole object of his ex-
istence ; I don't believe he ever has time to
think about anything else."
" Of what else should I think, mon ami?"
exclaimed Gervase mirthfully. "Of life?
It is all Art to me ; and by Art I mean the
idealization and transfiguration of Nature."
" Oh, if you do that sort of thing you are
a romancist," interposed Dr. Dean emphati-
cally. " Nature neither idealizes nor trans-
figures itself ; it is simply Nature and no
more. Matter uncontrolled by Spirit is any-
thing but ideal."
" Precisely," answered Gervase quickly
and with some warmth ; " but my spirit
idealizes it, my imagination sees beyond
it, my soul grasps it."
"Oh, you have a soul ?" exclaimed Dr.
Dean, beginning to laugh again. " Now,
how did you find that out ? "
Gervase looked at him in a sudden
surprise.
" Every man has an inward self, naturally,"
he said. "We call it ' soul ' as a figure of
speech ; it is really temperament merely."
" Oh, it is merely temperament ? Then
you don't think it is likely to outlive you,
46 ZISKA
this soul to take new phases upon itself and
go on existing, an immortal being, when your
body is in a far worse condition (because
less carefully preserved) than an Egyptian
mummy ? "
"Certainly not ! " and Gervase flung away
the end of his finished cigarette. " The im-
mortality of the soul is quite an exploded
theory. It was always a ridiculous one.
We have quite enough to vex us in our
present life, and why men, ever set about in-
venting another is more than I am able to
understand. It was a most foolish and bar-
baric superstition."
The gay sound of music now floated to-
wards them from the ball-room, the strains
of a graceful, joyous, half-commanding, half-
pleading waltz came rhythmically beating
on the air like the measured movement of
wings, and Denzil Murray, beginning to
grow restless, walked to and fro, his eyes
watching every figure that crossed and re-
crossed the hall. But Dr. Dean's interest in
Armand Gervase remained intense and un-
abated ; and approaching him, he laid two
lean fingers delicately on the white folds of
the Bedouin dress just where the heart of
the man was hidden.
" ' A foolish and barbaric superstition ! ' '
ZISKA 47
he echoed slowly and meditatively. " You
do not believe in any possibility of there
being a life or several lives after this
present death through which we must all
pass inevitably, sooner or later? "
" Not in the least ! I leave such ideas to
the ignorant and uneducated. I should be
unworthy of the progressive teachings of my
time if I believed such arrant nonsense."
" Death, you consider, finishes all ? There
is nothing further no mysteries be-
yond ? . . . " and Dr. Dean's eyes glittered
as he stretched forth one thin, slight hand
and pointed into space with the word " be-
yond," an action which gave it a curious
emphasis, and for a fleeting second left a
weird impression on even the careless mind
of Gervase. But he laughed it off lightly.
" Nothing beyond ? Of course not ! My
dear sir, why ask such a question ? Nothing
can be plainer or more positive than the fact
that death, as you say, finishes all."
A woman's laugh, low and exquisitely
musical, rippled on the air as he spoke deli-
cious laughter, rarer than song ; for women
as a rule laugh too loudly, and the sound of
their merriment partakes more of the nature
of a goose's cackle than any other sort of
natural melody. But this large, soft and
48 ZISKA
silvery, was like a delicately subdued cadence
played on a magic flute in the distance, and
suggested nothing but sweetness ; and at the
sound of it Gervase started violently and
turned sharply round upon his friend Murray
with a look of wonderment and perplexity.
"Who is that?" he demanded. " I have
heard that pretty laugh before ; it must be
some one I know."
But Denzil scarcely heard him. Pale, and
with eyes full of yearning and passion, he
was watching the slow approach of a group
of people in fancy dress, who were all eagerly
pressing round one central figure the figure
of a woman clad in gleaming golden tissues
and veiled in the old Egyptian fashion up
to the eyes, with jewels flashing about her
waist, bosom and hair, a woman who moved
glidingly as if she floated rather than walked,
and whose beauty, half hidden as it was by
the exigencies of the costume she had chosen,
was so unusual and brilliant that it seemed
to create an atmosphere of bewilderment
and rapture around her as she came. She
was preceded by a small Nubian boy in a
costume of vivid scarlet, who, walking back-
wards humbly, fanned her slowly with a tall
fan of peacock's plumes made after the quaint
designs of ancient Egypt. The lustre radi-
ZISKA 49
ating from the peacock's feathers, the light of
her golden garments, her jewels and the mar-
vellous black splendor of her eyes, all flashed
for a moment like sudden lightning on
Gervase ; something he knew not what
turned him giddy and blind ; hardly knowing
what he did, he sprang eagerly forward, when
all at once he felt the lean, small hand of
Dr. Dean on his arm and stopped short
embarrassed.
" Pardon me ! " said the little savant, with
a delicate, half-supercilious lifting of his eye-
brows. " But do you know the Princess
Ziska ? "
4
50 ZISKA
CHAPTER II.
GERVASE stared at him, still dazzled and
confused.
" Whom did you say ? . . . the Princess
Ziska? . . . No, I don't know her . . .
Yet, stay ! Yes, I think I have seen her . . .
somewhere, in Paris, possibly. Will you
introduce me ?"
" I leave that duty to Mr. Denzil Murray,"
said the Doctor, folding his arms neatly be-
hind his back ... " He knows her better
than I do."
And smiling his little grim, cynical smile,
he settled his academic cap more firmly on
his head and strolled off towards the ball-
room. Gervase stood irresolute, his eyes
fixed on that wondrous golden figure that
floated before his eyes like an aerial vision.
Denzil Murray had gone forward to meet the
Princess and was now talking to her, his
handsome face radiating with the admiration
he made no attempt to conceal. After a
little pause Gervase moved towards him
ZISKA 5 1
a step or two, and caught part of the con-
versation.
" You look the very beau-ideal of an
Egyptian Princess," Murray was saying.
" Your costume is perfect."
She laughed. Again that sweet, rare
laughter ! Gervase thrilled with the pulsa-
tion of it, it beat in his ears and smote his
brain with a strange echo of familiarity.
"Is it not?" she responded. "I am
' historically correct,' as your friend Dr.
Dean would say. My ornaments are genu-
ine, they all came out of the same tomb."
" I find one fault with your attire, Prin-
cess," said one of the male admirers who
had entered with her ; " part of your face is
veiled. That is a cruelty to us all ! "
She waived the compliment aside with a
light gesture.
" It was the fashion in ancient Egypt,"
she said. " Love in those old days was not
what it is now, one glance, one smile was
sufficient to set the soul on fire and draw
another soul towards it to consume together
in the suddenly kindled flame ! And women
veiled their faces in youth, lest they should
be deemed too prodigal of their charms ; and
in age they covered themselves still more
closely, in order not to affront the Sun-God's
52 ZISKA
fairness by their wrinkles." She smiled, a
dazzling smile that drew Gervase yet a few
steps closer unconsciously, as though he
were being magnetized. " But I am not
bound to keep the veil always up," and as she
spoke she loosened it and let it fall, showing
an exquisite face, fair as a lily, and of such
perfect loveliness that the men who were
gathered round her seemed to lose breath
and speech at sight of it. " That pleases you
better, Mr. Murray ? "
Denzil grew very pale. Bending down
he murmured something to her in a low tone.
She raised her lovely brows with a little
touch of surprise that was half disdain, and
looked at him straightly.
" You say very pretty things ; but they
do not always please me," she observed.
" However, that is my fault, no doubt."
And she began to move onwards, her Nu-
bian page preceding her as before. Gervase
stood in her path and confronted her as she
came.
" Introduce me," he said in a command-
ing tone to Denzil.
Denzil looked at him, somewhat startled
by the suppressed passion in his voice.
" Certainly. Princess, permit me ! " She
paused, a figure of silent grace and atten-
ZISKA 53
tion. "Allow me to present to you my
friend, Armand Gervase, the most famous
artist in France Gervase, the Princess
Ziska."
She raised her deep, dark eyes and fixed
them on his face, and as he looked boldly
at her in a kind of audacious admiration, he
felt again that strange dizzying shock which
had before thrilled him through and through.
There was something strangely familiar
about her ; the faint odors that seemed ex-
haled from her garments, the gleam of the
jewel-winged scarabei on her breast, the
weird light of the emerald-studded serpent in
her hair ; and more, much more familiar
than these trifles, was the sound of her voice
dulcet, penetrating, grave and haunting
in its tone.
"At last we meet, Monsieur Armand
Gervase ! " she said slowly and with a grace-
ful inclination of her head. " But I cannot
look upon you as a stranger, for I have
known you so long in spirit ! "
She smiled a strange smile, dazzling yet
enigmatical and something wild and vo-
luptuous seemed to stir in Gervase's pulses
as he touched the small hand, loaded with
quaint Egyptian gems, which she graciously
extended towards him.
54 ZISKA
" I think I have known you, too ! " he
said. " Possibly in a dream, a dream of
beauty never realized till now ! "
His voice sank to an amorous whisper;
but she said nothing in reply, nor could her
looks be construed into any expression of
either pleasure or offence. Yet through the
heart of young Denzil Murray went a sud-
den pang of jealousy, and for the first time
in his life he became conscious that even
among men as well as women there may
exist what is called the " petty envy " of a
possible rival, and the uneasy desire to out-
shine such an one in all points of appearance,
dress and manner. His gaze rested brood-
ingly on the tall, muscular form of Gervase,
and he noted the symmetry and supple grace
of the man with an irritation of which he
was ashamed. He knew, despite his own
undeniably handsome personality, which was
set off to such advantage that night by the
richness of the Florentine costume he had
adopted, that there was a certain fascination
about Gervase which was inborn, a trick of
manner which made him seem picturesque
at all times ; and that even when the great
French artist had stayed with him in Scot-
land and got himself up for the occasion in
more or less baggy tweeds, people were fond
ZISKA 55
of remarking that the only man who ever
succeeded in making tweeds look artistic was
Armand Gervase. And in the white Bedouin
garb he now wore he was seen at his best ; a
certain restless passion betrayed in eyes and
lips made him look the savage part he had
" dressed " for, and as he bent his head over
the Princess Ziska's hand and kissed it with
an odd mingling of flippancy and reverence,
Denzil suddenly began to think how curi-
ously alike they were, these two! Strong
man and fair woman, both had many physi-
cal points in common, the same dark, level
brows, the same half wild, half tender eyes,
the same sinuous grace of form, the same
peculiar lightness of movement, and yet
both were different, while resembling each
other. It was not what is called a " family
likeness " which existed between them ; it
was the cast of countenance or " type " that
exists between races or tribes, and had
young Murray not known his friend Gervase
to be a French Provencal and equally under-
stood the Princess Ziska to be of Russian
origin, he would have declared them both
natives of Egypt, of the purest caste and
highest breeding. He was so struck by this
idea that he might have spoken his thought
aloud had he not heard Gervase boldly ar-
$6 ZISKA
ranging dance after dance with the Princess,
and apparently preparing to write no name
but hers down the entire length of his ball
programme, a piece of audacity which had
the effect of rousing Denzil to assert his own
rights.
"You promised me the first waltz, Prin-
cess," he said, his face flushing as he
spoke.
" Quite true ! And you shall have it,"
she replied, smiling. " Monsieur Gervase
will have the second. The music sounds
very inviting ; shall we not go in ? "
" We spoil the effect of your entree crowd-
ing about you like this," said Denzil, glanc-
ing somewhat sullenly at Gervase and the
other men surrounding her; "and, by the
way, you have never told us what character
you represent to-night ; some great queen
of old time, no doubt ? "
" No, I lay no claim to sovereignty," she
answered ; " I am for to-night the living
picture of a once famous and very improper
person who bore half my name, a dancer of
old time, known as ' Ziska-Charmazel,' the
favorite of the harem of a great Egyptian
warrior, described in forgotten histories as
' The Mighty Araxes.' "
She paused ; her admirers, fascinated by
ZISKA 57
the sound of her voice, were all silent. She
fixed her eyes upon Gervase ; and addressing
him only, continued :
" Yes, I am ' Charmazel,' " she said. " She
was, as I tell you, an ' improper ' person, or
would be so considered by the good English
people. Because, you know, she was never
married to Araxes ! "
This explanation, given with the demurest
naivet^ caused a laugh among her listeners.
" That wouldn't make her ' improper ' in
France," said Gervase gayly. " She would
only seem more interesting."
" Ah ! Then modern France is like old
Egypt ? " she queried, still smiling. " And
Frenchmen can be found perhaps who are
like Araxes in the number of their loves and
infidelities? "
" I should say my country is populated
entirely with copies of him," replied Gervase,
mirthfully. "Was he a very distinguished
personage ? "
"He was. Old legends say he was the
greatest warrior of his time ; as you, Mon-
sieur Gervase, are the greatest artist."
Gervase bowed.
" You flatter me, fair Charmazel ! " he said ;
then suddenly as the strange name passed
his lips he recoiled as if he had been stung,
58 ZISKA
and seemed for a moment dazed. The
Princess turned her dark eyes on him in-
quiringly.
" Something troubles you, Monsieur Ger-
vase ? " she asked.
His brows knitted in a perplexed frown.
" Nothing ... the heat, ... the air
... a trifle, I assure you ? Will you not
join the dancers? Denzil, the music calls
you. When your waltz with the Princess
is ended I shall claim my turn. For the
moment . . . au revoir! "
He stood aside and let the little group
pass him by : the Princess Ziska moving
with her floating, noiseless grace, Denzil
Murray beside her, the little Nubian boy wav-
ing the peacock-plumes in front of them both,
and all the other enslaved admirers of this
singularly attractive woman crowding to-
gether behind. He watched the little cortege
with strained, dim sight, till just at the divid-
ing portal between the lounge and the ball-
room the Princess turned and looked back
at him with a smile. Over all the interven-
ing heads their eyes met in one flash of
mutual comprehension ! then, as the fair face
vanished like a light absorbed into the lights
beyond it, Gervase, left alone, dropped
heavily into a chair and stared vaguely at
ZISKA 59
the elaborate pattern of the thick carpet at
his feet. Passing his hand across his fore-
head he withdrew it, wet with drops of per-
spiration.
" What is wrong with me ? " he muttered.
" Am I sickening for a fever before I
have been forty-eight hours in Cairo ?
What fool's notion is this in my brain ?
Where have I seen her before ? In Paris ?
St. Petersburg? London? Charmazel! . . .
Charmazel ! . . . What has the name to
do with me? Ziska-Charmazel ! It is like
the name of a romance or a gypsy tune.
Bah ! I must be dreaming ! Her face, her
eyes, are perfectly familiar; where, where
have I seen herand played the mad fool with
her before ? Was she a model at one of the
studios ? Have I seen her by chance thus
in her days of poverty, and does her image
recall itself vividly now despite her changed
surroundings ? I know the very perfume of
her hair ... it seems to creep into my
blood . . it intoxicates me . . it chokes
me
He sprang up with a fierce gesture, then
after a minute's pause sat down again, and
again stared at the floor.
The gay music from the ball-room danced
towards him on the air in sweet, broken
60 ZISKA
echoes, he heard nothing and saw noth-
ing.
" My God ! " he said at last, under his
breath. " Can it be possible that I love this
woman ? "
ZISKA ' 6l
CHAPTER III.
WITHIN the ball-room the tide of gayety
was rising to its height. It may be a very
trivial matter, yet it is certain that fancy
dress gives a peculiar charm, freedom, and
brightness to festivities of the kind; and
men who in the ordinary mournful black
evening-suit would be taciturn of speech and
conventional in bearing, throw off their cus-
tomary reserve when they find themselves in
the brilliant and becoming attire of some
picturesque period when dress was an art as
well as a fashion ; and not only do they look
their best, but they somehow manage to put
on " manner " with costume, and to become
courteous, witty, and graceful to a degree
that sometimes causes their own relatives to
wonder at them and speculate as to why they
have grown so suddenly interesting. Few
have read Sartor Resartus with either com-
prehension or profit, and are therefore
unaware, as Teufelsdrockh was, that " Society
is founded upon Cloth " i.e. that man does
62 ZISKA
adapt his manners very much to suit his
clothes ; and that as the costume of the days
of Louis Quinze or Louis Seize inspired
graceful deportment and studied courtesy to
women, so does the costume of our nine-
teenth century inspire brusque demeanor
and curt forms of speech, which, however
sincere, are not flattering to the fair sex.
More love-making goes on at a fancy-dress
ball than at an ordinary one ; and numerous
were the couples that strolled through the
corridors and along the terraces of the Gezireh
Palace Hotel when, after the first dozen
dances were ended, it was discovered that
one of the most glorious of full moons had
risen over the turrets and minarets of Cairo,
illumining every visible object with as clear
a lustre as that of day. Then it was that
warriors and nobies of mediaeval days were
seen strolling with mythological goddesses
and out-of-date peasants of Italy and Spain ;
then audacious " toreadors " were perceived
whispering in the ears of crowned queens,
and clowns were caught lingering amorously
by the side of impossible flower-girls of all
nations. Then it was that Sir Chetwynd
Lyle, with his paunch discreetly restrained
within the limits of a Windsor uniform
which had been made for him some two or
ZISKA 63
three years since, paced up and down com-
placently in the moonlight, watching his
two " girls," Muriel and Dolly, doing busi-
ness with certain " eligibles "; then it was
that Lady Fulkeward, fearfully and won-
derfully got up as the " Duchess of Gains-
borough " sidled to and fro, flirted with this
man, flouted that, giggled, shrugged her
shoulders, waved her fan, and comported
herself altogether as if she were a hoy-
den of seventeen just let loose from school
for the holidays. And then the worthy
Dr. Maxwell Dean, somewhat exhausted
by vigorous capering in the " Lancers,"
strolled forth to inhale the air, fanning
himself with his cap as he walked, and
listening keenly to every chance word or
sentence he could hear, whether it con-
cerned himself or not. He had peculiar
theories, and one of them was, as he would
tell you, that if you overheard a remark
apparently not intended for you, you were to
make yourself quite easy, as it was " a point
of predestination " that you should at that
particular moment, consciously or uncon-
sciously, play the eavesdropper. The rea-
son of it would, he always averred, be ex-
plained to you later on in your career. The
well-known saying " listeners never hear any
64 ZISKA
good of themselves " was, he declared, a
most ridiculous aphorism. " You overhear
persons talking and you listen. Very well.
It may chance that you hear yourself abused.
What then ? Nothing can be so good for
you as such abuse ; the instruction given is
twofold; it warns you against foes whom
you have perhaps considered friends, and it
tones down any overweening conceit you
may have had concerning your own impor-
tance or ability. Listen to everything if
you are wise I always do. I am an old and
practised listener. And I have never lis-
tened in vain. All the information I have
gained through listening, though apparently
at first disconnected and unclassified, has
fitted into my work like the stray pieces of
a puzzle, and has proved eminently useful.
Wherever I am I always keep my ears well
open."
With such views as he thus entertained,
life was always enormously interesting to
Dr. Dean he found nothing tiresome, not
even the conversation of the type known as
Noodle. The Noodle was as curious a
specimen of nature to him as the emu or
the crocodile. And as he turned up his in-
tellectual little physiognomy to the deep,
warm Egyptian sky and inhaled the air
ZISKA 65
sniffingly, as though it were a monster scent-
bottle just uncorked for his special gratifi-
cation, he smiled as he observed Muriel
Chetwynd Lyle standing entirely alone at the
end of the terrace, attired as a " Boulogne
fish-wife," and looking daggers after the has-
tily-retreating figure of a " White Hussar,"
no other than Ross Courtney.
" How extremely droll a ' Boulogne fish-
wife ' looks in Egypt," commented the Doc-
tor to his inward self. " Re-markable ! The
incongruity is peculiarly typical of the Chet-
wynd Lyles. The costume of the young
woman is like the knighthood of her father,
droll, droll, very droll ! " Aloud he said
" Why are you not dancing, Miss
Muriel?"
"Oh, I don't know I'm tired," she said,
petulantly. " Besides, all the men are after
that Ziska woman, they seem to have lost
their heads about her ! "
" Ah ! " and Dr. Dean rubbed his hands.
" Yes possibly ! Well, she is certainly very
beautiful."
" I cannot see it ! " and Muriel Chetwynd
Lyle flushed with the inward rage which
could not be spoken. " It's the way she
dresses more than her looks. Nobody knows
who she is but they do not seem to care
5
66 ZISKA
about that. They are all raving like lunatics
over her, and that man that artist who ar-
rived here to-day, Armand Gervase, seems
the maddest of the lot. Haven't you no-
ticed how often he has danced with her? "
" I couldn't help noticing that," said the
Doctor, emphatically, " for I have never seen
anything more exquisite than the way they
waltz together. Physically, they seem made
for one another."
Muriel laughed disdainfully.
" You had better tell Mr. Denzil Murray
that ; he is in a bad enough humor now,
and that remark of yours wouldn't improve
it, I can tell you ! "
She broke off abruptly, as a slim, fair girl,
dressed as a Greek vestal in white, with a
chaplet of silver myrtle-leaves round her
hair, suddenly approached and touched Dr.
Dean on the arm.
"Can I speak to you a moment?" she
asked.
" My dear Miss Murray ! Of course ! "
and the Doctor turned to her at once.
" What is it ? "
She paced with him a few steps in silence,
while Muriel Chetwynd Lyle moved lan-
guidly away from the terrace and re-entered
the ball-room.
ZISKA 67
" What is it ? " repeated Dr. Dean. " You
seem distressed ; come, tell me all about it ! "
Helen Murray lifted her eyes the soft,
violet-gray eyes that Lord Fulkeward had
said he admired suffused with tears, and
fixed them on the old man's face.
" I wish," she said " I wish we had never
come to Egypt! I feel as if some great
misfortune were going to happen to us ;
I do, indeed ! Oh, Dr. Dean, have you
watched my brother this evening? "
" I have," he replied, and then was silent.
"And what do you think?" she asked
anxiously. " How can you account for his
strangeness his roughness even to me ? "
And the tears brimmed over and fell, de-
spite her efforts to restrain them. Dr. Dean
stopped in his walk and took her two hands
in his own.
" My dear Helen, it's no use worrying
yourself like this," he said. " Nothing can
stop the progress of the Inevitable. I have
watched Denzil, I have watched the new
arrival, Armand Gervase, I have watched the
mysterious Ziska, and I have watched you !
Well, what is the result ? The Inevitable,
simply the unconquerable Inevitable. Den-
zil is in love, Gervase is in love, everybody
is in love, except me and one other ! It is a
68 ZISKA
whole network of mischief, and I am the un-
happy fly that has unconsciously fallen into
the very middle of it. But the spider, my
dear, the spider who wove the web in the
first instance, is the Princess Ziska, and she
is not in love ! She is the other one. She is
not in love with anybody any more than I
am. She's got something else on her mind
I don't know what it is exactly, but it
isn't love. Excluding her and myself, the
whole hotel is in love you are in love ! "
Helen withdrew her hands from his grasp
and a deep flush reddened her fair face.
" I ! " she stammered " Dr. Dean, you
are mistaken. . . ."
" Dr. Dean was never mistaken on love-
matters in his life," said that self-satisfied
sage complacently. " Now, my dear, don't
be offended. I have known both you and
your brother ever since you were left little
orphan children together ; if I cannot speak
plainly to you, who can ? You are in love,
little Helen and very unwisely, too with
the man Gervase. I have heard of him
often, but I never saw him before to-night.
And I don't approve of him."
Helen grew as pale as she had been rosy,
and her face as the moonlight fell upon it
was very sorrowful.
ZISKA 69
" He stayed with us in Scotland two sum-
mers ago, " she said softly. "He was very
agreeable. ..."
" Ha ! No doubt ! He made a sort of
love to you then, I suppose. I can imagine
him doing it very well ! There is a nice ro-
mantic glen near your house just where the
river runs, and where I caught a fifteen-
pound salmon some five years ago. Ha!
Catching salmon is healthy work ; much
better than falling in love. No, no, Helen !
Gervase is not good enough for you ; you
want a far better man. Has he spoken to
you to-night ? "
" Oh, yes ! And he has danced with me."
" Ha ! How often ? "
" Once."
" And how many times with the Princess
Ziska?"
Helen's fair head drooped, and she
answered nothing. All at once the little
Doctor's hand closed on her arm with a soft
yet firm grip.
" Look ! " he whispered.
She raised her eyes and saw two figures
step out on the terrace and stand in the full
moonlight, the white Bedouin dress of the
one and the glittering golden robe of the other
made them easily recognizable, they were
7O ZISKA
Gervase and the Princess Ziska. Helen gave
a faint, quick sigh.
" Let us go in," she said.
" Nonsense ! Why should we go in ? On
the contrary, let us join them."
" Oh, no ! " and Helen shrank visibly at
the very idea. " I cannot ; do not ask me !
I have tried you know I have tried to like
the Princess ; but something in her I don't
know what it is repels me. To speak truth-
fully, I think I am afraid of her."
"Afraid! Pooh! Why should you be
afraid ? It is true one doesn't often see a
woman with the eyes of a vampire-bat ; but
there is nothing to be frightened about. I
have dissected the eyes of a vampire-bat
very interesting work, very. The Princess
has them only, of course, hers are larger
and finer; but there is exactly the same
expression in them. I am fond of study,
you know ; I am studying her. What ! Are
you determined to run away ? "
" I am engaged for this dance to Mr.
Courtney," said Helen, nervously.
" Well, well ! We'll resume our conver-
sation another time," and Dr. Dean took her
hand and patted it pleasantly. " Don't fret
yourself about Denzil ; he'll be all right.
And take my advice : don't marry a Bedouin
ZISKA. 71
chief; marry an honest, straightforward,
tender-hearted Englishman who'll take care
of you, not a nondescript savage who'll desert
you ! "
And with a humorous and kindly smile,
Dr. Dean moved off to join the two motion-
less and picturesque figures that stood side
by side looking at the moon, while Helen,
like a frightened bird suddenly released, fled
precipitately back to the ball-room, where
Ross Courtney was already searching for her
as his partner in the next waltz.
" Upon my word," mused the Doctor,
" this is a very pretty kettle of fish ! The
Gezireh Palace Hotel is not a hotel at all,
it seems to me; it is a lunatic asylum. What
with Lady Fulkeward getting herself up as
twenty at the age of sixty ; and Muriel and
Dolly Chetwynd Lyle man-hunting with
more ferocity than sportsmen hunt tigers ;
Helen in love, Denzil in love, Gervase in
love dear me ! dear me ! What a list of
subjects for a student's consideration ! And
the Princess Ziska. . . ."
He broke off his meditations abruptly,
vaguely impressed by the strange solemnity
of the night. An equal solemnity seemed to
surround the two figures to which he now
drew nigh, and as the Princess Ziska turned
72 ZISKA
her eyes upon him as he came, he was, to
his own vexation, aware that something
indefinable disturbed his usual equanimity
and gave him an unpleasant thrill.
"You are enjoying a moonlight stroll,
Doctor?" she inquired.
Her veil was now cast aside in a careless
fold of soft drapery over her shoulders, and
her face in its ethereal delicacy of feature a.id
brilliant coloring looked almost too beauti-
ful to be human. Dr. Dean did not reply
for a moment ; he was thinking what a singu-
lar resemblance there was between Armand
Gervase and one of the figures on a certain
Egyptian fresco in the British Museum.
" Enjoying er er a what ? a moon-
light stroll ? Exactly er yes ! Pardon
me, Princess, my mind often wanders, and I
am afraid I am getting a little deaf as well.
Yes, I find the night singularly conducive to
meditation ; one cannot be in a land like this
under a sky like this " and he pointed to
the shining heaven " without recalling the
great histories of the past."
" I daresay they were very much like the
histories of the present," said Gervase smil-
ing.
" I should doubt that. History is what
man makes it ; and the character of man in
ZISKA 73
the early days of civilization was, I think,
more forceful, more earnest, more strong of
purpose, more bent on great achievements."
" The principal achievement and glory
being to kill as many of one's fellow-creatures
as possible ! " laughed Gervase " Like the
famous warrior, Araxes, of whom the Prin-
cess has just been telling me ! "
" Araxes was great, but now Araxes is
a forgotten hero," said the Princess slowly,
each accent of her dulcet voice chiming on
the ear like the stroke of a small silver bell.
" None of the modern discoverers know any-
thing about him yet. They have not even
found his tomb ; but he was buried in the
Pyramids with all the honors of a king. No
doubt your clever men will excavate him
some day."
" I think the Pyramids have been very
thoroughly explored," said Dr. Dean.
" Nothing of any importance remains in
them now."
The Princess arched her lovely eyebrows.
" No ? Ah ! I daresay you know them
better than I do ! " and she laughed, a laugh
which was not mirthful so much as scornful.
" I am very much interested in Araxes,"
said Gervase then, " partly, I suppose, be-
cause he is as yet in the happy condition of
74 ZISKA
being an interred mummy. Nobody has dug
him up, unwound his cerements, or photo-
graphed him, and his ornaments have not
been stolen. And in the second place I am
interested in him because it appears he was
in love with the famous dancer of his day
whom the Princess represents to-night,
Charmazel. I wish I had heard the story
before I came to Cairo ; I would have got
myself up as Araxes in person to-night."
" In order to play the lover of Charmazel ? "
queried the Doctor.
" Exactly ! " replied Gervase with flashing
eyes ; " I daresay I could have acted the
part."
" I should imagine you could act any part,"
replied the Doctor, blandly. " The role of
love-making comes easily to most men."
The Princess looked at him as he spoke and
smiled. The jewelled scarab, set as a brooch
on her bosom, flashed luridly in the moon,
and in her black eyes there was a similar
lurid gleam.
" Come and talk to me," she said, laying
her hand on his arm ; " I am tired, and the
conversation of one's ball-room partners is
very banal. Monsieur Gervase would like
me to dance all night, I imagine ; but I am
too lazy. I leave such energy to Lady
ZISKA 75
Fulkeward and to all the English misses and
madams. I love indolence."
" Most Russian women do, I think," ob-
served the Doctor.
She laughed.
" But I am not Russian ! "
" I know. I never thought you were," he
returned composedly ; " but everyone in the
hotel has come to the conclusion that you
are ! "
" They are all wrong ! What can I do to
put them right ? " she inquired with a fas-
cinating little upward movement of her
eyebrows.
" Nothing ! Leave them in their ignorance.
I shall not enlighten them, though I know
your nationality."
" You do ? " and a curious shadow dark-
ened her features. " But perhaps you are
wrong also ! "
" I think not," said the Doctor, with gentle
obstinacy. " You are an Egyptian. Born
in Egypt ; born of Egypt. Pure Eastern !
There is nothing Western about you. Is
not it so ? "
She looked at him enigmatically.
" You have made a near guess,'' she
replied ; " but you are not absolutely correct.
Originally, I am of Egypt."
76 ZISKA
Dr. Dean nodded pleasantly.
" Originally, yes. That is precisely what
I mean originally ! Let me take you in to
supper."
He offered his arm, but Gervase made a
hasty step forward.
" Princess," he began
She waved him off lightly.
" My dear Monsieur Gervase, we are not
in the desert, where Bedouin chiefs do just
as they like. We are in a modern hotel in
Cairo, and all the good English mammas will
be dreadfully shocked if I am seen too much
with you. I have danced with you five
times, remember! And I will dance with
you once more before I leave. When our
waltz begins, come and find me in the upper-
room."
She moved away on Dr. Dean's arm, and
Gervase moodily drew back and let her pass.
When she had gone, he lit a cigarette and
walked impatiently up and down the ter-
race, a heavy frown wrinkling his brows.
The shadow of a man suddenly darkened
the moonlight in front of him, and Denzil
Murray's hand fell on his shoulder.
" Gervase," he said, huskily, " I must
speak to you."
Gervase glanced him up and down, taking
ZISKA 77
note of his pale face and wild eyes with a
certain good-humored regret and compassion.
" Say on, my friend."
Denzil looked straight at him, biting his
lips hard and clenching his hands in the
effort to keep down some evidently violent
emotion.
" The Princess Ziska," he began,
Gervase smiled, and flicked the ash off his
cigarette.
" The Princess Ziska," he echoed, " Yes?
What of her? She seems to be the only
person talked about in Cairo. Everybody
in this hotel, at any rate, begins conversa-
tion with precisely the same words as you
do, ' the Princess Ziska ! ' Upon my life,
it is very amusing ! "
" It is not amusing to me," said Denzil,
bitterly. " To me it is a matter of life and
death." He paused, and Gervase looked at
him curiously. " We've always been such
good friends, Gervase," he continued, " that
I should be sorry if anything came between
us now, so I think it is better to make a
clean breast of it and speak out plainly."
Again he hesitated, his face growing still
paler, then with a sudden ardent light glow-
ing in his eyes he said " Gervase, I love
the Princess Ziska ! "
78 ZISKA
Gervase threw away his cigarette and
laughed aloud with a wild hilarity.
" My good boy, I am very sorry for you !
Sorry, too, for myself ! I deplore the posi-
tion in which we are placed with all my
heart and soul. It is unfortunate, but it
seems inevitable. You love the Princess
Ziska, and by all the gods of Egypt and
Christendom, so do I ! "
ZISKA 79
CHAPTER IV.
DENZIL recoiled a step backward, then
with an impulsive movement strode close up
to him, his face unnaturally flushed and his
eyes glittering with an evil fire.
" You you love her ! What ! in one
short hour, you who have often boasted to
me of having no heart, no eyes for women
except as models for your canvas, you say
now that you love a woman whom you have
never seen before to-night ! "
" Stop ! " returned Gervase somewhat
moodily, " I am not so sure about that. I
have seen her before, though where I can-
not tell. But the fire that stirs my pulses
now seems to spring from some old passion
suddenly revived, and the eyes of the woman
we are both mad for well ! they do not
inspire holiness, my dear friend ! No,
neither in you nor in me! Let us be hon-
est with each other. There is something
vile in the composition of Madame la Prin-
cesse, and it responds to something equally
8O ZISKA
vile in ourselves. We shall be dragged
down by the force of it, tant pis pour nous !
I am sorrier for you than for myself, for you
are a good fellow, au fond ; you have what
the world is learning to despise sentiment.
I have none ; for as I told you before, I
have no heart, but I have passions tigerish
ones which must be humored ; in fact, I
make it my business in life to humor them."
" Do you intend to humor them in this
instance ? "
"Assuredly! If I can."
" Then, friend as you have been, you can
be friend no more," said Denzil fiercely.
" My God ! Do you not understand ? My
blood is as warm as yours, I will not yield
to you one smile, one look from Ziska ! No !
I will kill you first ! "
Gervase looked at him calmly.
"Will you? Pauvre garqon ! You are
such a boy still, Denzil, by-the-bye, how
old are you ? Ah, I remember now, twenty-
two. Only twenty-two, and I am thirty-
eight ! So in the measure of time alone,
your life is more valuable to you than mine
is to me. If you choose, therefore, you can
kill me, now, if you like ! I have a very
convenient dagger in my belt I think It has
a point which you are welcome to use for
ZISKA 8 1
the purpose ; but, for heaven's sake, don't
rant about it do it ! You can kill me of
course you can ; but you cannot mark this
well, Denzil ! you cannot prevent my loving
the same woman whom you love. I think
instead of raving about the matter here in
the moonlight, which has the effect of making
us look like two orthodox villains in a set
stage-scene, we'd better make the best of it,
and resolve to abide by the lady's choice in
the matter. What say you ? You have
known her for many days, I have known
her for two hours. You have had the first
innings, so you cannot complain."
Here he playfully unfastened the Bedouin
knife which hung at his belt and offered it to
Denzil, holding it delicately by the glittering
blade.
" One thrust, my brave boy ! " he said.
"And you will stop the Ziska fever in my
veins at once and forever. But, unless you
deal the murderer's blow, the fever will go on
increasing till it reaches its extremest height,
and then . . ."
" And then ? " echoed Denzil.
"Then? Oh God only knows what
then ! "
Denzil thrust away the offered weapon
with a movement of aversion.
6
82 ZISKA
" You can jest," he said. " You are
always jesting. But you do not know you
cannot read the horrible thoughts in my
mind. I cannot resolve their meaning even
to myself. There is some truth in your light
words ; I feel, I know instinctively, that the
woman I love has an attraction about her
which is not good, but evil ; yet what does
that matter ? Do not men sometimes love
vile women ? "
" Always ! " replied Gervase briefly.
" Gervase, I have suffered tortures ever
since I saw her face ! " exclaimed the un-
happy lad, his self-control suddenly giving
way. " You cannot imagine what my life
has been ! Her eyes make me mad, the
merest touch of her hand seems to drag me
away invisibly. . . ."
" To perdition ! " finished Gervase. " That
is the usual end of the journey we men take
with beautiful women."
" And now," went on Denzil, hardly heed-
ing him, " as if my own despair were not suf-
ficient, you must needs add to it ! What evil
fate, I wonder, sent you to Cairo ! Of course,
I have no chance with her now ; you are sure
to win the day. And can you wonder then
that I feel as if I could kill you?"
" Oh, I wonder at nothing," said Gervase
ZISKA 83
calmly, " except, perhaps, at myself. And I
echo your words most feelingly, What evil
fate sent me to Cairo ? I cannot tell ! But
here I purpose to remain. My dear Murray,
don't let us quarrel if we can help it ; it is
such a waste of time. I am not angry with
you for loving la belle Ziska, try, therefore,
not to be angry with me. Let the fair one
herself decide as to our merits. My own
opinion is that she cares for neither of us,
and, moreover, that she never will care for
any one except her fascinating self. And
certainly her charms are quite enough to
engross her whole attention. By the way,
let me ask you, Denzil, in this headstrong
passion of yours, for it is a headstrong
passion, just as mine is, do you actually in-
tend to make the Ziska your wife if she will
have you ? "
" Of course," replied Murray, with some
haughtiness.
A fleeting expression of amusement flitted
over Gervase's features.
" It is very honorable of you," he said,
" very ! My dear boy, you shall have your
full chance. Because I I would not make
the Princess Madame Gervase for all the
world ! She is not formed for a life of do-
mesticity and pardon me I cannot pic-
84 ZISKA
ture her as the contented chatelaine of your
grand old Scotch castle in Ross-shire."
" Why not ? "
" From an artistic point of view the idea is
incongruous," said Gervase lazily. " Never-
theless, I will not interfere with your woo-
ing."
Denzil's face brightened.
" You will not ? "
" I will not I promise ! But " and here
Gervase paused, looking his young friend
full in the eyes, " remember, if your chance
falls to the ground if Madame gives you
your congd if she does not consent to be a
Scottish chatelaine and listen every day to
the bagpipes at dinner, you cannot expect
me then to be indifferent to my own desires.
She shall not be Madame Gervase, oh, no !
She shall not be asked to attend to the/0/-
au-feu ; she shall act the role for which she
has dressed to-night; she shall be another
Charmazel to another Araxes, though the
wild days of Egypt are no more! "
A sudden shiver ran through him as he
spoke, and instinctively he drew the white
folds of his picturesque garb closer about
him.
" There is a chill wind sweeping in from
the desert," he said, " an evil, sandy breath
ZISKA 85
tasting of mummy-dust blown through the
crevices of the tombs of kings. Let us go
in."
Murray looked at him in a kind of dull
despair.
"And what is to be done?" he asked.
" I cannot answer for myself and from
what you say, neither can you."
" My dear friend or foe whichever you
determine to be, I can answer for myself in
one particular at any rate, namely, that as
I told you, I shall not ask the Princess to
marry me. You, on the contrary, will do so.
Bonne chance ! I shall do nothing to pre-
vent Madame from accepting the honor-
able position you intend to offer her. And
till the fiat has gone forth and the fair one
has decided, we will not fly at each other's
throats like wolves disputing possession of a
lamb ; we will assume composure, even if we
have it not." He paused, and laid one hand
kindly on the younger man's shoulder, " Is
it agreed ? "
Denzil gave a mute sign of resigned ac-
quiescence.
" Good ! I like you, Denzil ; you are a
charming boy ! Hot-tempered and a trifle
melodramatic in your loves and hatreds,
yes ! for that you might have been a Proven-
86 ZISKA
$al instead of a Scot. Before I knew you I
had a vague idea that all Scotchmen were, or
needs must be, ridiculous, I don't know
why. I associated them with bagpipes, short
petticoats and whisky. I had no idea of
the type you so well represent, the dark,
fine eyes, the strong physique, and the im-
petuous disposition which suggests the South
rather than the North ; and to-night you look
so unlike the accepted cafichantant picture of
the ever-dancing Highlander that you might
in very truth be a Florentine in more points
than the dress which so well becomes you.
Yes, I like you and more than you, I
like your sister. That is why I don't want
to quarrel with you ; I wouldn't grieve Ma-
demoiselle Helen for the world."
Murray gave him a quick, half-angry side-
glance.
" You are a strange fellow, Gervase. Two
summers ago you were almost in love with
Helen."
Gervase sighed.
" True. Almost. That's just it. ' Al-
most ' is a very uncomfortable word. I
have been almost in love so many times. I
have never been drawn by a woman's eyes
and dragged down, down, in a mad whirl-
pool of sweetness and poison intermixed.
ZISKA 87
I have never had my soul strangled by the
coils of a woman's hair black hair, black as
night, in the perfumed meshes of which a
jewelled serpent gleams ... I have never
felt the insidious horror of a love like strong
drink mounting through the blood to the
brain, and there making inextricable con-
fusion of time, space, eternity, everything,
except the passion itself ; never, never have
I felt all this, Denzil, till to-night ! To-
night ! Bah ! It is a wild night of dancing
and folly, and the Princess Ziska is to blame
for it all ! Don't look so tragic, my good
Denzil, what ails you now ? "
" What ails me ? Good Heavens ! Can
you ask it ! " and Murray gave a gesture of
mingled despair and impatience. " If you
love her in this wild, uncontrolled way . . ."
" It is the only way I know of," said
Gervase. " Love must be wild and uncon-
trolled to save it from banalitt. It must be
a summer thunderstorm ; the heavy brood-
ing of the clouds of thought, the lightning
of desire, then the crash, the downpour,
and the end, in which the bland sun smiles
upon a bland world of dull but wholesome
routine and tame conventionality, making
believe that there never was such a thing
known as the past storm ! Be consoled,
88 ZISKA.
Denzil, and trust me, you shall have time
to make your honorable proposal, and
Madame had better accept you, for your
love would last, mine could not ! "
He spoke with a strange fierceness and
irritability, and his eyes were darkened by a
sudden shadow of melancholy. Denzil, be-
wildered at his words and manner, stared at
him in a kind of helpless indignation.
" Then you admit yourself to be cruel
and unprincipled ? " he said.
Gervase smiled, with a little shrug of
impatience.
" Do I ? I was not aware of it. Is in-
constancy to women cruelty and want of
principle ? If so, all men must bear the
brunt of the accusation with me. For men
were originally barbarians, and always looked
upon women as toys or slaves ; the barbaric
taint is not out of us yet, I assure you, at
any rate, it is not out of me. I am a pure
savage ; I consider the love of woman as
my right ; if I win it, I enjoy it as long as I
please, but no longer, and not all the forces
of heaven and earth should bind me to any
woman I had once grown weary of."
" If that is your character," said Murray
stiffly, "it were well the Princess Ziska
should know it."
ZISKA 89
" True," and Gervase laughed loudly.
" Tell her, mon ami! Tell her that Armand
Gervase is an unprincipled villain, not worth
a glance from her dazzling eyes ! It will be
the way to make her adore me ! My good
boy, do you not know that there is some-
thing very marvellous in the attraction we
call love ? It is a pre-ordained destiny,
and if one soul is so constituted that it
must meet and mix with another, nothing
can hinder the operation. So that, believe
me, I am quite indifferent as to what you
say of me to Madame la Princesse or to
anyone else. It will not be for either my
looks or my character that she will love me
if, indeed, she ever does love me ; it will be
for something indistinct, indefinable but
resistless in us both, which no one on earth
can explain. And now I must go, Denzil,
and claim the fair one for this waltz. Try
and look less miserable, my dear fellow, I
will not quarrel with you on the Princess's
account, nor on any other pretext if I can
help it, for I don't want to kill you, and
I am convinced your death and not mine
would be the result of a fight between us ! "
His eyes flashed under his straight, fierce
brows with a sudden touch of imperiousness,
and his commanding presence became mag-
90 ZISKA
netic, almost over-powering. Tormented
with a dozen cross-currents of feeling, young
Denzil Murray was mute ; only his breath
came and went quickly, and there was a
certain silently-declared antagonism in his
very attitude. Gervase saw it and smiled ;
then turning away with his peculiarly noise-
less step and grace of bearing, he disap-
peared.
ZISKA 91
CHAPTER V.
TEN minutes later the larger number of
dancers in the ball-room came to a sudden
pause in their gyrations and stood looking
on in open-mouthed, reluctantly-admiring
wonderment at the exquisite waltz move-
ments of the Princess Ziska as she floated
past them in the arms of Gervase, who, as a
" Bedouin chief," was perhaps only acting
his part aright when he held her to him
with so passionate and close a grip and
gazed down upon her fair face with such a
burning ardor in his eyes. Nothing in the
dancing world was ever seen like the danc-
ing of these two nothing so languorously
beautiful as the swaying grace of their well-
matched figures gliding to the music in as
perfectly harmonious a measure as a bird's
two wings beat to the pulsations of the air.
People noticed that as the Princess danced
a tiny tinkling sound accompanied her every
step; and the more curious observers, peep-
ing downwards as she flew by, saw that she
92 ZISKA
had kept to the details of ancient Egyptian
costume so exactly that she even wore san-
dals, and that her feet, perfectly shaped and
lovely as perfectly shaped and lovely hands,
were bare save for the sandal-ribbons which
crossed them, and which were fastened with
jewels. Round the slim ankles were light
bands of gold, also glittering with gems, and
furthermore adorned by little golden bells
which produced the pretty tinkling music
that attracted attention.
" What a delightful creature she is ! " said
Lady Fulkeward, settling her " Duchess of
Gainsborough " hat on her powdered wig
more becomingly and smiling up in the face
of Ross Courtney, who happened to be stand-
ing close by. " So sweetly unconventional !
Everybody here thinks her improper ; she
may be, but I like her. I'm not a bit of a
prude."
Courtney smiled irreverently at this.
Prudery and " old " Lady Fulkeward were
indeed wide apart. Aloud he said :
" I think whenever a woman is exception-
ally beautiful she generally gets reported as
' improper ' by her own sex ; especially if
she has a fascinating manner and dresses
well."
" So true," and Lady Fulkeward sim-
ZISKA 93
pered. " Exactly what I find wherever I
go ! Poor dear Ziska ! She has to pay the
penalty for captivating all you men in the
way she does. I'm sure you have lost your
heart to her quite as much as anybody else,
haven't you ? "
Courtney reddened.
" I don't think so," he answered ; " I ad-
mire her very much, but I haven't lost my
heart. . . ."
" Naughty boy ! Don't prevaricate ! " and
Lady Fulkeward smiled in the bewitch-
ing pearly manner her admirably-made arti-
ficial teeth allowed her to do. " Every man
in the hotel is in love with the Princess, and
I'm sure I don't blame them. If I belonged
to your sex I should be in love with her too.
As it is, I am in love with the new arrival,
that glorious creature, Gervase. He is su-
perb ! He looks like an untamed savage.
I adore handsome barbarians ! "
" He's scarcely a barbarian, I think," said
Courtney, with some amusement ; " he is
the great French artist, the ' lion ' of Paris
just now, only secondary to Sarah Bern-
hardt."
" Artists are always barbarians," declared
Lady Fulkeward enthusiastically. " They
paint naughty people without any clothes
94 ZISKA
on ; they never have any idea of time ; they
never keep their appointments ; and they
are always falling in love with the wrong
person and getting into trouble, which is so
nice of them ! That's why I worship them
all. They are so refreshingly unlike our
set ! "
Courtney raised his eyebrows inquiringly.
" You know what I mean by our set,"
went on the vivacious old " Gainsborough,"
" the aristocrats whose conversation is limited
to the weather and scandal, and who are
so frightfully dull ! Dull ! My dear Ross
you know how dull they are 1 "
"Well, upon my word, they are," admitted
Courtney. " You are right there. I cer-
tainly agree with you."
" I'm sure you do ! They have no ideas.
Now, artists have ideas, they live on ideas
and sentiment. Sentiment is such a beau-
tiful thing so charming ! I believe that
fierce-looking Gervase is a creature of senti-
ment and how delightful that is! Of
course, he'll paint the Princess Ziska he
'must paint her, no one else could do it so
well. By the way, have you been asked to
her great party next week ? "
"Yes."
" And are you going? "
ZISKA 95
" Most assuredly."
" So am I. That absurd Chetwynd Lyle
woman came to me this evening and asked
me if I really thought it would be proper to
take her ' girls ' there," and Lady Fulkeward
laughed shrilly. " Girls indeed ! I should
say those two long, ugly women could go
anywhere with safety. 'Do you consider
the Princess a proper woman?' she asked,
and I said, ' Certainly, as proper as you
are.' "
Courtney laughed outright, and began to
think there was some fun in Lady Fulke-
ward.
" By Jove ! Did you tell her that ? "
" I should think I did ! Oh, I know a
thing or two about the Chetwynd Lyles,
but I keep my mouth shut till it suits me to
open it. I said I was going, and then, of
course, she said she would."
" Naturally."
And Courtney gave the answer vaguely,
for the waltz was ended, and the Princess
Ziska, on the arm of Gervase, was leaving
the ball-room.
" She's going," exclaimed Lady Fulke-
ward. " Dear creature ! Excuse me I
must speak to her for a moment."
And with a swish of her full skirts and a
96 ZISKA
toss of her huge hat and feathers, the lively
flirt of sixty tripped off with all the agility
of sixteen, leaving Courtney to follow her or
remain where he was, just as he chose. He
hesitated, and during that undecided pause
was joined by Dr. Maxwell Dean.
" A very brilliant and interesting even-
ing ! " said that individual, smiling compla-
cently. " I don't remember any time when
I have enjoyed myself so thoroughly."
" Really ! I shouldn't have thought you
a man to care for fancy-dress balls," said
Courtney.
" Shouldn't you ? Ha ! Well, some fancy-
dress balls I might not care for, but this one
has been highly productive of entertainment
in every way, and several incidents connected
with it have opened up to me a new vista of
research, the possibilities of which are er
very interesting and remarkable."
" Indeed ! " murmured Courtney indiffer-
ently, his eyes fixed on the slim, supple
figure of the Princess Ziska as she slowly
moved amid her circle of admirers out of the
ball-room, her golden skirts gleaming sun-
like against the polished floor, and the jewels
about her flashing in vivid points of light
from the hem of her robe to the snake in her
hair.
ZISKA 97
" Yes," continued the Doctor, smiling and
rubbing his hands, " I think I have got the
clue to a very interesting problem. But I
see you are absorbed and no wonder ! A
charming woman, the Princess Ziska charm-
ing ! Do you believe in ghosts? "
This question was put with such unex-
pected abruptness that Courtney was quite
taken aback.
" Ghosts ? " he echoed. " No, I cannot
say I do. I have never seen one, and I have
never heard of one that did not turn out a
bogus."
" Oh ! I don't mean the usual sort of
ghost," said the Doctor, drawing his shelv-
ing brows together in a meditative knot of
criss-cross lines over his small, speculative
eyes. " The ghost that is common to Scotch
castles and English manor-houses, and that
appears in an orthodox night-gown, sighs,
screams, rattles chains and bangs doors ad
libitum. No, no ! That kind of ghost is
composed of indigestion, aided by rats and
a gust of wind. No ; when I say ghosts, I
mean ghosts ghosts that do not need the
midnight hour to evolve themselves into be-
ing, and that by no means vanish at cock-
crow. My ghosts are those that move about
among us in social intercourse for days,
7
98 ZISKA.
months sometimes years according to
their several missions ; ghosts that talk to
us, imitate our customs and ways, shake
hands with us, laugh and dance with us, and
altogether comport themselves like human
beings. Those are my kind of ghosts
' scientific ' ghosts. There are hundreds, aye,
perhaps thousands of them in the world at
this very moment."
An uncomfortable shudder ran through
Courtney's veins ; the Doctor's manner
seemed peculiar and uncanny.
" By Jove ! I hope not ! " he involuntarily
exclaimed. " The orthodox ghost is an in-
finitely better arrangement. One at least
knows what to expect. But a ' scientific '
ghost that moves about in society, resem-
bling ourselves in every respect, appearing to
be actually human and yet having no hu-
manity at all in its composition, is a terrific
notion indeed ! You don't mean to say you
believe in the possibility of such an appall-
ing creature ? "
" I not only believe it," answered the
Doctor composedly, " I know it! "
Here the band crashed out " God save the
Queen," which, as a witty Italian once re-
marked, is the De Profundis of every Eng-
lish festivity.
ZISKA 99
" But God bless my soul ! " began Court-
ney. . .
" No, don't say that ! " urged the Doctor.
" Say ' God save the Queen/ It's more
British."
" Bother ' God save the Queen,' " exclaim-
ed Courtney impatiently. " Look here, you
don't mean it seriously, do you ? "
" I always mean everything seriously," said
Dr. Dean, " even my jokes."
" Now come, no nonsense, Doctor," and
Courtney, taking his arm, led him towards
one of the windows opening out to the
moonlit garden, " can you, as an honest
man, assure me in sober earnest that there
are ' scientific ghosts ' of the nature you
describe ? "
The little Doctor surveyed the scenery,
glanced up at the moon, and then at his
companion's pleasant but not very intelli-
gent face.
" I would rather not discuss the matter,"
he said at last, with some brusqueness.
" There are certain subjects connected with
psychic phenomena on which it is best to be
silent; besides, what interest can such things
have for you ? You are a sportsman, keep
to your big game, and leave ghost-hunting
to me."
IOO ZISKA
" That is not a fair answer to my ques-
tion," said Courtney, " I'm sure I don't want
to interfere with your researches in any way ;
I only want to know if it is a fact that ghosts
exist, and that they are really of such a
nature as to deserve the term ' scientific.' "
Dr. Dean was silent a moment. Then,
stretching out his small, thin hand, he point-
ed to the clear sky, where the stars were
almost lost to sight in the brilliance of the
moon.
" Look out there ! " he said, his voice
thrilling with sudden and solemn fervor.
" There in the limitless ether move millions
of universes vast creations which our finite
brains cannot estimate without reeling,
enormous forces always at work, in the
mighty movements of which our earth is
nothing more than a grain of sand. Yet far
more marvellous than their size or number
is the mathematical exactitude of their pro-
portions, the minute perfection of their
balance, the exquisite precision with which
every one part is fitted to another part, not
a pin's point awry, not a hair's breadth
astray. Well, the same exactitude which
rules the formation and working of Matter
controls the formation and working of Spirit ;
and this is why I know that ghosts exist,
ZISKA IOI
and, moreover, that we are compelled by the
laws of the phenomena surrounding us to
meet them every day."
" I confess I do not follow you at all,"
said Courtney bewildered.
" No," and Dr. Dean smiled curiously.
" I have perhaps expressed myself obscurely.
Yet I am generally considered a clear ex-
ponent. First of all, let me ask you, do you
believe in the existence of Matter ? "
" Why, of course ! "
" You do. Then you will no doubt admit
that there is Something an Intelligent
Principle or Spiritual Force which creates
and controls this Matter?"
Courtney hesitated.
" Well, I suppose there must be," he said
at last. " I'm not a church-goer, and I'm
rather a free-thinker, but I certainly believe
there is a Mind at work behind the Matter."
" That being the case," proceeded the
Doctor, " I suppose you will not deny to
this Invisible Mind the same exactitude of
proportion and precise method of action
already granted to Visible Matter? "
" Of course, I could not deny such a rea-
sonable proposition," said Courtney.
" Very good ! Pursuing the argument logi-
cally, and allowing for an exactly-moving
IO2 ZISKA
Mind behind exactly-working Matter, it fol-
lows that there can be no such thing as in-
justice anywhere in the universe ? "
" My dear Socrates redivivus" laughed
Courtney, " I fail to see what all this has to
do with ghosts."
" It has everything to do with them," de-
clared the Doctor emphatically, " I repeat
that if we grant these already stated pre-
mises concerning the composition of Mind
and Matter, there can be no such thing as
injustice. Yet seemingly unjust things are
done every day, and seemingly go unpun-
ished. I say ' seemingly ' advisedly, because
the punishment is always administered. And
here the ' scientific ghosts ' come in. ' Venge-
ance is mine,' saith the Lord, and the ghosts
I speak of are the Lord's way of doing it."
" You mean ..." began Courtney.
" I mean," continued the Doctor with some
excitement, " that the sinner who imagines
his sins are undiscovered is a fool who de-
ceives himself. I mean that the murderer
who has secretly torn the life out of his
shrieking victim in some unfrequented spot,
and has succeeded in hiding his crime from
what we call 'justice,' cannot escape the
Spiritual law of vengeance. What would
you say," and Dr. Dean laid his thin fingers
ZISKA 103
on Courtney's coat-sleeve with a light pres-
sure, " if I told you that the soul of a mur-
dered creature is often sent back to earth in
human shape to dog its murderer down?
And that many a criminal undiscovered by
the police is haunted by a seeming Person,
a man or a woman, who is on terms of
intimacy with him, who eats at his table,
drinks his wine, clasps his hand, smiles in his
face, and yet is truly nothing but the ghost
of his victim in human disguise, sent to
drag him gradually to his well-deserved,
miserable end ; what would you say to such
a thing?"
" Horrible ! " exclaimed Courtney, recoil-
ing. " Beyond everything monstrous and
horrible ! "
The Doctor smiled and withdrew his hand
from his companion's arm.
" There are a great many horrible things
in the universe as well as pleasant ones," he
observed dryly. " Crime and its results are
always of a disagreeable nature. But we can-
not alter the psychic law of equity any more
than we can alter the material law of
gravitation. It is growing late ; I think, if
you will excuse me, I will go to bed."
Courtney look at him puzzled and baffled.
" Then your ' scientific ghosts ' are positive
104 ZISKA
realities ? " he began ; here he gave a violent
start as a tall white figure suddenly moved
out of the shadows in the garden and came
slowly towards them. " Upon my life, Doc-
tor, you have made me quite nervous ! "
" No, no, surely not," smiled the Doctor
pleasantly " not nervous! Not such a
brave killer of game as you are ! No, no !
You don't take Monsieur Armand Gervase
for a ghost, do you ? He is too substantial,
far too substantial ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! "
And he laughed quietly, the wrinkled
smile still remaining on his face as Gervase
approached.
" Everybody is going to bed," said the
great artist lazily. " With the departure of
the Princess Ziska, the pleasures of the even-
ing are ended."
" She is certainly the belle of Cairo this
season," said Courtney, " but I tell you what,
I am rather sorry to see young Murray has
lost his head about her."
" Parbleu ! So am I," said Gervase imper-
turbably ; " it seems a pity."
" He will get over it," interposed Dr. Dean
placidly. " It's an illness, like typhoid,
we must do all we can to keep down the
temperature of the patient, and we shall pull
him through."
ZISKA IO5
" Keep him cool, in short ! " laughed Ger-
vase.
" Exactly ! " The little Doctor smiled
shrewdly. " You look feverish, Monsieur
Gervase."
Gervase flushed red under his dark skin.
" I daresay I am feverish," he replied
irritably, " I find this place hot as an oven.
I think I should go away to-morrow if I had
not asked the Princess Ziska to sit to me."
" You are going to paint her picture ? "
exclaimed Courtney. " By Jove ! I con-
gratulate you. It will be the masterpiece
of the next salon."
Gervase bowed.
" You flatter me ! The Princess is un-
doubtedly an attractive subject. But, as I
said before, this place stifles me. I think
the hotel is too near the river, there is an
oozy smell from the Nile that I hate, and
the heat is perfectly sulphureous. Don't
you find it so, Doctor?"
" N-n-o ! I cannot say that I do. Let me
feel your pulse ; I am not a medical man
but I can easily recognize any premonitions
of illness."
Gervase held out his long, brown, well-
shaped hand, and the savant's small, cool fin-
gers pressed lightly on his wrist.
106 ZISKA
"You are quite well, Monsieur Gervase,"
he said after a pause, " You have a little
sur-excitation of the nerves, certainly, but
it is not curable by medicine." He dropped
the hand he held, and looked up " Good-
night ! "
" Good-night ! " responded Gervase.
" Good-night ! " added Courtney.
And with an amiable salutation the Doctor
went his way. The ball-room was now quite
deserted, and the hotel servants were extin-
guishing the lights.
" A curious little man, that Doctor," ob-
served Gervase,addressing Courtney,to whom
as yet he had not been formally introduced.
" Very curious ! " was the reply. " I have
known him for some years, he is a very
clever man, but I have never been able quite
to make him out. I think he is a bit eccentric.
He's just been telling me he believes in
ghosts."
" Ah, poor fellow ! " and Gervase yawned
as, with his companion, he crossed the de-
serted ball-room. " Then he has what you
call a screw loose. I suppose it is that which
makes him interesting. Good-night ! "
" Good-night ! "
And separating, they went their several
ways to the small, cell-like bedrooms, which
ZISKA 107
are the prime discomfort of the Gezireh
Palace Hotel, and soon a great silence reigned
throughout the building. All Cairo slept,
save where at an open lattice window the
moon shone full on a face up-turned to her
silver radiance, the white, watchful face,
and dark, sleepless eyes of the Princess
Ziska.
108 ZISKA
CHAPTER VI.
NEXT day the ordinary course of things
was resumed at the Gezireh Palace Hotel,
and the delights and flirtations of the fancy-
ball began to vanish into what Hans Breit-
mann calls " the ewigkeit" Men were lazier
than usual and came down later to breakfast,
and girls looked worn and haggard with
over-much dancing, but otherwise there was
no sign to indicate that the festivity of the
past evening had left " tracks behind," or
made a lasting impression of importance
on any human life. Lady Chetwynd Lyle,
portly and pig-faced, sat on the terrace
working at an elaborate piece of cross-
stitch, talking scandal in the civilest tone
imaginable, and damning all her "dear
friends " with that peculiar air of entire
politeness and good breeding which dis-
tinguishes certain ladies when they are say-
ing nasty things about one another. Her
daughters, Muriel and Dolly, sat dutifully
near her, one. reading the Daily Dial, as be-
ZISKA lOQ
fitted the offspring of the editor and pro-
prietor thereof, the other knitting. Lord
Fulkeward lounged on the balustrade close
by, and his lovely mother, attired in quite
a charming and girlish costume of white
foulard exquisitely cut and fitting into a
waist not measuring more than twenty-two
inches, reclined in a long deck-chair, looking
the very pink of painted and powdered per-
fection.
"You are so very lenient," Lady Chet-
wynd Lyle was saying, as she bent over her
needlework. " So very lenient, my dear
Lady Fulkeward, that I am afraid you do
not read people's characters as correctly as
I do. I have had, owing to my husband's
position in journalism, a great deal of social
experience, and I assure you I do not think
the Princess Ziska a safe person. She may
be perfectly proper she may be but she
is not the style we are accustomed to in
London."
" I should rather think not ! " interrupted
Lord Fulkeward, hastily. " By Jove ! She
wouldn't have a hair left on her head in
London, don'cher know ! "
" What do you mean ? " inquired Muriel
Chetwynd Lyle, simpering. " You really do
say such funny things, Lord Fulkeward ! "
1 10 ZISKA
" Do I ?" and the young nobleman was so
alarmed and embarrassed at the very idea
of his ever saying funny things that he was
rendered quite speechless for a moment.
Anon he took heart and resumed : " Er
well I mean that the society women would
tear her to bits in no time. She'd get asked
nowhere, but she'd get blackguarded every-
where ; she couldn't help herself with that
face and those eyes."
His mother laughed.
" Dear Fulke ! You are such a naughty
boy ! You shouldn't make such remarks
before Lady Lyle. She never says any-
thing against anyone ! "
" Dear Fulke " stared. Had he given
vent to his feelings he would have ex-
claimed : " Oh, Lord ! isn't the old lady
a deep one ! " But as it was he attended
to his young moustache anxiously and re-
mained silent. Lady Chetwynd Lyle mean-
while flushed with annoyance ; she felt that
Lady Fulkeward's remark was sarcastic, but
she could not very well resent it, seeing that
Lady Fulkeward was a peeress of the realm,
and that she herself, by the strict laws of
heraldry, was truly only " Dame " Chetwynd
Lyle, as wife of an ordinary knight, and had
no business to be called " her ladyship " at all.
ZISKA 1 1 1
" I should, indeed, be sorry," she said,
primly, " if I were mistaken in my private
estimate of the Princess Ziska's character,
but I must believe my own eyes and the
evidence of my own senses, and surely no
one can condone the extremely fast way in
which she behaved with that new man
that French artist, Armand Gervase last
night. Why, she danced six times with
him ! And she actually allowed him to
walk home with her through the streets of
Cairo ! They went off together, in their
fancy dresses, just as they were ! I never
heard of such a thing ! "
" Oh, there was nothing remarkable at all
in that," said Lord Fulkeward. " Every-
body went about the place in fancy costume
last night. I went out in my Neapolitan
dress with a girl, and I met Denzil Murray
coming down a street just behind here
took him for a Florentine prince, upon my
word ! And I bet you Gervase never got
beyond the door of the Princess's palace ;
for that blessed old Nubian she keeps the
chap with a face like a mummy bangs the
gate in everybody's face, and says in gut-
tural French : ' La Princesse ne volt per-r-r-
sonne ! ' I've tried it. I tell you it's no
go ! "
112 ZISKA
" Well, we shall all get inside the mysteri-
ous palace next Wednesday evening," said
Lady Fulkeward, closing her eyes with a
graceful air of languor. " It will be charm-
ing, I am sure, and I daresay we shall find
that there is no mystery at all about it."
" Two months ago," suddenly said a
smooth voice behind them, "the Ziska's
house or palace was uninhabited."
Lady Fulkeward gave a little scream and
looked round.
" Good gracious, Dr. Dean ! How you
frightened me ! "
The Doctor made an apologetic bow.
" I am very sorry. I forgot you were so
sensitive ; pray pardon me ! As I was say-
ing, two months ago the palace of the Prin-
cess Ziska was a deserted barrack. Formerly,
so I hear, it used to be the house of some
great personage ; but it had been allowed to
fall into decay, and nobody would rent it,
even for the rush of the Cairene season,
till it was secured by the Nubian you were
speaking of just now the interesting Nubian
with the face like a mummy ; he took it and
furnished it, and when it was ready Madame
la Princesse appeared on the scene and has
resided there every since."
" I wonder what that Nubian has to
ZISKA 113
do with her?" said Lady Chetwynd Lyle,
severely.
" Nothing at all," replied the Doctor,
calmly. " He is the merest servant the
kind of person who is * told off ' to attend
on the women of a harem."
" Ah, I see you have been making inquiries
concerning the princess, Doctor," said Lady
Fulkeward, with a smile.
" I have."
" And have you found out anything about
her?"
" No ; that is, nothing of social importance,
except, perhaps, two items first, that she
is not a Russian ; secondly, that she has
never been married."
" Never been married ! " exclaimed Lady
Chetwynd Lyle, then suddenly turning to
her daughters she said blandly : " Muriel,
Dolly, go into the house, my dears. It is
getting rather warm for you on this terrace.
I will join you in a few minutes."
The " girls " rose obediently with a de-
lightfully innocent and juvenile air, and
fortunately for them did not notice the irrev-
erent smile that played on young Lord Fulke-
ward's face, which was immediately reflected
on the artistically tinted countenance of his
mother, at the manner of their dismissal.
114 ZISKA
" There is surely nothing improper in never
having been married," said Dr. Dean, with a
mock serious air. " Consider, my dear Lady
Lyle, is there not something very chaste and
beautiful in the aspect of an old maid ? "
Lady Lyle looked up sharply. She had
an idea that both she and her daughters were
being quizzed, and she had some difficulty
to control her rising temper.
" Then do you call the Princess an old
maid ? " she demanded.
Lady Fulkeward looked amused ; her son
laughed outright. But the Doctor's face
was perfectly composed.
" I don't know what else I can call her,"
he said, with a thoughtful air. " She is no
longer in her teens, and she has too much
voluptuous charm for an ingenue. Still, I
admit, you would scarcely call her ' old ' ex-
cept in the parlance of the modern matri-
monial market. Our present-day route, you
know, prefer their victims young, and I fancy
the Princess Ziska would be too old and
perhaps too clever for most of them. Person-
ally speaking, she does not impress me as
being of any particular age, but as she is not
married, and is, so to speak, a maid fully
developed, I am perforce obliged to call her
an old maid."
ZISKA 115
" She wouldn't thank you for the com-
pliment," said Lady Lyle with a spiteful
grin.
" I daresay not," responded the Doctor
blandly, " but I imagine she has very little
personal vanity. Her mind is too preoccu-
pied with something more important than
the consideration of her own good looks."
" And what is that ? " inquired Lady
Fulkeward, with some curiosity.
"Ah! there is the difficulty! What is
it that engrosses our fair friend more than
the looking-glass ? I should like to know
but I cannot find out. It is an enigma as
profound as that of the sphinx. Good-
morning, Monsieur Gervase ! " and, turning
round, he addressed the artist, who just then
stepped out on the terrace carrying a paint-
box and a large canvas strapped together in
portable form. " Are you going to sketch
some picturesque corner of the city ? "
" No," replied Gervase, listlessly raising
his white sun-hat to the ladies present with
a courteous, yet somewhat indifferent grace.
" I'm going to the Princess Ziska's. I shall
probably get the whole outline of her fea-
tures this morning."
" A full-length portrait ? " inquired the
Doctor.
Il6 ZISKA
" I fancy not. Not the first attempt, at
any rate head and shoulders only."
"Do you know where her house is?"
asked Lord Fulkeward. " If you don't, I'll
walk with you and show you the way."
" Thanks you are very good. I shall be
obliged to you."
And raising his hat again he sauntered
slowly off, young Fulkeward walking with
him and chatting to him with more anima-
tion than that exhausted and somewhat
vacant-minded aristocrat usually showed to
anyone.
" It is exceedingly warm," said Lady
Lyle, rising then and putting away her cross-
stitch apparatus, " I thought of driving to the
Pyramids this afternoon, but really . . ."
" There is shade all the way," suggested
the Doctor, " I said as much to a young
woman this morning who has been in the
hotel for nearly two months, and hasn't seen
the Pyramids yet."
" What has she been doing with herself ? "
asked Lady Fulkeward, smiling.
" Dancing with officers," said Dr. Dean.
" How can Cheops compare with a mous-
tached noodle in military uniform ! Good-
bye for the present ; I'm going to hunt for
scarabei."
ZISKA II/
" I thought you had such a collection of
them already," said Lady Lyle.
" So I have. But the Princess had a re-
markable one on last night, and I want to
find another like it. It's blue very blue
almost like a rare turquoise, and it appears it
is the sign-manual of the warrior Araxes, who
was a kind of king in his way, or desert chief,
which was about the same thing in those
days. He fought for Amenhotep, and
seemed from all accounts to be a greater man
than Amenhotep himself. The Princess
Ziska is a wonderful Egyptologist ; I had a
most interesting conversation with her last
night in the supper-room."
" Then she is really a woman of culture
and intelligence ? " queried Lady Lyle.
The Doctor smiled.
" I should say she would be a great deal
too much for the University of Oxford, as
far as Oriental learning goes," he said. " She
can read the Egyptian papyri, she tells me,
and she can decipher anything on any of the
monuments. I only wish I could persuade
her to accompany me to Thebes and
Karnak."
Lady Fulkeward unfurled her fan and
swayed it to and fro with an elegant languor.
" How delightful that would be ! " she
118 ZISKA
sighed. " So romantic and solemn all those
dear old cities with those marvellous figures
of the Egyptians carved and painted on the
stones! And Rameses dearRameses! He
really has good legs everywhere ! Haven't
you noticed that ? So many of these ancient
sculptures represent the Egyptians with
such angular bodies and such frightfully thin
legs, but Rameses always has good legs
wherever you find him. It's so refreshing !
Do make up a party, Dr. Dean! we'll all
go with you ; and I'm sure the Princess
Ziska will be the most charming companion
possible. Let us have a dahabeah ! I'm
good for half the expenses, if you will only
arrange everything."
The Doctor stroked his chin and looked
dubious, but he was evidently attracted by
the idea.
" I'll see about it," he said at last.
" Meanwhile I'll go and have a hunt for some
traces of Amenhotep and Araxes."
He strolled down the terrace, and Lady
Chetwynd Lyle, turning her back on " old "
Lady Fulkeward, went after her " girls,"
while the fascinating Fulkeward herself con-
tinued to recline comfortably in her chair,
and presently smiled a welcome on a young,
ish-looking man with a fair moustache who
ZISKA Iig
came forward and sat down beside her, talk-
ing to her in low, tender and confidential
tones. He was the very impecunious colonel
of one of the regiments then stationed in
Cairo, and as he never wasted time on senti-
ment, he had been lately thinking that a
marriage with a widowed peeress who had
twenty thousand pounds a year in her own
right might not be a " half bad " arrange-
ment for him. So he determined to do the
agreeable, and as he was a perfect adept
in the art of making love without feeling it,
he got on very well, and his prospects
brightened steadily hour by hour.
Meanwhile young Fulkeward was escort-
ing Armand Gervase through several narrow
by-streets, talking to him as well as he knew
how and trying in his feeble way to " draw
him out," in which task he met with but
indifferent success.
" It must be awfully jolly and er all
that sort of thing to be so famous," he ob-
served, glancing up at the strong, dark,
brooding face above him. " They had a
picture of yours over in London once ; I went
to see it with my mother. It was called
' Le Poignardj do you remember it ? "
Gervase shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
" Yes, I remember. A poor thing at its
I2O ZISKA
best. It was a woman with a dagger in her
hand."
" Yes, awfully fine, don'cher know ! She
was a very dark woman too dark for my
taste, and she'd got a poignard clasped in
in her right hand. Of course, she was going
to murder somebody with it ; that was plain
enough. You meant it so, didn't you ? "
" I suppose I did."
"She was in a sort of Eastern get-up,"
pursued Fulkeward, " one of your former
studies in Egypt, perhaps."
Gervase started, and passed his hand across
his forehead with a bewildered air.
" No, no ! Not a former study, by any
means. How could it be ? This is my first
visit to Egypt. I have never been here
before."
" Haven't you ? Really ! Well, you'll
find it awfully interesting and all that sort
of thing. I don't see half as much of it as
I should like. I'm a weak chap got some-
thing wrong with my lungs, awful bother,
but can't be helped. My mother won't let
me do too much. Here we are ; this is the
Princess Ziska's."
They were standing in a narrow street
ending in a cul-de-sac, with tall houses on
each side which cast long, black, melancholy
ZISKA 121
shadows on the rough pavement below. A
vague sense of gloom and oppression stole
over Gervase as he surveyed the outside of
the particular dwelling Fulkeward pointed
out to him a square, palatial building, which
had no doubt once been magnificent in its
exterior adornment, but which now, owing
to long neglect, had fallen into somewhat
melancholy decay. The sombre portal, fan-
tastically ornamented with designs copied
from some of the Egyptian monuments,
rather resembled the gateway of a tomb
than an entrance to the private residence of
a beautiful living woman, and Fulkeward,
noting his companion's silence, added :
" Not a very cheerful corner, is it ? Some
of these places are regular holes, don'cher
know ; but I daresay it's all right inside."
" You have never been inside ? "
" Never." And Fulkeward lowered his
voice : " Look up there ; there's the beast
that keeps everybody out ! "
Gervase followed his glance, and perceived
behind the projecting carved lattice-work of
one of the windows a dark, wrinkled face
and two gleaming eyes which, even at that
distance, had, or appeared to have, a some-
what sinister expression.
" He's the nastiest type of Nubian I have
122 ZISKA
ever seen," pursued Fulkeward. " Looks just
like a galvanized corpse."
Gervase smiled, and perceiving' a long bell-
handle at the gateway, pulled it sharply.
In another moment the Nubian appeared,
his aspect fully justifying Lord Fulkeward's
description of him. The parchment-like skin
on his face was yellowish-black, and wrinkled
in a thousand places ; his lips were of a livid
blue, and were drawn up and down above
and below the teeth in a kind of fixed grin,
while the dense brilliance of his eyes was
so fierce and fiery as to suggest those of
some savage beast athirst for prey.
"Madame la Princesse Ziska" began Ger-
vase, addressing his unfascinating object
with apparent indifference to his hideousness.
The Nubian's grinning lips stretched them-
selves wider apart as, in a thick, snarling
voice he demanded :
" Votre nom ? "
" Armand Gervase."
" Entrez ! "
" Et moi?" queried Fulkeward, with a
conciliatory smile.
" Non ! Pas vous. Monsieur Armand
Gervase, seul ! "
Fulkeward gave a resigned shrug of his
shoulders ; Gervase looked round at him ere
ZISKA 123
he crossed the threshold of the mysterious
habitation.
" I'm sorry you have to walk back alone."
" Don't mention it," said Fulkeward
affably. " You see, you have come on busi-
ness. You're going to paint the Princess's
picture ; and I daresay this blessed old rascal
knows that I want nothing except to look at
his mistress and wonder what she's made of."
" What she's made of ? " echoed Gervase
in surprise. " Don't you think she's made
like other women ? "
" No ; can't say I do. She seems all fire
and vapor and eyes in the middle, don'cher
know. Oh, I'm an ass always was but
that's the feeling she gives me. Ta-ta !
Wish you a pleasant morning ! "
He nodded and strolled away, and Gervase
hesitated yet another moment, looking full
at the Nubian, who returned him stare for
stare.
" Maintenant ?" he began.
" Out, maintenant" echoed the Nubian.
" La Prmcesse, oh est elle ? "
" L& ! " and the Nubian pointed down a
long, dark passage beyond which there
seemed to be the glimmer of green palms
and other foliage. Elle vous attend, Mon-
sieur Armand Gervase ! Entrez / Suivez / "
124 ZISKA
Slowly Gervase passed in, and the great
tomb-like door closed upon him with a heavy
clang. The whole long, bright day passed,
and he did not reappear ; not a human foot
crossed the lonely street and nothing was
seen there all through the warm sunshiny
hours save the long, black shadows on the
pavement, which grew longer and darker as
the evening fell.
ZISKA 125
CHAPTER VII.
WITHIN the palace of the Princess Ziska
a strange silence reigned. In whatever way
the business of her household was carried on,
it was evidently with the most absolute
noiselessness, for not a sound disturbed the
utter stillness environing her. She herself,
clad in white garments that clung about her
closely, displaying the perfect outlines of her
form, stood waiting for her guest in a room
that was fairly dazzling to the eye in its pro-
fusion of exquisitely assorted and harmonized
colors, as well as impressive to the mind in
its suggestions of the past rather than of
the present. Quaint musical instruments of
the fashion of thousands of years ago hung
on the walls or lay on brackets and tables,
but no books such as our modern time pro-
duces were to be seen ; only tied-up bundles
of papyri and curious little tablets of
clay inscribed with mysterious hieroglyphs.
Flowers adorned every corner many of
them strange blossoms which a connoisseur
would have declared to be unknown in
126 ZISKA
Egypt, palms and ferns and foliage of every
description were banked up against the walls
in graceful profusion, and from the latticed
windows the light filtered through colored
squares, giving a kind of rainbow-effect to
the room, as though it were a scene in a
dream rather than a reality. And even more
dream-like than her surroundings was the
woman who awaited the approach of her
visitor, her eyes turned towards the door
fiery eyes filled with such ardent watchful-
ness as seemed to burn the very air. The
eyes of a hawk gleaming on its prey, the
eyes of a famished tiger in the dark, were
less fraught with terrific meaning than the
eyes of Ziska as she listened attentively to
the on-coming footsteps through the outside
corridor which told her that Gervase was
near.
" At last ! " she whispered, " at last ! "
The next moment the Nubian flung the
door wide open and announced " Monsieur
Armand Gervase ! "
She advanced with all the wonderful grace
which distinguished her, holding out both
her slim, soft hands. Gervase caught them
in his own and kissed them fervently, where-
upon the Nubian retired, closing the door
after him.
ZISKA 127
"You are very welcome, Monsieur Ger-
vase," said the Princess then, speaking with
a measured slowness that was attractive as
well as soothing to the ear. "You have
left all the dear English people well at the
Gezireh Palace ? Lady Fulkeward was not
too tired after her exertions at the ball?
And you ?"
But Gervase was gazing at her in a speech-
less confusion of mind too great for words.
A sudden, inexplicable emotion took pos-
session of him, an emotion to which he
could give no name, but which stupefied
him and held him mute. Was it her beauty
which so dazzled his senses ? Was it some
subtle perfume in the room that awoke a
dim haunting memory ? Or what was it
that seemed so strangely familiar? He
struggled with himself, and finally spoke
out his thought :
" I have seen you before, Princess ; I am
quite sure I have ! I thought I had last
night ; but to-day I am positive about it.
Strange, isn't it ? I wonder where we really
met ? "
Her dark eyes rested on him fully.
" I wonder ! " she echoed, smiling. " The
world is so small, and so many people now-
adays make the ' grand tour, ' that it is not
128 ZISKA
at all surprising we should have passed each
other en route through our journey of life."
Gervase still hesitated, glancing about him
with a singularly embarrassed air, while she
continued to watch him intently. Presently
his sensations, whatever they were, passed
off, and gradually recovering his equanimity,
he became aware that he was quite alone
with one of the most fascinating women
he had ever seen. His eyes flashed, and he
smiled.
" I have come to paint your picture," he
said softly. " Shall I begin ? "
She had seated herself on a silken divan,
and her head rested against a pile of richly-
embroidered cushions. Without waiting
for her answer, he threw himself down
beside her and caught her hand in his.
" Shall I paint your picture ? " he whis-
pered. " Or shall I make love to you ? "
She laughed, the sweet, low laugh that
somehow chilled his blood while it charmed
his hearing.
" Whichever you please," she answered.
" Both performances would no doubt be
works of art ! "
" What do you mean ? "
" Can you not understand? If you paint
my picture it will be a work of art. If you
ZISKA 129
make love to me it will equally be a work of
art : that is, a composed thing an elabo-
rate study."
" Bah ! Love is not a composed thing,"
said Gervase, leaning closer to her. " It is
wild, and full of libertinage as the sea."
"And equally as fickle," added the Prin
cess composedly, taking a fan of feathers
near her and waving it to and fro. " Man's
idea of love is to take all he can get from a
woman, and give her nothing in return but
misery sometimes, and sometimes death."
" You do not, you cannot think that ! "
said Gervase, looking at her dazzling face
with a passion of admiration he made no
attempt to conceal. " Men on the whole
are not as cruel or as treacherous as women.
I would swear, looking at you, that, beauti-
ful as you are, you are cruel, and that is
perhaps why I love you ! You are like a
splendid tigress waiting to be tamed ! "
" And you think you could tame me ? "
interposed Ziska, looking at him with an
inscrutable disdain in her black eyes.
" Yes, if you loved me ! "
"Ah, possibly ! But then it happens that
I do not love you. I love no one. I have
had too much of love ; it is a folly I have
grown weary of! "
9
130 ZISKA
Gervase fixed his eyes on her with an au-
dacious look which seemed to hint that he
might possibly take advantage of being alone
with her to enforce his ideas of love more
eloquently than was in accordance with the
proprieties. She perceived his humor,
smiled, and coldly gave him back glance for
glance. Then, rising from the divan, she
drew herself up to her full height and sur-
veyed him with a kind of indulgent con-
tempt.
"You are an uprincipled man, Armand
Gervase," she said ; " and do you know I
fear you always will be ! A cleansing of
your soul through centuries of fire will be
necessary for you in the next world, that
next world which you do not believe in.
But it is perhaps as well to warn you that I
am not without protection in this place.
. . . See ! " and as she spoke she clapped
her hands.
A clanging noise as of brazen bells an-
swered her, and Gervase, springing up from
his seat, saw, to his utter amazement, the
apparently solid walls of the room in which
they were, divide rapidly and form them-
selves in several square openings which
showed a much larger and vaster apartment
beyond, resembling a great hall. Here were
ZISKA 131
assembled some twenty or thirty gorgeously-
costumed Arab attendants, men of a dark
and sinister type, who appeared to be fully
armed, judging from the unpleasant-looking
daggers and other weapons they carried at
their belts. The Princess clapped her hands
again, and the walls closed in the same rapid
fashion as they had opened, while the beau-
tiful mistress of this strange habitation
laughed mirthfully at the complete confu-
sion of her visitor and would-be lover.
" Paint me now ! " she said, flinging her-
self in a picturesque attitude on one of the
sofas close by ; "I am ready."
" But I am not ready ! " retorted Gervase,
angrily. " Do you take me for a child, or a
fool ? "
" Both in one," responded the Princess,
tranquilly ; " being a man ! "
His breath came and went quickly.
" Take care, beautiful Ziska ! " he said.
" Take care how you defy me ! "
" And take care, Monsieur Gervase ; take
care how you defy me ! " she responded,
with a strange, quick glance at him. " Do
you not realize what folly you are talking ?
You are making love to me in the fashion of
a brigand, rather than a nineteenth-century
Frenchman of good standing, and I I have
132 ZISKA
to defend myself against you also brigand-
wise, by showing you that I have armed
servants within call ! It is very strange, it
would frighten even Lady Fulkeward, and
I think she is not easily frightened. Pray
commence your work, and leave such an out-
of-date matter as love to dreamers and pretty
sentimentalists, like Miss Helen Murray."
He was silent, and busied himself in un-
strapping his canvas and paint-box with a
great deal of almost vicious energy. In a
few moments he had gained sufficient com-
posure to look full at her, and taking his
palette in hand, he began dabbing on the
colors, talking between whiles.
" Do you suppose," he said, keeping his
voice carefully subdued, " that you can intim-
idate me by showing me a score of wretched
black rascals whom you have placed on guard
to defend you out there ? And why did you
place them on guard? You must have been
afraid of me ! Pardieu ! I could snatch
you out of their midst, if I chose ! You do
not know me ; if you did, you would under-
stand that not all the world, armed to the
teeth should balk me of my desires ! But
I have been too hasty that I own, I can
wait." He raised his eyes and saw that she
was listening with an air of amused indiffer-
ZISKA 133
ence. " I shall have to mix strange tints in
your portrait, ma belle ! It is difficult to
find the exact hue of your skin there is rose
and brown in it ; and there is yet another
color which I must evolve while working,
and it is not the hue of health. It is
something dark and suggestive of death ; I
hope you are not destined to an early grave !
And yet, why not ? It is better that a
beautiful woman should die in her beauty
than live to become old and tiresome. . . ."
"You think that?" interrupted the Ziska
suddenly, smiling somewhat coldly.
" I do, most honestly. Had I lived in the
early days of civilization, when men were
allowed to have as many women as they
could provide for, I would have mercifully
killed any sweet favorite as soon as her beauty
began to wane. A lovely woman, dead in
her first exquisite youth, how beautiful a
subject for the mind to dwell upon ! How
it suggests all manner of poetic fancies and
graceful threnodies ! But a woman grown
old, who has outlived all passion and is a
mere bundle of fat, or a mummy of skin and
bone, what poetry does her existence sug-
gest? How can she appeal to art or senti-
ment ? She is a misery to herself and an
eyesore to others. Yes, Princess, believe
134 ZISKA
me, Love first, and Death afterwards, are
woman's best friends."
" You believe in Death ? " ask the Prin-
cess, looking steadily at him.
" It is the only thing I do believe in," he
answered lightly. " It is a fact that will bear
examination, but not contradiction. May I
ask you to turn your head slightly to the left
so ! Yes, that will do ; if I can catch the
look in your eyes that gleams there now,
the look of intense, burning, greedy cruelty
which is so murderously fascinating, I shall
be content."
He seated himself opposite to her, and,
putting down his palette, took up his canvas,
and posing it on his knee, began drawing the
first rough outline of his sketch in charcoal.
She, meanwhile, leaning against heaped-up
cushions of amber satin, remained silent.
"You are not a vain woman," he pursued,
" or you would resent my description of
your eyes. ' Greedy cruelty ' is not a pretty
expression, nor would it be considered com-
plimentary by the majority of the fair sex.
Yet, from my point of view, it is the highest
flattery I can pay you, for I adore the eyes
of savage animals, and the beautiful eye of
the forest-beast is in your head, diableresse
charmante comme vous $tes ! I wonder what
ZISKA 135
gives you such an insatiate love of venge-
ance ? "
He looked up and saw her eyes glistening
and narrowing at the corners, like the eyes
of an angry snake.
" If I have such a feeling," she replied
slowly, " it is probably a question of herit-
age."
" Ah ! Your parents were perhaps bar-
baric in their notions of love and hatred ? "
he queried, lazily working at his charcoal
sketch with growing admiration for its re-
sult.
" My parents came of a race of kings ! " she
answered. " All my ancestors were proud,
and of a temper unknown to this petty day.
They resented a wrong, they punished false-
hood and treachery, and they took a life for
a life. Your generation tolerates every sin
known in the calendar with a smile and a
shrug, you have arrived at the end of your
civilization, even to the denial of Deity and
a future life."
" That is not the end of our civilization,
Princess," said Gervase, working away in-
tently, with eyes fixed on the canvas as he
talked. " That is the triumphal apex, the
glory, the culmination of everything that is
great and supreme in manhood. In France,
136 ZISKA
man now knows himself to be the only God ;
England good, slow-pacing England is ap-
proaching France in intelligence by degrees,
and I rejoice to see that it is possible for
a newspaper like the Agnostic to exist in
London. Only the other day that excellent
journal was discussing the possibility of teach-
ing monkeys to read, and a witty writer, who
adopts the nom de plume of ' Saladin/ very
cleverly remarked ' that supposing monkeys
were able to read the New Testament, they
would still remain monkeys ; in fact, they
would probably be greater monkeys than
ever.' The fact of such an expression being
allowed to pass muster in once pious London
is an excellent sign of the times and of our
progress towards the pure Age of Reason.
The name of Christ is no longer one to con-
jure with."
A dead silence followed his words, and
the peculiar stillness and heaviness of the
atmosphere struck him with a vague alarm.
He lifted his eyes, the Princess Ziska met
his gaze steadily, but there was something
in her aspect that moved him to wonder-
ment and a curious touch of terror. The
delicate rose-tint of her cheeks had faded to
an ashy paleness, her lips were pressed to-
gether tightly and her eyes seemed to have
ZISKA 137
gained a vivid and angry lustre which Me-
dusa herself might have envied.
"Did you ever try to conjure with that
name ? " she asked.
" Never," he replied, forcing a smile and
remonstrating with himself for the inexplica-
ble nature of his emotions.
She went on slowly :
" In my creed for I have a creed it is be-
lieved that those who have never taken the
sacred name of Christ to their hearts, as a
talisman of comfort and support, are left as
it were in the vortex of uncertainties, tossed
to and fro among many whirling and mighty
forces, and haunted forever by the phan-
toms of their own evil deeds. Till they
learn and accept the truth of their marvel-
lous Redemption, they are the prey of wick-
ed spirits who tempt and lead them on to
divers miseries. But when the great Name
of Him who died upon the Cross is acknowl-
edged, then it is found to be of that trans-
figuring nature which turns evil 'co good,
and sometimes makes angels out of fiends.
Nevertheless, for the hardened reprobate
and unbeliever the old laws suffice."
Gervase had stopped the quick movement
of his " fusin," and looked at her curiously.
" What old laws ? " he asked.
138 ZISKA
" Stern justice without mercy ! " she an-
swered ; then in lighter accents she added :
" Have you finished your first outline ? "
In reply, he turned his canvas round to
her, showing her a head and profile boldly
presented in black and white,. She smiled.
" It is clever ; but it is not like me," she
said. " When you begin the coloring you
will find that your picture and I have no
resemblance to each other."
He flushed with a sense of wounded
amour propre.
" Pardon, madame ! I am no novice at
the art of painting," he said ; " and much as
your charms dazzle and ensnare me, they do
not disqualify my brain and hand from per-
fectly delineating them upon my canvas. I
love you to distraction ; but my passion
shall not hinder me from making your pic-
ture a masterpiece."
She laughed.
" What an egoist you are, Monsieur Ger-
vase ! " she said. " Even in your professed
passion for me you count yourself first, me
afterwards ! "
" Naturally ! " he replied. " A man must
always be first by natural creation. When he
allows himself to play second fiddle, he is a
fool ! "
ZISKA 139
" And when he is a fool and he often is
he is the first of fools ! " said the Princess.
" No ape no baboon hanging by its tail to
a tree looks such a fool as a man-fool. For
a man-fool has had all the opportunities of
education and learning bestowed upon him ;
this great universe, with its daily lessons of
the natural and the supernatural, is his book
laid open for his reading, and when he will
neither read it nor consider it, and, more-
over, when he utterly denies the very Maker
of it, then there is no fool in all creation like
him. For the ape-fool does at least admit
that there may be a stronger beast some-
where, a creature who may suddenly come
upon him and end his joys of hanging by
his tail to a tree and make havoc of his
fruit-eating and chattering, while man thinks
there is nothing anywhere superior to him-
self."
Gervase smiled tolerantly.
" I am afraid I have ruffled you, Princess,"
he said. "I see you have religious ideas:
I have none."
Once again she laughed musically.
" Religious ideas ! I ! Not at all. I have
a creed as I told you, but it is an ugly one
not at all sentimental or agreeable. It is
one I have adopted from ancient Egypt."
140 ZISKA
" Explain it to me, " said Gervase ; " I will
adopt it also, for your sake."
"It is too supernatural for you," she said,
paying no heed to the amorous tone of his
voice or the expressive tenderness of his
eyes.
" Never mind! Love will make me accept
an army of ghosts, if necessary."
" One of the chief tenets of my faith,"
she continued, " is the eternal immortality
of each individual Soul. Will you accept
that ? "
" For the moment, certainly ! "
Her eyes glowed like great jewels as she
proceeded :
" The Egyptian cult I follow is very briefly
explained. The Soul begins in protoplasm
without conscious individuality. It pro-
gresses through various forms till individual
consciousness is attained. Once attained,
it is never lost, but it lives on, pressing to-
wards perfection, taking upon itself various
phases of existence according to the pas-
sions which have most completely dominated
it from the first. That is all. But accord-
ing to this theory, you might have lived in
the world long ago, and so might I : we might
even have met; and for some reason or
other we may have become re-incarnated
ZISKA. 141
now. A disciple of my creed would give
you that as the reason why you sometimes
imagine you have seen me before."
As she spoke, the dazed and troubled sen-
sation he had once previously experienced
came upon him ; he laid down the canvas he
held and passed his hand across his forehead
bewilderedly.
"Yes; very curious and fantastic. I've
heard a great deal about the doctrine of re-
incarnation. I don't believe in it, I can't
believe in it ! But if I could : if I could
imagine I had ever met you in some bygone
time, and you were like what you are at this
moment, I should have loved you, I must
have loved you ! You see I cannot leave
the subject of love alone ; and your re-incar-
nation idea gives my fancy something to
work upon. So, beautiful Ziska, if your
soul ever took the form of a flower, I must
have been its companion blossom ; if it ever
paced the forest as a beast of prey, I must
have been its mate ; if it ever was human
before, then I must have been its lover!
Do you like such pretty follies? I will
talk them by the hour."
Here he rose, and with a movement that
was half fierce and half tender, he knelt
beside her, taking her hands in his own.
142 ZISKA
" I love you, Ziska ! I cannot help my-
self. I am drawn to you by some force
stronger than my own will ; but you need
not be afraid of me not yet ! As I said, I
can wait. I can endure the mingled torture
and rapture of this sudden passion and make
no sign, till my patience tires, and then
then I will win you if I die for it ! "
He sprang up before she could speak a
word in answer, and seizing his canvas again,
exclaimed gayly:
" Now for the hues of morning and even-
ing combined, to paint the radiance of this
wicked soul of love that so enthralls me !
First, the raven-black of midnight for the
hair, the lustre of the coldest, brightest
stars for eyes, the blush-rose of early dawn
for lips and cheeks. Ah ! How shall I
make a real beginning of this marvel ? "
"It will be difficult, I fear," said Ziska
slowly, with a faint, cold smile ; " and still
more difficult, perchance, will be the end ! "
ZISKA 143
CHAPTER VIII.
THE table d'hote at the Gezireh Palace
Hotel had already begun when Gervase
entered the dining-room and sat down near
Lady Fulkeward and Dr. Dean.
"You have missed the soup," said her
ladyship, looking up at him with a sweet
smile. " All you artists are alike, you have
no idea whatever of time. And how have
you succeeded with that charming myste-
rious person, the Princess Ziska? "
Gervase kept his gaze steadily fixed on
the table-cloth. He was extremely pale,
and had the air of one who has gone through
some great mental exhaustion.
" I have not succeeded as well as I ex-
pected," he answered slowly. " I tnink my
hand must have lost its cunning. At any
rate, whatever the reason may be, Art has
been defeated by Nature."
He crumbled up the piece of bread near
his plate in small portions with a kind of
involuntary violence in the action, and Dr.
144 ZISKA
Dean, deliberately drawing out a pair of
spectacles from their case, adjusted them,
and surveyed him curiously.
" You mean to say that you cannot paint
the Princess's picture?"
Gervase glanced up at him with a half-
sullen, half-defiant expression.
" I don't say that," he replied ; " I can
paint something something which you can
call a picture if you like, but there is no
resemblance to the Princess Ziska in it. She
is beautiful, and I can get nothing of her
beauty, I can only get the reflection of a
face which is not hers."
" How very curious ! " exclaimed Lady
Fulkeward. " Quite psychological, is it not,
Doctor ? It is almost creepy ! " and she
managed to produce a delicate shudder of
her white shoulders without cracking the
blanc de perle enamel. " It will be some-
thing fresh for you to study."
" Possibly it will possibly," said the Doc-
tor, still surveying Gervase blandly through
his round glasses ; " but it isn't the first time
I have heard of painters who unconsciously
produce other faces than those of their sitters.
I distinctly remember a case in point. A
gentleman, famous for his charities and gen-
eral benevolence, had his portrait painted by
ZISKA 145
a great artist for presentation to the town-
hall of his native place, and the artist was
quite unable to avoid making him unto the
likeness of a villain. It was quite a distress-
ing affair; the painter was probably more
distressed than anybody about it, and he
tried by every possible means in his power
to impart a truthful and noble aspect to the
countenance of the man who was known and
admitted to be a benefactor to his race. But
it was all in vain : the portrait when finished
was the portrait of a stranger and a scoundrel.
The people for whom it was intended de-
clared they would not have such a libel on
their generous friend hung up in their town-
hall. The painter was in despair, and there
was going to be a general hubbub, when, lo
and behold the ' noble ' personage himself
was suddenly arrested for a brutal murder
committed twelve years back. He was
found guilty and hanged, and the painter
kept the portrait that had so remarkably be-
trayed the murderer's real nature, as a curi-
osity ever afterwards."
"Is that a fact ? " inquired a man who was
seated at the other side of the table, and
who had listened with great interest to the
story.
" A positive fact," said the Doctor. " One
146 ZISKA
of those many singular circumstances which
occur in life, and which are beyond all ex-
planation."
Gervase moved restlessly ; then filling
for himself a glass of claret, drained it off
thirstily.
" Something of the same kind has hap-
pened to me," he said with a hard, mirthless
laugh, " for out of the most perfect beauty
I have only succeeded in presenting an
atrocity."
" Dear me ! " exclaimed Lady Fulkeward.
" What a disappointing day you must have
had ! But of course, you will try again ;
the Princess will surely give you another
sitting ? "
" Oh, yes ! I shall certainly try again
and yet again, and ever so many times
again," said Gervase, with a kind of angry
obstinacy in his tone, " the more so as she has
told me I will never succeed in painting her."
" She told you that, did she ? " put in
Dr. Dean, with an air of lively interest.
"Yes."
Just then the handing round of fresh
dishes and the clatter of knives and forks
effectually put a stop to the conversation
for the time, and Gervase presently glancing
about him saw that Denzil Murray and his
ZISKA. 147
sister were dining apart at a smaller table
with young Lord Fulkeward and Ross
Courtney. Helen was looking her fairest
and best that evening her sweet face,
framed in its angel aureole of bright hair
had a singular look of pureness and truth
expressed upon it rare to find in any woman
beyond her early teens. Unconsciously to
himself, Gervase sighed as he caught a view
of her delicate profile, and Lady Fulkeward's
sharp ears heard the sound of that sigh.
" Isn't that a charming little party over
there ? " she asked. " Young people, you
know ! They always like to be together !
That very sweet girl, Miss Murray, was so
much distressed about her brother to-day,
something was the matter with him a touch
of fever, I believe, that she begged me to
let Fulke dine with them in order to dis-
tract Mr. Denzil's mind. Fulke is a dear
boy, you know very consoling in his ways,
though he says so little. Then Mr. Court-
ney volunteered to join them, and there they
are. The Chetwynd Lyles are gone to a
big dinner at the Continental this evening."
" The Chetwynd Lyles let me see. Who
are they ? " mused Gervase aloud. " Do I
know them ? "
" No, that is, you have not been for-
148 ZISKA
mally introduced," said Dr. Dean. " Sir
Chetwynd Lyle is the editor and proprietor
of the London Daily Dial, Lady Chetwynd
Lyle is his wife, and the two elderly-youth-
ful ladies who appeared as ' Boulogne fish-
wives ' last night at the ball are his daugh-
ters."
" Cruel man ! " exclaimed Lady Fulke-
ward with a girlish giggle. " The idea of
calling those sweet girls, Muriel and Dolly,
' elderly-youthful ! ' '
" What are they, my dear madam, what
are they?" demanded the imperturbable
little savant. " ' Elderly-youthful ' is a very
convenient expression, and applies perfectly
to people who refuse to be old and cannot
possibly be young."
" Nonsense ! I will not listen to you ! "
and her ladyship opened her jewelled fan
and spread it before her eyes to completely
screen the objectionable Doctor from view.
" Don't you know your theories are quite
out of date ? Nobody is old, we all utterly
refuse to be old ! Why," and she shut her
fan with a sudden jerk, " I shall have you
calling me old next."
" Never, madam ! " said Dr. Dean gal-
lantly laying his hand upon his heart. "You
are quite an exception to the rule. You
ZISKA. 149
have passed through the furnace of marriage
and come out unscathed. Time has done
its worst with you, and now retreats, baffled
and powerless ; it can touch you no more ! "
Whether this was meant as a compliment
or the reverse it would have been difficult
to say, but Lady Fulkeward graciously ac-
cepted it as the choicest flattery, and bowed,
smiling and gratified. Dinner was now
drawing to its end, and people were giving
their orders for coffee to be served to them
on the terrace and in the gardens, Gervase
among the rest. The Doctor turned to him.
" I should like to see your picture of the
Princess," he said, " that is if you have no
objection."
" Not the least in the world," replied
Gervase, " only it isn't the Princess, it is
somebody else."
A faint shudder passed over him. The
Doctor noticed it.
" Talking of curious things," went on that
irrepressible savant, " I started hunting for
a particular scarabeus to-day. I couldn't
find it, of course, it generally takes years to
find even a trifle that one especially wants.
But I came across a queer old man in one
of the curiosity-shops who told me that over
at Karnak they had just discovered a large
150 ZISKA
fresco in one of the tombs describing the
exploits of the very man whose track I'm
on Araxes. . . "
Gervase started, he knew not why.
" What has Araxes to do with you ? " he
demanded.
" Oh, nothing ! But the Princess Ziska
spoke of him as a great warrior in the days
of Amenhotep, and she seems to be a great
Egyptologist, and to know many things of
which we are ignorant. Then you know
last night she adopted the costume of a dancer
of that period, named Ziska-Charmazel.
Well, now it appears that in one part of this
fresco the scene depicted is this very Ziska-
Charmazel dancing before Araxes."
Gervase listened with strained attention,
his heart beat thickly, as though the Doctor
were telling him of some horrible circum-
stance in which he had an active part ; where-
as he had truly no interest at all in the
matter, except in so far as events of history
are more or less interesting to everyone.
" Well ? " he said after a pause.
"Well," echoed Dr. Dean. "There is
really nothing more to say beyond that I
want to find out everything I can concern-
ing this Araxes, if only for the reason that
the charming Princess chose to impersonate
ZISKA 1 5 1
his lady-love last night. One must amuse
one's self in one's own fashion, even in Egypt,
and this amuses me"
Gervase rose, feeling in his pocket for his
cigarette-case.
" Come," he said briefly, " I will show you
my picture."
He straightened his tall, fine figure and
walked slowly across the room to the table
where Denzil Murray sat with his sister and
friends.
" Denzil," he said, " I have made a
strange portrait of the Princess Ziska, and
I'm going to show it to Dr. Dean. I should
like you to see it too. Will you come ? "
Denzil looked at him with a dark reproach
in his eyes.
" If you like," he answered shortly.
tf I do like ! " and Gervase laid his hand
on the young fellow's shoulder with a kind
pressure. " You will find it a piece of curi-
ous disenchantment, as veil as a proof of
my want of skill. You are all welcome to
come and look at it except . . ." here he
hesitated, " except Miss Murray. I think
yes, I think it might possibly frighten Miss
Murray."
Helen raised her eyes to his, but said
nothing.
I$2 ZISKA
" Oh, by Jove ! " murmured Lord Fulke-
ward, feeling his moustache as usual. " Then
don't you come, Miss Murray. We'll tell
you all about it afterwards."
" I have no curiosity on the subject," she
said a trifle coldly. " Denzil, you will find
me in the drawing-room. I have a letter to
write home."
With a slight salute she left them, Gervase
watching the disappearance of her graceful
figure with a tinge of melancholy regret in
his eyes.
" It is evident Mademoiselle Helen does
not like the Princess Ziska," he observed.
" Oh, well, as to that," said Fulkeward
hastily, " you know you can't expect women
to lose their heads about her as men do.
Beside, there's something rather strange in
the Princess's manner and appearance, and
perhaps Miss Murray doesn't take to her
any more than I do."
" Oh, then you are not one of her lovers ? "
queried Dr. Dean smiling.
" No ; are you ? "
" I ? Good heavens, my dear young sir,
I was never in love with a woman in my life !
That is, not what you would call in love. At
the age of sixteen I wrote verses to a mature
young damsel of forty, a woman with a
ZISKA 153
remarkably fine figure and plenty of it ; she
rejected my advances with scorn, and I have
never loved since ! "
They all laughed, even Denzil Murray's
sullen features cleared for the moment into
the brightness of a smile.
" Where did you paint the Princess's pic-
ture ? " inquired Ross Courtney suddenly.
" In her own house," replied Gervase.
" But we were not alone, for the fascinating
fair one had some twenty or more armed
servants within call." There was a move-
ment of surprise among his listeners, and he
went on : "Yes; Madame is very well pro-
tected, I assure you, as much so as if she
were the first favorite in a harem. Come
now, and see my sketch."
He led the way to a private sitting-room
which he had secured for himself in the hotel
at almost fabulous terms. It was a small
apartment, but it had the advantage of a
long French window which opened out into
the garden. Here, on an easel, was a canvas
with its back turned towards the spectator.
" Sit down," said Gervase abruptly address-
ing his guests, " and be prepared for a curi-
osity unlike anything you have ever seen
before ! " He paused a moment, looking
steadily at Dr. Dean. " Perhaps, Doctor,
154 ZISKA.
as you are interested in psychic phenomena,
you may be able to explain how I got such
a face on my canvas, for I cannot explain it
to myself."
He slowly turned the canvas round, and,
scarcely heeding the exclamation of amaze-
ment that broke simultaneously from all the
men present, stared at it himself, fascinated
by a singular magnetism more potent than
either horror or fear.
ZISKA 1 5 5
CHAPTER IX.
WHAT a strange and awful face it was !
what a thing of distorted passion and pain !
What an agony was expressed in every line
of the features ! agony in which the traces
of a divine beauty lingered only to render
the whole countenance more repellent and
terrific ! A kind of sentient solemnity,
mingled with wrath and terror, glared from
the painted eyes, the lips, slightly parted
in a cruel upward curve, seemed about to
utter a shriek of menace, the hair, drooping
in black, thick clusters low on the brow,
looked wet as with the dews of the rigor
'mortis, and to add to the mysterious horror
of the whole conception, the distinct outline
of a death's-head was seen plainly through
the rose-brown flesh-tints. There was no
real resemblance in this horrible picture to
the radiant and glowing loveliness of the
Princess Ziska, yet, at the same time, there
was sufficient dim likeness to make an imag-
inative person think it might be possible
for her to assume that appearance in death.
I $6 ZISKA
Several minutes passed in utter silence,
then Lord Fulkeward suddenly rose.
" I'm going ! " he said. " It's a beastly
thing ; it makes me sick ! "
" Grand merci ! " said -Gervase with a
forced smile.
" I really can't help it," declared the young
man, turning his back to the picture. " If I
am rude, you must excuse it. I'm not very
strong my mother will tell you I get put
out very easily, and I shall dream of this
horrid face all night if I don't give it a wide
berth."
And, without any further remark he
stepped out through the open window into
the garden, and walked off. Gervase made
no comment on his departure ; he turned
his eyes towards Dr. Dean who, with spec-
tacles on nose, was staring hard at the picture
with every sign of the deepest interest.
" Well, Doctor," he said, " you see it is
not at all like the Princess."
" Oh, yes it is ! " returned the Doctor
placidly. " If you could imagine the Prin-
cess's face in torture, it would be like her.
It is the kind of expression she might wear
if she suddenly met with a violent end."
" But why should I paint her so ? "
demanded Gervase. " She was perfectly
ZISKA 157
tranquil ; and her attitude was most pictur-
esquely composed. I sketched her as I
thought I saw her, how did this tortured
head come on my canvas ? "
The Doctor scratched his chin thought-
fully. It was certainly a problem. He
stared hard at Gervase, as though searching
for the clue to the mystery in the handsome
artist's own face. Then he turned to Denzil
Murray, who had not stirred or spoken.
" What do you think of it, eh, Denzil ? "
he asked.
The young man started as from a dream.
" I don't know what to think of it."
" And you ? " said the Doctor, addressing
Ross Courtney.
" I ? Oh, I am of the same opinion as
Fulkeward, I think it is a horrible thing.
And the curious part of the matter is that
it is like the Princess Ziska, and yet totally
unlike. Upon my word, you know, it is a
very unpleasant picture."
Dr. Dean got up and paced the room two
or three times, his brows knitted in a heavy
frown. Suddenly he stopped in front of
Gervase.
" Tell me," he said, " have you any recol-
lection of ever having met the Princess
Ziska before ? "
158 ZISKA
Gervase looked puzzled, then answered
slowly :
" No, I have no actual recollection of the
kind. At the same time, I admit to you
that there is something about her which has
always struck me as being familiar. The
tone of her voice and the peculiar cadence of
her laughter particularly affect me in this
way. Last night when I was dancing with
her, I wondered whether I had ever come
across her as a model in one of the studios
in Paris or Rome."
The Doctor listened to him attentively,
watching him narrowly the while. But he
shook his head incredulously at the idea
of the Princess ever having posed as a
model.
" No, no, that won't do ! " he said. " I do
not believe she was ever in the model busi-
ness. Think again. You are now a man in
the prime of life, Monsieur Gervase, but look
back to your early youth, the period when
young men do wild, reckless, and often
wicked things, did you ever in that thought-
less time break a woman's heart ? "
Gervase flushed, and shrugged his
shoulders.
" Pardieu ! I may have done ! Who can
tell ? But if I did, what would that have to
ZISKA 159
do with this?" and he tapped the picture
impatiently.
The Doctor sat down and smacked his
lips with a peculiar air of enjoyment.
" It would have a great deal to do with it,"
he answered, " that is, psychologically speak-
ing. I have known of such cases. We will
argue the point out systematically thus :
Suppose that you, in your boyhood, had
wronged some woman, and suppose that
woman had died. You might imagine you
had got rid of that woman. But if her love
was very strong and her sense of outrage
very bitter, I must tell you that you have
not got rid of her by any means, moreover,
you never will get rid of her. And why ?
Because her Soul, like all Souls, is imperish-
able. Now, putting it as a mere supposition,
and for the sake of the argument, that you
feel a certain admiration for the Princess
Ziska, an admiration which might possibly
deepen into something more than platonic,
. . ." here Denzil Murray looked up, his
eyes glowing with an angry pain as he fixed
them on Gervase, " why then the Soul of
the other woman you once wronged might
come between you and the face of the new
attraction and cause you to unconsciously
paint the tortured look of the injured and
160 ZISKA
unforgiving Spirit on the countenance of the
lovely fascinator whose charms are just be-
ginning to ensnare you. I repeat, I have
known of such cases." And, unheeding the
amazed and incredulous looks of his listen-
ers, the little Doctor folded both his short
arms across his chest, and hugged himself
in the exquisite delight of his own strange
theories. " The fact is," he continued, " you
cannot get rid of ghosts ! They are all about
us everywhere ! Sometimes they take
forms, sometimes they are content to remain
invisible. But they never fail to make their
presence felt. Often during the perform-
ance of some great piece of music they drift
between the air and the melody, making
the sounds wilder and more haunting, and
freezing the blood of the listener with a
vague agony and chill. Sometimes they
come between us and our friends, mysteri-
ously forbidding any further exchange of
civilities or sympathies, and occasionally they
meet us alone and walk and talk with us
invisibly. Generally they mean well, but
sometimes they mean ill. And the only ex-
planation I can offer you, Monsieur Gervase,
as to the present picture problem is that a
ghost must have come between you and
your canvas ! "
ZISKA l6l
Gervase laughed loudly.
" My good friend, you are an adept in the
art of pleading the impossible ! You must
excuse me ; I am a sceptic ; and I hope I
am also in possession of my sober reason,
therefore, you can hardly wonder at my en-
tirely refusing to accept such preposterous
theories as those you appear to believe in."
Dr. Dean gave him a civil little bow.
" I do not ask you to accept them, my
dear sir ! I state my facts, and you can take
them or leave them, just as you please. You
yourself can offer no explanation of the sin-
gular way in which this picture has been
produced ; I offer one which is perfectly
tenable with the discoveries of psychic
science, and you dismiss it as preposterous.
That being the case, I should recommend
you to cut up this canvas and try your hand
again on the same subject."
" Of course, I shall try again," retorted
Gervase. " But I do not think I shall de-
stroy this first sketch. It is a curiosity in
its way ; and it has a peculiar fascination for
me. Do you notice how thoroughly Egyp-
tian the features are? They are the very
contour of some of the faces on the recently-
discovered frescoes."
" Oh, I noticed that at once," said the
ii
l62 ZISKA
Doctor ; " but that is not remarkable, seeing
that you yourself are quite of an Egyptian
type, though a Frenchman, so much so, in
fact, that many people in this hotel have
commented on it."
Gervase said nothing, but slowly turned
the canvas round with its face to the wall.
" You have seen enough of it, I suppose ? "
he inquired of Denzil Murray.
" More than enough ! "
Gervase smiled.
" It ought to disenchant you," he said in
a lower tone.
" But it is a libel on her beauty, it is
not in the least like her," returned Murray
coldly.
" Not in the very least ? Are you sure ?
My dear Denzil, you know as well as I do that
there is a likeness, combined with a dreadful
unlikeness ; and it is that which troubles both
of us. I assure you, my good boy, I am as
sorry for you as I am for myself, for I feel
that this woman will be the death of one or
both of us ! "
Denzil made no reply, and presently they
all strolled out in the garden and lit their
cigars and cigarettes, with the exception of
Dr. Dean who never smoked and never drank
anything stronger than water.
ZISKA 163
" I am going to get up a party for the
Nile," he said as he turned his sharp, ferret-
like eyes upwards to the clear heavens ; " and
I shall take the Princess into my confidence.
In fact, I have written to her about it to-day.
I hear she has a magnificent electric daha-
beah, and if she will let us charter it. . . ."
" She won't," said Denzil hastily, " unless
she goes with it herself."
" You seem to know a great deal about
her," observed Dr. Dean indulgently, " and
why should she not go herself ? She is evi-
dently well instructed in the ancient history
of Egypt, and, as she reads the hieroglyphs,
she will be a delightful guide and a most
valuable assistant to me in my researches."
" What researches are you engaged upon
now ? " inquired Courtney.
" I am hunting down a man called
Araxes," answered the Doctor. " He lived,
so far as I can make out, some four or five
thousand years ago, more or less ; and I want
to find out what he did and how he died, and
when I know how he died, then I mean
to discover where he is buried. If possible,
I shall excavate him. I also want to Ifind
the remains of Ziska-Charmazel, the lady
impersonated by our charming friend the
Princess last night, the dancer, who, it
164 ZISKA
appears from a recently-discovered fresco,
occupied most of her time in dancing before
this same Araxes and making herself gener-
ally agreeable to him."
" What an odd fancy ! " exclaimed Den-
zil. " How can a man and woman dead five
thousand years ago be of any interest to
you ? "
" What interest has Rameses ? " demand-
ed the Doctor politely, ' or any of the
Ptolemies ? Araxes, like Rameses, may
lead to fresh discoveries in Egypt, for all
we know. One name is as good as another,
and each odoriferous mummy has its own
mystery."
They all came just then to a pause in
their walk, Gervase stopping to light a fresh
cigarette. The rays of the rising moon fell
upon him as he stood, a tall and stately fig-
ure, against a background of palms, and
shone on his dark features with a touch of
grayish-green luminance that gave him for
the moment an almost spectral appearance.
Dr. Dean glanced at him with a smile.
" What a figure of an Egyptian, is he
not ! " he said to Courtney and Denzil
Murray. " Look at him ! What height
and symmetry ! What a world of ferocity
in those black, slumbrous eyes ! Yes, Mon-
ZISKA 165
sieur Gervase, I am talking about you. I
am admiring you ! "
" Trop cThonneur ! " murmured Gervase,
carefully shielding with one hand the match
with which he was kindling his cigarette.
" Yes," continued the Doctor, " I am ad-
miring you. Being a little man myself, I
naturally like tall men, and as an investiga-
tor of psychic forms I am immensely in-
terested when I see a finely-made body in
which the soul lies torpid. That is why you
unconsciously compose for me a wonderful
subject of study. I wonder now, how long
this torpidity in the psychic germ has lasted
in you ? It commenced, of course, origin-
ally in protoplasm ; but it must have con-
tinued through various low forms and met
with enormous difficulties in attaining to
individual consciousness as man, because
even now it is scarcely conscious."
Gervase laughed.
" Why, that beginning of the soul in pro-
toplasm is part of a creed which the Prin-
cess Ziska was trying to teach me to-day,"
he said lightly. " It's all no use. I don't
believe in the soul ; if I did, I should be a
miserable man."
"Why?" asked Murray. .
" Why ? Because, my dear fellow, I
1 66 ZISKA
should be rather afraid of my future. I
should not like to live again ; I might have
to remember certain incidents which I would
rather forget. There is your charming sister,
Mademoiselle Helen ! I must go and talk
to her, her conversation always does me
good ; and after that picture which I have
been unfortunate enough to produce, her
presence will be as soothing as the freshness
of morning after an unpleasant nightmare."
He moved away ; Denzil Murray with
Courtney followed him. Dr. Dean remained
behind, and presently sitting down in a re-
tired corner of the garden alone, he took
out a small pocket-book and stylographic
pen and occupied himself for more than half
an hour in busily writing till he had covered
two or three pages with his small, neat calig-
raphy.
" It is the most interesting problem I ever
had the chance of studying ! " he murmured
half aloud when he had finished, " Of
course, if my researches into the psychic
spheres of action are worth anything, it can
only be one case out of thousands. Thous-
ands? Aye, perhaps millions ! Great heav-
ens ! Among what terrific unseen forces
we live ! And in exact proportion to every
man's arrogant denial of the ' Divinity that
ZISKA 167
shapes our ends, so will be measured out to
him the revelation of the invisible. Strange
that the human race has never entirely real-
ized as yet the depth of meaning in the
words describing hell : ' Where the worm
dieth not, and where the flame is never
quenched. The ' worm ' is Retribution, the
' flame ' is the immortal Spirit, and the two
are forever striving to escape from the
other. Horrible ! And yet there are men
who believe in neither one thing nor the
other, and reject the Redemption that does
away with both ! God forgive us all our
sins, and especially the sins of pride and
presumption ! "
And with a shade of profound melancholy
on his features, the little Doctor put by his
note-book, and, avoiding all the hotel loungers
on the terrace and elsewhere, retired to his
own room and went to bed.
1 68 ZISKA
CHAPTER X.
THE next day when Armand Gervase
went to call on the Princess Ziska he was
refused admittance. The Nubian attendant
who kept watch and ward at her gates, hear-
ing the door-bell ring, contented himself with
thrusting his ugly head through an open
upper window and shouting
" Madame est sortie ! "
" Oil done ? " called Gervase in answer.
"A la campagne le desert les pyra-
mides ! " returned the Nubian, at the same
time banging the lattice to in order to pre-
vent the possibility of any further conversa-
tion. And Gervase, standing in the street
irresolutely for a moment, fancied he heard
a peal of malicious laughter in the dis-
tance.
" Beast ! " he muttered, " I must try him
with a money bribe next time I get hold of
him. I wonder what I shall do with myself
now ? haunted and brain-ridden as I am by
this woman and her picture ? "
ZISKA 169
The hot sun glared in his eyes and made
them ache, the rough stones of the narrow
street were scorching to his feet. He began
to move slowly away with a curious faint
sensation of giddiness and sickness upon
him, when the sound of music floating from
the direction of the Princess Ziska's palace
brought him to a sudden standstill. It was
a strange, wild melody, played on some in-
strument with seemingly muffled strings. A
voice with a deep, throbbing thrill of sweet-
ness in it began to sing :
Oh, for the passionless peace of the Lotus-Lily !
It floats in a waking dream on the waters chilly,
With its leaves unfurled
To the wondering world,
Knowing naught of the sorrow and restless pain
That burns and tortures the human brain ;
Oh, for the passionless peace of the Lotus-Lily !
Oh, for the pure cold heart of the Lotus- Lily !
Bared to the moon on the waters dark and chilly.
A star above
Is its only love,
And one brief sigh of its scented breath
Is all it will ever know of Death ;
Oh, for the pure cold heart of the Lotus-Lily !
When the song ceased, Gervase raised his
eyes from the ground on which he had fixed
them in a kind of brooding stupor, and stared
I/O ZISKA
at the burning blue of the sky as vaguely
and wildly as a sick man in the delirium of
fever.
"God! What ails me!" he muttered,
supporting himself with one hand against
the black and crumbling wall near which he
stood. " Why should that melody steal
away my strength and make me think of
things with which I have surely no connec-
tion ! What tricks my imagination plays
me in this city of the Orient I might as
well be hypnotized ! What have I to do
with dreams of war and triumph and rapine
and murder, and what is the name of Ziska-
Charmazel to me? "
He shook himself with the action of a fine
brute that has been stung by some teasing
insect, and, mastering his emotions by an
effort, walked away. But he was so absorbed
in strange thoughts, that he stumbled up
against Denzil Murray in a side street on
the way to the Gezireh Palace Hotel without
seeing him, and would have passed him alto-
gether had not Denzil somewhat fiercely
said:
" Stop ! "
Gervase looked at him bewilderedly.
" Why, Denzil, is it you ? My dear fel-
low, forgive me my brusquerie ! I believe I
ZISKA I/I
have got a stroke of the sun, or something
of the sort ; I assure you I hardly know
what I am doing or where I am going ! "
" I believe it ! " said Denzil, hoarsely.
" You are as mad as I am for love ! "
Gervase smiled ; a slight incredulous smile.
" You think so? I am not sure ! If love
makes a man as thoroughly unstrung and
nervous as I am to-day, then love is a very
bad illness."
" It is the worst illness in the world," said
Denzil, speaking hurriedly and wildly.
44 The most cruel and torturing ! And there
is no cure for it save death. My God, Ger-
vase ! You were my friend but yesterday !
I never should have thought it possible to
hate you ! "
" Yet you do hate me ? " queried Gervase,
still smiling a little.
" Hate you ? I could kill you ! You
have been with her ! "
Quietly Gervase took his arm.
" My good Denzil, you are mistaken ! I
confess to you frankly I should have been
with her you mean the Princess Ziska, of
course had it been possible. But she has
fled the city for the moment at least, ac-
cording to the corpse-like Nubian who acts
as porter."
1/2 ZISKA
" He lies ! " exclaimed Denzil, hotly. " I
saw her this morning."
" I hope you improved your opportunity,"
said Gervase, imperturbably. " Anyway, at
the present moment she is not visible."
A silence fell between them for some
minutes ; then Denzil spoke again.
" Gervase, it is no use, I cannot stand this
sort of thing. We must have it out. What
does it all mean ? "
" It is difficult to explain, my dear boy,"
answered Gervase, half seriously, half mock-
ingly. " It means, I presume, that we are
both in love with the same woman, and that
we both intend to try our chances with her.
But, as I told you the other night, I do not
see why we should quarrel about it. Your
intentions towards the Princess are honorable
mine are dishonorable, and I shall make
no secret of them. If you win her, I
shall . . ."
He paused, and there was a sudden look
in his eyes which gave them a sombre dark-
ness, darker than their own natural color.
" You shall what ? " asked Denzil.
" Do something desperate," replied Ger-
vase. " What the something will be depends
on the humor of the moment. A tiger
balked of his prey is not an agreeable beast ;
ZISKA 173
a strong man deprived of the woman he
passionately desires is a little less agreeable
even than the tiger. But let us adopt the
policy of laissez-faire. Nothing is decided ;
the fair one cares for neither of us ; let us be
friends until she makes her choice."
"We cannot be friends," said Denzil,
sternly.
" Good ! Let us be foes then, but court-
eous, even in our quarrel, dear boy. If we
must kill each other, let us do it civilly.
To fly at each other's throats would be
purely barbaric. We owe a certain duty to
civilization; things have progressed since
the days of Araxes."
Denzil stared at him gloomily.
" Araxes is Dr. Dean's fad," he said.
" I don't know anything about Egyptian
mummies, and don't want to know. My
matter is with the present, and not with the
past."
They had reached the hotel by this time,
and turned into the gardens side by side.
" You understand ? " repeated Denzil.
" We cannot be friends ! "
Gervase gave him a profoundly courteous
salute, and the two separated.
Later on in the afternoon, about an hour
before dinner-time, Gervase, strolling on the
174 ZISKA
terrace of the hotel alone, saw Helen Murray
seated at a little distance under some trees,
with a book in her hand which she was not
reading. There were tears in her eyes, but
as he approached her she furtively dashed
them away and greeted him with a poor
attempt at a smile.
"You have a moment to spare me? " he
asked, sitting down beside her.
She bent her head in acquiescence.
" I am a very unhappy man, Mademoiselle
Helen," he began, looking at her with a cer-
tain compassionate tenderness as he spoke.
" I want your sympathy, but I know I do
not deserve it."
Helen remained silent. A faint flush
crimsoned her cheeks, but her eyes were
veiled under the long lashes she thought he
could not see them.
" You remember," he went on, " our pleas-
ant times in Scotland ? Ah, it is a restful
place, your Highland home, with the beauti-
ful purple hills rolling away in the distance,
and the glorious moors covered with fragrant
heather, and the gurgling of the river that
runs between birch and fir and willow, making
music all day long for those who have the
ears to listen, and the hearts to understand
the pretty love tune it sings ! You know
ZISKA 175
Frenchmen always have more or less sym-
pathy with the Scotch some old association,
perhaps, with the romantic times of Mary
Queen of Scots, when the light and change-
ful fancies of Chastelard and his brother
poets and lutists made havoc in the hearts
of many a Highland maiden. What is that
bright drop on your hand, Helen ? are you
crying ? " He waited a moment, and his
voice was softer and more tremulous. " Dear
girl, I am not worthy of tears. I am not
good enough for you."
He gave her time to recover her momen-
tary emotion and then went on, still softly
and tenderly :
" Listen, Helen. I want you to believe
me and forgive me, if you can. I know I
remember those moonlight evenings in Scot-
land holy and happy evenings, as sweet as
flower-scented pages in a young girl's missal ;
yes, and I did not mean to play with you,
Helen, or wound your gentle heart. I al-
most loved you ! " He spoke the words
passionately, and for a moment she raised
her eyes and looked at him in something of
fear as well as sorrow. " ' Yes,' I said to my
self, ' this woman, so true and pure and fair,
is a bride for a king ; and if I can win her
if ! ' Ah, there my musings stopped. But
1 76 ZISKA
I came to Egypt chiefly to meet you again,
knowing that you and your brother were in
Cairo. How was I to know, how was I to
guess that this horrible thing would happen ? "
Helen gazed at him wonderingly.
" What horrible thing ? " she asked, falter-
ingly, the rich color coming and going on
her face, and her heart beating violently as
she put the question.
His eyes flashed.
"This," he answered. "The close and
pernicious enthralment of a woman I never
met till the night before last ; a woman whose
face haunts me ; a woman who drags me to
her side with the force of a magnet, there to
grovel like a brain-sick fool and plead with
her for a love which I already know is poison
to my soul ! Helen, Helen ! You do not
understand you will never understand !
Here, in the very air I breathe, I fancy I
can trace the perfume she shakes from her
garments as she moves ; something inde-
scribably fascinating yet terrible attracts me
to her ; it is an evil attraction, I know, but I
cannot resist it. There is something wicked
in every man's nature ; I am conscious
enough that there is something detestably
wicked in mine, and I have not sufficient
goodness to overbalance it. And this
ZISKA 177
woman, this silent, gliding, glittering-eyed
creature that has suddenly taken possession
of my fancy she overcomes me in spite of
myself ; she makes havoc of all the good in-
tentions of my life. I admit it I confess it ! "
" You are speaking of the Princess Ziska ? "
asked Helen, tremblingly.
"Of whom else should I speak?" he re-
sponded, dreamily. " There is no one like
her ; probably there never was anyone like
her, except, perhaps, Ziska-Charmazel ! "
As the name passed his lips, he sprang
hastily up and stood amazed, as though some
sudden voice had called him. Helen Murray
looked at him in alarm.
" Oh, what is it ? " she exclaimed.
He forced a laugh.
" Nothing nothing but a madness ! I
suppose it is all a part of my strange malady.
Your brother is stricken with the same fever.
Surely you know that ? "
" Indeed I do know it," Helen answered,
" to my sorrow ! "
He regarded her intently. Her face in its
pure outline and quiet sadness of expression
touched him more than he cared to own
even to himself.
" My dear Helen," he said, with an effort
at composure, " I have been talking wildly ;
12
1/8 ZISKA
you must forgive me ! Don't think about
me at all ; I am not worth it ! Denzil has
taken it into his head to quarrel with me on
account of the Princess Ziska, but I assure
you I will not quarrel with him. He is in-
fatuated, and so am I. The best thing for
all of us to do would be to leave Egypt in-
stantly ; I feel that instinctively, only we
cannot do it. Something holds us here.
You will never persuade Denzil to go, and I
I cannot persuade myself to go. There
is a clinging sweetness in the air for me;
and there are vague suggestions, memories,
dreams, histories wonderful things which
hold me spell-bound ! I wish I could analyze
them, recognize them, or understand them.
But I cannot, and there, perhaps, is their
secret charm. Only one thing grieves me,
and that is, that I have, perhaps, unwittingly,
in some thoughtless way, given you pain ; is
it so, Helen?"
She rose quickly, and with a quiet dignity
held out her hand.
" No, Monsieur Gervase, " she said, " it is
not so. I am not one of those women who
take every little idle word said by men in
jest au grand serieux ! You have always
been a kind and courteous friend, and if you
ever fancied you had a warmer feeling for
ZISKA 179
me, as you say, I am sure you were mistaken.
We often delude ourselves in these matters.
I wish, for your sake, I could think the Prin-
cess Ziska worthy of the love she so readily
inspires. But, I cannot ! My brother's
infatuation for her is to me terrible. I feel
it will break his heart, and mine ! " A
little half sob caught her breath and inter-
rupted her ; she paused, but presently went
on with an effort at calmness : " You talk of
our leaving Egypt ; how I wish that were
possible ! But I spoke to Denzil about it
on the night of the ball, and he was furious
with me for the mere suggestion. It seems
like an evil fate."
" It is an evil fate," said Gervase gloomily.
"Enfin,my dear Helen, we cannot escape
from it, at least, / cannot. But I never
was intended for good things, not even for a
lasting love. A lasting love I feel would
bore me. You look amazed ; you believe
in lasting love ? So do many sweet women.
But do you know what symbol I, as an ar-
tist, would employ were I asked to give my
idea of Love on my canvas?"
Helen smiled sadly and shook her head.
" I would paint a glowing flame," said
Gervase dreamily. " A flame leaping up
from the pit of hell to the height of heaven,
180 ZISKA
springing in darkness, lost in light ; and flying
into the centre of that flame should be a
white moth a blind, soft, mad thing with
beating, tremulous wings, that should be
Love ! Whirled into the very heart of the
ravening fire, crushed, shrivelled out of
existence in one wild, rushing rapture that
is what Love must be to me ! One cannot
prolong passion over fifty years, more or
less, of commonplace routine, as marriage
would have us do. The very notion is ab-
surd. Love is like a choice wine of exqui-
site bouquet and intoxicating flavor ; it is
the most maddening draught in the world,
but you cannot drink it every day. No, my
dear Helen ; I am not made for a quiet life,
nor for a long one, I fancy."
His voice unconsciously sank into a mel-
ancholy tone, and for one moment Helen's
composure nearly gave way. She loved
him as true women love, with that sublime
self-sacrifice which only desires the happiness
of the thing beloved ; yet a kind of insen-
sate rage stirred for once in her gentle soul
to think that the mere sight of a strange
woman with dark eyes, a woman whom no
one knew anything about, and who was by
some people deemed a mere adventuress,
should have so overwhelmed this man whose
ZISKA I8l
genius she had deemed superior to fleeting
impressions. Controlling the tears that rose
to her eyes and threatened to fall, she said
gently,
" Good-bye, Monsieur Gervase ! "
He started as from a reverie.
" Good-bye, Helen ! Some day you will
think kindly of me again ? "
" I think kindly of you now," she answered
tremulously ; then, not trusting herself to
say any more, she turned swiftly and left him.
"The flame and the moth !" he mused,
watching her slight figure till it had dis-
appeared. ' Yes, it is the only fitting sym-
bol. Love must be always so. Sudden,
impetuous, ungovernable, and then the
end ! To stretch out the divine passion over
life-long breakfasts and dinners ! It would
be intolerable to me. Lord Fulkeward could
do that sort of thing ; his chest is narrow,
and his sentiments are as limited as his chest.
He would duly kiss his wife every morning
and evening, and he would not analyze the
fact that no special thrill of joy stirred in
him at the action. What should he do with
thrills of joy this poor Fulkeward ? And
yet it is likely he will marry Helen. Or will
it be the Courtney animal, the type of man
whose one idea is ' to arise, kill, and eat ? ' "
1 82 ZISKA
All, well ! " and he sighed. " She is not for
me, this maiden grace of womanhood. If I
married her, I should make her miserable. I
am made for passion, not for peace."
He started as he heard a step behind him,
and turning, saw Dr. Dean. The worthy
little savant looked worried and preoccupied.
" I have had a letter from the Princess
Ziska," he said, without any preliminary.
" She has gone to secures rooms at the Mena
House Hotel, which is situated close to the
Pyramids. She regrets she cannot enter into
the idea of taking a trip up the Nile. She
has no time, she says, as she is soon leaving
Cairo. But she suggests that we should
make up a party for the Mena House while
she is staying there, as she can, so she tells
me, make the Pyramids much more interest-
ing for us by her intimate knowledge of them.
Now, to me this is a very tempting offer,
but I should not care to go alone."
" The Hurrays will go, I am sure," mur-
mured Gervase lazily. " At any rate, Denzil
will."
The Doctor looked at him narrowly.
" If Denzil goes, so will you go," he said.
" Thus there are two already booked for
company. And I fancy the Fulkewards
might like the idea."
ZISKA 183
" The Princess is leaving Cairo ? " queried
Gervase presently, as though it were an
after thought.
" So she informs me in her letter. The
party which is to come off on Wednesday
night is her last reception."
Gervase was silent a moment. Then he
said :
" Have you told Denzil ? "
" Not yet."
" Better do so then," and Gervase glanced
up at the sky, now glowing red with a fiery
sunset. " He wants to propose, you know."
" Good God ! " cried the Doctor, sharply,
" If he proposes to that woman. . . ."
" Why should he not ? " demanded Ger-
vase. " Is she not as ripe for love and fit for
marriage as any other of her sex ? "
" Her sex ! " echoed the Doctor grimly.
" Her sex ! There ! for heaven's sake
don't talk to me ! leave me alone ! The
Princess Ziska is like no woman living ; she
has none of the sentiments of a woman,
and the notion of Denzil's being such a fool
as to think of proposing to her Oh, leave
me alone, I tell you ! Let me worry this
out! "
And clapping his hat well down over his
eyes, he began to walk away in a strange
184 ZISKA
condition of excitement, which he evidently
had some difficulty in suppressing. Sud-
denly, however, he turned, came back and
tapped Gervase smartly on the chest.
" You are the man for the Princess," he
said impressively. " There is a madness in
you which you call love for her ; you are her
fitting mate, not that poor boy, Denzil Mur-
ray. In certain men and women spirit leaps
to spirit, note responds to note and if all
the world were to interpose its trumpery
bulk, nothing could prevent such tumultuous
forces rushing together. Follow your des-
tiny, Monsieur Gervase, but do not ruin
another man's life on the way. Follow your
destiny, complete it, you are bound to do
so, but in the havoc and wildness to come,
for God's sake, let the innocent go free ! "
He spoke with extraordinary solemnity,
and Gervase stared at him in utter bewilder-
ment and perplexity, not understanding in
the least what he meant. But before he
could interpose a word or ask a question,
Dr. Dean had gone.
ZISKA 185
CHAPTER XL
THE next two or three days passed without
any incident of interest occurring to move the
languid calm and excite the fleeting interest
of the fashionable English and European
visitors who were congregated at the Gezireh
Palace Hotel. The anxious flirtations of
Dolly and Muriel Chetwynd Lyle afforded
subjects of mirth to the profane, the
wonderfully youthful toilettes of Lady
Fulkeward provided several keynotes from
which to strike frivolous conversation, and
when the great painter, Armand Gervase,
actually made a sketch of her ladyship for
his own amusement, and made her look
about sixteen, and girlish at that, his popu-
larity knew no bounds. Everyone wanted
to give him a commission, particularly the
elderly fair, and he could have made a fortune
had he chosen, after the example set him by
the English academicians, by painting the
portraits of ugly nobodies who were ready to
pay any price to be turned out as handsome
1 86 ZISKA
somebodies. But he was too restless and
ill at ease to apply himself steadily to work,
the glowing skies of Egypt, the picturesque
groups of natives to be seen at every turn,
the curious corners of old Cairo these
made no impression upon his mind at all,
and when he was alone, he passed whole
half hours staring at the strange picture he
had made of the Princess Ziska, wherein the
face of death seemed confronting him through
a mask of life. And he welcomed with a
strong sense of relief and expectation the
long-looked-for evening of the Princess's
"reception," to which many of the visitors
in Cairo had been invited since a fortnight,
and which those persons who always profess
to be " in the know," even if they are wallow-
ing in ignorance, declared would surpass any
entertainment ever given during the Cairene
season.
The night came at last. It was exceed-
ingly sultry, but bright and clear, and the
moon shone with effective brilliance on the
gayly-attired groups of people that between
nine and ten o'clock began to throng the
narrow street in which the carved tomb-like
portal of the Princess Ziska's residence was
the most conspicuous object. Lady Chet-
wynd Lyle, remarkable for bad taste in her
ZISKA 1 87
dress and the disposal of her diamonds, stared
in haughty amazement at the Nubian, who
saluted her and her daughters with the grin
peculiar to his uninviting cast of countenance,
and swept into the courtyard attended by
her husband with an air as though she im-
agined her presence gave the necessary flavor
of " good style " to the proceedings. She
was followed by Lady Fulkeward, innocently
clad in white and wearing a knot of lilies on
her prettily-enamelled left shoulder, Lord
Fulkeward, Denzil Murray and his sister.
Helen also wore white, but though she
was in the twenties and Lady Fulkeward
was in the sixties, the girl had so much sad-
ness in her face and so much tragedy in her
soft eyes that she looked, if anything, older
than the old woman. Gervase and Dr. Dean
arrived together, and found themselves in
a brilliant, crushing crowd of people, all of
different nationalities and all manifesting a
good deal of impatience because they were
delayed a few minutes in an open court,
where a couple of stone lions with wings
were the only spectators of their costumes.
" Most singular behavior ! " said Lady
Chetwynd Lyle, snorting and sniffing, " to
keep us waiting outside like this ! The
Princess has no idea of European manners ! "
1 88 ZISKA
As she spoke, a sudden blaze of light
flamed on the scene, and twenty tall Egyptian
servants in white, with red turbans, carrying
lighted torches and marching two by two
crossed the court, and by mute yet stately
gestures invited the company to follow.
And the company did follow in haste, with
scramble and rudeness, as is the way of
" European manners " nowadays ; and pres-
ently, having been relieved of their cloaks and
wrappings, stood startled and confounded
in a huge hall richly adorned with silk and
cloth of gold hangings, where, between two
bronze sphinxes, the Princess Ziska, attired
wonderfully in a dim, pale rose color, with
flecks of jewels flashing from her draperies
here and there, waited to receive her guests.
Like a queen she stood, behind her tow-
ered a giant palm, and at her feet were
strewn roses and lotus-lilies. On either side
of her, seated on the ground, were young
girls gorgeously clad and veiled to the eyes
in the Egyptian fashion, and as the staring,
heated and impetuous swarm of " travelling "
English and Americans came face to face
with her in her marvellous beauty, they were
for the moment stricken spellbound, and could
scarcely summon up the necessary assurance
to advance and take the hand she out-
ZISKA - 189
stretched to them in welcome. She appeared
not to see the general embarrassment, and
greeted all who approached her with court-
eous ease and composure, speaking the few
words which every graceful hostess deems
adequate before " passing on " her visitors.
And presently music began, music wild and
fantastic, of a character unknown to modern
fashionable ears, yet strangely familiar to
Armand Gervase, who started at the first
sound of it, and seemed enthralled.
" That is not an ordinary orchestra," said
Dr. Dean in his ear. " The instruments are
ancient, and the form of melody is barbaric."
Gervase answered nothing, for the Princess
Ziska just then approached them.
" Come into the Red Saloon," she said.
" I am persuading my guests to pass on there.
I have an old bas-relief on the walls which I
would like you to see, you, especially, Dr.
Dean ! for you are so learned in antiquities.
I hear you are trying to discover traces of
Araxes ? "
" I am," replied the Doctor. "You in-
terested me very much in his history."
" He was a great man," said the Princess,
slowly piloting them as she spoke, without
hurry and with careful courtesy, through the
serried ranks of the now freely chattering and
I go ZISKA
animated company. " Much greater than
any of your modern heroes. But he had
two faults ; faults which frequently accom-
pany the plentitude of power, cruelty and
selfishness. He betrayed and murdered the
only woman that ever loved him, Ziska-
Charmazel."
" Murdered her ! " exclaimed Dr. Dean.
"How?"
" Oh, it is only a legend ! " and the Prin-
cess smiled, turning her dark eyes with a be-
witching languor on Gervase, who, for some
reason or other which he could not explain,
felt as if he were walking in a dream on the
edge of a deep chasm of nothingness, into
which he must presently sink to utter de-
struction. " All these old histories happened
so long ago that they are nothing but myths
now to the present generation."
"Time does not rob any incident of its
interest to me," said Dr. Dean. "Ages
hence Queen Victoria will be as much a
doubtful potentate as King Lud. To the
wise student of things there is no time and
no distance. All history from the very be-
ginning is like a wonderful chain in which
no link is ever really broken, and in which
every part fits closely to the other part,
though why the chain should exist at all is
ZISKA IQI
a mystery we cannot solve. Yet I am quite
certain that even our late friend Araxes has
his connection with the present, if only for
the reason that he lived in the past."
" How do you argue out that theory ! "
asked Gervase with sudden interest.
" How do you argue it ? The question is,
how can you argue at all about anything
that is so plain and demonstrated a fact ?
The doctrine of evolution proves it. Every-
thing that we were once has its part in us
now. Suppose, if you like, that we were
originally no more than shells on the shore,
some remnant of the nature of the shell
must be in us at this moment. Nothing
is lost, nothing is wasted, not even a
thought. I carry my theories very far,"
pursued the Doctor, looking keenly from
one to the other of his silent companions as
they walked beside him through a long cor-
ridor towards the Red Saloon, which could
be seen, brilliantly lit up and thronged with
people. " Very far indeed, especially in
regard to matters of love. I maintain that if
it is decreed that the soul of a man and the
soul of a woman must meet, must rush
together, not all the forces of the uni-
verse can hinder them ; aye, even if they
were, for some conventional cause or cir-
IQ2 ZISKA
cumstance themselves reluctant to consum-
mate their destiny, it would nevertheless,
despite them, be consummated. For mark
you, in some form or other they have
rushed together before ! Whether as flames
in the air, or twining leaves on a tree, or
flowers in a field, they have felt the sweet-
ness and fitness of each other's being in former
lives, and the craving sense of that sweet-
ness and fitness can never be done away with,
never ! Not as long as this present universe
lasts ! It is a terrible thing," continued the
Doctor in a lower tone, " a terrible fatality,
the desire of love. In some cases it is a curse ;
in " others, a divine and priceless blessing.
The results depend entirely on the tempera-
ments of the human creatures possessed by
its fever. When it kindles, rises and burns
towards Heaven in a steady flame of ever-
brightening purity and faith, then it makes
marriage the most perfect union on earth,
the sweetest and most blessed companion-
ship ; but when it is a mere gust of fire,
bright and fierce as the sudden leaping light
of a volcano, then it withers everything at a
touch, faith, honor, truth, and dies into
dull ashes in which no spark remains to
warm or inspire man's higher nature. Bet-
ter death than such a love, for it works
ZISKA 193
misery on earth ; but who can tell what hor-
rors it may not create Hereafter ! "
The Princess looked at him with a strange,
weird gleam in her dark eyes.
" You are right," she said. " It is just the
Hereafter that men never think of. I am
glad you, at least, acknowledge the truth of
the life beyond death."
" I am bound to acknowledge it," returned
the Doctor ; " inasmuch as I know it
exists."
Gervase glanced at him with a smile, in
which there was something of contempt.
" You are very much behind the age,
Doctor," he remarked lightly.
" Very much behind indeed," agreed Dr.
Dean composedly. " The age rushes on too
rapidly for me, and gives no time to the con-
sideration of things by the way. I stop,
I take breathing space in which to think ;
life without thought is madness, and I desire
to have no part in a mad age."
At that moment they entered the Red
Saloon, a stately apartment, which was
entirely modelled after the most ancient
forms of Egyptian architecture. The centre
of the vast room was quite clear of furniture,
so that the Princess Ziska's guests went
wandering up and down, to and fro, entirely
'3
194 ZISKA
at their ease, without crush or inconveni-
ence, and congregated in corners for conver-
sation ; though if they chose they could re-
cline on low divans and gorgeously-cush-
ioned benches ranged against the walls and
sheltered by tall palms and flowering exo-
tics. The music was heard to better advan-
tage here than in the hall where the com-
pany had first been received ; and as the
Princess moved to a seat under the pale
green frondage of a huge tropical fern and
bade her two companions sit beside her,
sounds of the wildest, most melancholy and
haunting character began to palpitate upon
the air in the mournful, throbbing fashion
in which a nightingale sings when its soul
is burdened with love. The passionate tre-
mor that shakes the bird's throat at mating-
time seemed to shake the unseen instru-
ments that now discoursed strange melody,
and Gervase, listening dreamily, felt a curi-
ous contraction and aching at his heart and
a sense of suffocation in his throat, combined
with an insatiate desire to seize in his arms
the mysterious Ziska, with her dark fathom-
less eyes and slight, yet voluptuous, form,
to drag her to his breast and crush her there,
whispering :
" Mine ! mine ! By all the gods of the
ZISKA. 195
past and present mine! Who shall tear
her from me, who dispute my right to love
her ruin her murder her, if I choose ? She
is mine ! "
" The bas-relief I told you of is just above
us," said the Princess then, addressing her-
self to the Doctor ; " would you like to ex-
amine it ? One of the servants shall bring
you a lighted taper, and by passing it in
front of the sculpture you will be able to see
the design better. Ah, Mr. Murray ! " and
she smiled as she greeted Denzil, who just
then approached. " You are in time to give
us your opinion. I want Dr. Dean to see
that very old piece of stone carving on the
wall above us, it will serve as a link for him
in the history of Araxes."
" Indeed ! " murmured Denzil, somewhat
abstractedly.
The Princess glanced at his brooding face
and laughed.
" You, I know, are not interested at all in
old history," she went on. " The past has
no attraction for you."
" No. The present is enough," he replied,
with a glance of mingled hope and passion.
She smiled, and signing to one of her
Egyptian attendants, bade him bring a
lighted taper. He did so, and passed it
196 ZISKA
slowly up and down and to the right and left
of the large piece of ancient sculpture that
occupied more than half the wall, while Dr.
Dean stood by, spectacles on nose, to ex-
amine the carving as closely as possible.
Several other people, attracted by what was
going on, paused to look also, and the Prin-
cess undertook to explain the scene depicted.
"This piece of carving is of the date of the
King Amenhotep or Amenophis III., of the
Eighteenth Dynasty. It represents the re-
turn of the warrior Araxes, a favorite servant
of the king's, after some brilliant victory.
You see, there is the triumphal car in which
he rides, drawn by winged horses, and behind
him are the solar deities Ra, Sikar, Tmu,
and Osiris. He is supposed to be approach-
ing his palace in triumph ; the gates are
thrown open to receive him, and coming out
to meet him is the chief favorite of his harem,
the celebrated dancer of that period Ziska-
Charmazel."
" Whom he afterwards murdered, you
say ? " queried Dr. Dean meditatively.
" Yes. He murdered her simply because
she loved him too well and was in the way
of his ambition. There was nothing aston-
ishing in his behavior, not even if you con-
sider it in the light of modern times. Men
ZISKA 197
always murder morally, if not physically >
the women who love them too well."
"You truly think that?" asked Denzil
Murray in 'a low tone.
" I not only truly think it, I truly know it ! "
she answered, with a disdainful flash of her
eyes. " Of course, I speak of strong men
with strong passions ; they are the only kind
of men women ever worship. Of course, a
weak, good-natured man is different ; he
would probably not harm a woman for the
world, or give her the least cause for pain if
he could help it, but that sort of man never
becomes either an adept or a master in love.
Araxes was probably both. No doubt he
considered he had a perfect right to slay
what he had grown weary of; he thought
no more than men of his type think to-day,
that the taking of a life demands a life in
exchange, if not in this world, then in the
next."
The group of people near her were all
silent, gazing with an odd fascination at the
quaint and ancient-sculptured figures above
them, when all at once Dr. Dean, taking the
taper from the hands of the Egyptian servant,
held the flame close to the features of the
warrior riding in the car of triumph, and said
slowly :
198 ZISKA
" Do you not see a curious resemblance,
Princess, between this Araxes and a friend
of ours here present? Monsieur Armand
Gervase, will you kindly step forward ? Yes,
that will do, turn your head slightly, so !
Yes ! Now observe the outline of the fea-
tures of Araxes as carven in this sculpture
thousands of years ago, and compare it with
the outline of the features of our celebrated
friend, the greatest French artist of his day.
Am I the only one who perceives the re-
markable similarity of contour and expres-
sion ? "
The Princess made no reply. A smile
crossed her lips, but no word escaped them.
Several persons, however, pressed eagerly
forward to look at and comment upon what
was indeed a startling likeness. The same
straight, fierce brows, the same proud, firm
mouth, the same almond-shaped eyes were,
as it seemed, copied from the ancient entab-
lature and repeated in flesh and blood in the
features of Gervase. Even Denzil Murray,
absorbed though he was in conflicting
thoughts of his own, was struck by the co-
incidence.
" It is really very remarkable ! " he said.
" Allowing for the peculiar style of drawing
and design common to ancient Egypt, the
ZISKA 199
portrait of Araxes might pass for Gervase in
Egyptian costume."
Gervase himself was silent. Some myste-
rious emotion held him mute, and he was
only aware of a vague irritation that fretted
him without any seemingly adequate cause.
Dr. Dean meanwhile pursued his investiga-
tions with the lighted taper, and presently,
turning round on the assembled little group
of bystanders, he said :
" I have just discovered another singular
thing. The face of the woman here the
dancer and favorite is the face of our
charming hostess, the Princess Ziska! "
Exclamations of wonder greeted this an-
nouncement, and everybody craned their
necks to see. And then the Princess spoke,
slowly and languidly.
" Yes," she murmured, " I was hoping you
would perceive that. I myself noticed how
very like me is the famous Ziska-Charmazel,
and that is just why I dressed in her fashion
for the fancy ball the other evening. It
seemed to me the best thing to do, as I
wanted to choose an ancient period, and
then, you know, I bear half her name."
Dr. Dean looked at her keenly, and a
somewhat grim smile wrinkled his lips.
"You could not have done better," he
2OO ZISKA
declared. " You and the dancing-girl of
Araxes might be twin sisters."
He lowered the taper he held that it might
more strongly illumine her face, and as the
outline of her head and throat and bust was
thrown into full relief, Gervase, staring at
her, was again conscious of that sudden,
painful emotion of familiarity which had
before overwhelmed him, and he felt that
in all the world he had no such intimate
knowledge of any woman as he had of Ziska.
He knew her ! Ah ! how did he not know
her? Every curve of that pliant form was
to him the living memory of something once
possessed and loved, and he pressed his hand
heavily across his eyes for a moment to shut
out the sight of all the exquisite voluptuous
grace which shook his self-control and
tempted him almost beyond man's mortal
endurance.
"Are you not well, Monsieur Gervase?"
said Dr. Dean, observing him closely, and
handing back the lighted taper to the Egyp-
tian servant who waited to receive it. " The
portraits on this old carving have perhaps
affected you unpleasantly? Yet there is
really nothing of importance in such a coin-
cidence."
" Nothing of importance, perhaps, but
ZISKA 201
surely something of singularity," interrupted
Denzil Murray, " especially in the resem-
blance between the Princess and the dancing-
girl of that ancient period, their features
are positively line for line alike."
The Princess laughed.
"Yes, is it not curious?" she said, and,
taking the taper from her servant, she sprang
lightly on one of the benches near the wall
and leaned her beautiful head on the en-
tablature, so that her profile stood out close
against that of the once reputed Ziska-Char-
mazel. " We are, as Dr. Dean says, twins ! "
Several of the guests had now gathered
together in that particular part of the room,
and they all looked up at her as she stood
thus, in silent and somewhat superstitious
wonderment. The fascinating dancer, famed
in ages past, and the lovely, living c/iarme-
resse of the present were the image of each
other, and so extraordinary was the resem-
blance that it was almost what some folks
would term " uncanny." The fair Ziska did
not, however, give her acquaintances time
for much meditation or surprise concerning
the matter, for she soon came down from
her elevation near the sculptured frieze
and, extinguishing the taper she held, she
said lightly :
2O2 ZISKA
" As Dr. Dean has remarked, there is
really nothing of importance in the coinci-
dence. Ages ago, in the time of Araxes,
roses must have bloomed ; and who shall
say that a rose in to-day's garden is not pre-
cisely the same in size, scent and color as one
that Araxes himself plucked at his palace
gates? Thus, if flowers are born alike in
different ages, why not women and men ? "
" Very well argued, Princess," said the
Doctor. " I quite agree with you. Nature
is bound to repeat some of her choicest
patterns, lest she should forget the art of
making them."
There was now a general movement among
the guests, that particular kind of move-
ment which means irritability and restless-
ness, and implies that either supper must
be immediately served, or else some novel
entertainment be brought in to distract at-
tention and prevent tedium. The Princess,
turning to Gervase, said smilingly :
''Apropos of the dancing-girl of Araxes
and the art of dancing generally, I am going
to entertain the company presently by
letting them see a real old dance of Thebes.
If you will excuse me a moment I must just
prepare them and get the rooms slightly
cleared. I will return to you presently."
ZISKA 203
She glided away with her usual noiseless
grace, and within a few minutes of her de-
parture the gay crowds began to fall back
against the walls and disperse themselves
generally in expectant groups here and there,
the Egyptian servants moving in and out
and evidently informing them of the enter-
tainment in prospect.
" Well, I shall stay here," said Dr. Dean,
" underneath this remarkable stone carving
of your warrior-prototype, Monsieur Gervase.
You seem very much abstracted. I asked
you before if you were not well ; but you
never answered me."
" I am perfectly well," replied Gervase,
with some irritation. " The heat is rather
trying, that is all. But I attach no impor-
tance to that stone frieze. One can easily
imagine likenesses where there are really
none."
" True ! " and the Doctor smiled to him-
self, and said no more. Just then a wild
burst of music sounded suddenly through
the apartment, and he turned round in lively
anticipation to watch the proceedings.
The middle of the room was now quite
glear, and presently, moving with the silent
grace of swans on still water, came four girls
closely veiled, carrying quaintly-shaped harps
204 ZISKA
' and lutes. A Nubian servant followed them,
and spread a gold-embroidered carpet upon
the ground, whereon they all sat down and
began to thrum the strings of their instru-
ments in a muffled, dreamy manner, playing
a music which had nothing of melody in it,
and which yet vaguely suggested a passion-
ate tune. This thrumming went on for some
time when all at once from a side entrance
in the hall a bright, apparently winged thing
bounded from the outer darkness into the
centre of the hall, a woman clad in glisten-
ing cloth of gold and veiled entirely in misty
folds of white, who, raising her arms gleam-
ing with jewelled bangles high above her
head, remained poised on tiptoe for a
moment, as though about to fly. Her bare
feet, white and dimpled, sparkled with gems
and glittering anklets ; her skirts as she
moved showed fluttering flecks of white and
pink like the leaves of May-blossoms shaken
by a summer breeze ; the music grew louder
and wilder, and a brazen clang from unseen
cymbals prepared her as it seemed for flight.
She began her dance slowly, gliding myste-
riously from side to side, anon turning sud-
denly with her head lifted, as though listening
for some word of love which should recall her
or command ; then, bending down again, she
ZISKA 205
semed to float lazily like a creature that was
dancing in a dream without conscious knowl-
edge of her actions. The brazen cymbals
clashed again, and then, with a wild, beauti-
ful movement, like that of a hunted stag
leaping the brow of a hill, the dancer sprang
forward, turned, pirouetted and tossed her-
self round and round giddily with a marvel-
lous and exquisite celerity, as if she were
nothing but a bright circle of gold spinning
in clear ether. Spontaneous applause broke
forth from every part of the hall ; the guests
crowded forward, staring and almost breath-
less with amazement. Dr. Dean got up in
a state of the greatest excitement, clapping
his hands involuntarily ; and Gervase, every
nerve in his body quivering, advanced one
or two steps, feeling that he must stop this
bright, wild, wanton thing in her incessant
whirling, or else die in the hunger of love
which consumed his soul. Denzil Murray
glanced at him, and, after a pause, left his
side and disappeared. Suddenly, with a
quick movement, the dancer loosened her
golden dress and misty veil, and tossing
them aside like falling leaves, she stood con-
fessed a marvellous, glowing vision in sil-
very white no other than the Princess
Ziska!
206 ZISKA
Shouts echoed from every part of the
hall:
" Ziska ! Ziska ! "
And at the name Lady Chetwynd Lyle
rose in all her majesty from the seat she had
occupied till then, and in tones of virtuous
indignation said to Lady Fulkeward :
" I told you the Princess was not a prop-
'er person ! Now it is proved I am right !
To think I should have brought Dolly and
Muriel here ! I shall really never forgive
myself ! Come, Sir Chetwynd, let us leave
this place instantly ! "
And stout Sir Chetwynd, gloating on the
exquisite beauty of the Princess Ziska's
form as she still danced on in her snowy
white attire, her lovely face alight with mirth
at the surprise she had made for her guests,
tried his best to look sanctimonious and
signally failed in the attempt as he an-
swered :
" Certainly ! Certainly, my dear ! Most
improper . . . most astonishing ! "
While Lady Fulkeward answered inno-
cently :
" Is it ? Do you really think so ? Oh,
dear ! I suppose it is improper, it must
be, you know ; but it is most delightful and
original ! "
ZISKA 207
And while the Chetwynd Lyles thus
moved to depart in a cloud of outraged pro-
priety, followed by others who likewise
thought it well to pretend to be shocked at
the proceeding, Gervase, dizzy, breathless,
and torn by such conflicting passions as he
could never express, was in a condition
more mad than sane.
" My God ! " he muttered under his breath.
" This this is love ! This is the beginning
and end of life ! To possess her, to hold
her in my arms heart to heart, lips to lips
. . . this is what all the eternal forces
of Nature meant when they made me
man ! "
And he watched with strained, passionate
eyes the movements of the Princess Ziska
as they grew slower and slower, till she
seemed floating merely like a foam-bell on a
wave, and then . . . from some unseen
quarter of the room a rich throbbing voice
began to sing :
" Oh, for the passionless peace of the I/otus-Lily !
It floats in a waking dream on the waters chilly,
With its leaves unfurled
To the wondering world,
Knowing naught of the sorrow and restless pain
That burns and tortures the human brain ;
Oh, for the passionless peace of the Lotus-L,ily !
2O8 ZISKA
Oh, for the pure cold heart of the Lotus-Lily !
Bared to the moon on the waters dark and chilly.
A star above
Is its only love,
And one brief sigh of its scented breath
Is all it will ever know of Death ;
Oh, for the pure cold heart of the Lotus-Lily ! '
As the sound died away in a sigh rather
than a note, the Princess Ziska's dancing
ceased altogether. A shout of applause
broke from all assembled, and in the midst
of it there was a sudden commotion and ex-
citement, and Dr. Dean was seen bending
over a man's prostrate figure. The great
French painter, Armand Gervase, had sud-
denly fainted.
ZISKA 209
CHAPTER XII.
A CURIOUS yet very general feeling of
superstitious uneasiness and discomfort per-
vaded the Gezireh Palace Hotel the day
after the Princess Ziska's reception. Some-
thing had happened, and no one knew what.
The proprieties had been outraged, but no
one knew why. It was certainly not the
custom for a hostess, and a Princess to boot,
to dance like a wild bacchante before a crowd
of her invited guests, yet, as Dr. Dean blandly
observed,
" Where was the harm ? In London,
ladies of good birth and breeding went in for
* skirt-dancing,' and no one presumed to
breathe a word against their reputations;
why in Cairo should not a lady go in for
a Theban dance without being considered
improper ? "
Why, indeed ? There seemed no ad-
equate reason for being either surprised or
offended ; yet surprised and offended most
people were, and scandal ran rife, and rumor
14
210 ZISKA
wagged all its poisonous tongues to spread
evil reports against the Princess Ziska's name
and fame, till Denzil Murray, maddened and
furious, rushed up to his sister in her room
and swore that he would marry the Princess
if he died for it.
" They are blackguarding her downstairs,
the beasts ! " he said hotly. " They are call-
ing her by every bad name under the sun !
But I will make everything straight for her ;
she shall be my wife ! If she will have me,
I will marry her to-morrow ! "
Helen looked at him in speechless despair.
" Oh, Denzil ! " she faltered, and then could
say no more, for the tears that blinded her
eyes.
" Oh, yes, of course, I know what you
mean ! " he continued, marching up and
down the room excitedly. "You are like
all the others ; you think her an adventuress.
I think her the purest, the noblest of women !
There is where we differ. I spoke to her
last night, I told her I loved her."
" You did ? " and Helen gazed at him with
wet, tragic eyes, " And she . . ."
" She bade me be silent. She told me I
must not speak not yet. She said she
would give me her answer when we were all
together at the Mena House Hotel."
ZISKA 211
"You intend to be one of the party there
then ? " said Helen faintly.
" Of course I do. And so do you, I hope."
" No, Denzil, I cannot. Don't ask me. I
will stay here with Lady Fulkeward. She is
not going, nor are the Chetwynd Lyles. I
shall be quite safe with them. I would
rather not go to the Mena House, I could
not bear it . . ."
Her voice gave way entirely, and she broke
out crying bitterly.
Denzil stood still and regarded her with a
kind of sullen shame and remorse.
" What a very sympathetic sister you are ! "
he observed. "When you see me madly
in love with a woman a perfectly beautiful,
adorable woman you put yourself at once
in the way and make out that my marriage
with her will be a misery to you. You surely
do not expect me to remain single all my
life, do you ?"
" No, Denzil," sobbed Helen, " but I had
hoped to see you marry some sweet girl of
our own land who would be your dear and
true companion, who would be a sister to
me, who . . . there ! don't mind me ! Be
happy in your own way, my dear brother.
I have no business to interfere. I can only
say that if the Princess Ziska consents to
212 ZISKA
marry you, I will do my best to like her, for
your sake."
"Well, that's something, at any rate,"
said Denzil, with an air of relief. " Don't
cry, Helen, it bothers me. As for the ' sweet
girl ' you have got in view for me, you will
permit me to say that ' sweet girls ' are
becoming uncommonly scarce in Britain.
What with bicycle riders and great rough
tomboys generally, with large hands and
larger feet, I confess I do not care about
them. I like a womanly woman, a grace-
ful woman, a fascinating, bewitching
woman, and the Princess is all that and more.
Surely you consider her beautiful ? "
" Very beautiful indeed ! " sighed poor
Helen." Too beautiful ! "
" Nonsense ! As if any woman can be too
beautiful ! I am sorry you won't come to
the Mena House. It would be a change
for you, and Gervase is going."
"Is he better to-day?" inquired Helen
timidly.
" Oh, I believe he is quite well again. It
was the heat or the scent of the flowers, or
something of that sort, that made him faint
last night. He is not acclimatized yet, you
know. And he said that the Princess's danc-
ing made him giddy."
ZISKA 213
" I don't wonder at that," murmured
Helen.
"It was marvellous glorious!" said
Denzil dreamily. " It was like nothing else
ever seen or imagined ! "
" If she were your wife, would you care
for her to dance before people ? " inquired
Helen tremblingly.
Denzil turned upon her in haughty wrath.
" How like a woman that is ! To insinuate
a nasty suggestion to imply an innuendo
without uttering it ! If she were my wife,
she would do nothing unbecoming that posi-
tion."
" Then you did think it a little unbecom-
ing?" persisted Helen.
"No, I did not!" said Denzil sharply.
" An independent woman may do many
things that a married woman may not.
Marriage brings its own duties and respon-
sibilities, time enough to consider them
when they come."
He turned angrily on his heel and left her,
and Helen, burying her fair face in her hands,
wept long and unrestrainedly. This " strange
woman out of Egypt " had turned her
brother's heart against her, and stolen away
her almost declared lover. It was no wonder
that her tears fell fast, wrung from her with
214 ZISKA
the pain of this double wound ; for Helen,
though quiet and undemonstrative, had fine
feelings and unsounded depths of passion in
her nature, and the fatal attraction she felt
for Armand Gervase was more powerful
than she had herself known. Now that he
had openly confessed his infatuation for an-
other woman, it seemed as though the earth
had opened at her feet and shown her noth-
ing but a grave in which to fall. Life
empty and blank and bare of love and tender-
ness, stretched before her imagination ; she
saw herself toiling along the monotonously
even road of duty till her hair became gray
and her face thin and wan and wrinkled, and
never a gleam again of the beautiful, glow-
ing, romantic passion that for a short time
had made her days splendid with the dreams
that are sweeter than all realities.
Poor Helen ! It was little marvel that she
wept as all women weep when their hearts
are broken. It is so easy to break a heart ;
sometimes a mere word will do it. But the
vanishing of the winged Love-god from the
soul is even more than heart-break, it is
utter and irretrievable loss, complete and
dominating chaos out of which no good
thing can ever be designed or created. In
our days we do our best to supply the place
ZISKA 215
of a reluctant Eros by the gilded, grinning
Mammon-figure which we try to consider as
superior to any silver-pinioned god that ever
descended in his rainbow car to sing heav-
enly songs to mortals ; but it is an unlovely
substitute, a hideous idol at best ; and grasp
its golden knees and worship it as we will,
it gives us little or no comfort in the hours
of strong temptation or trouble. We have
made a mistake we, in our progressive gen-
eration, we have banished the old sweet-
nesses, triumphs and delights of life, and we
have got in exchange steam and electricity.
But the heart of the age clamors on unsat-
isfied, none of our" new " ideas content it
nothing pacifies its restless yearning; it
feels this great heart of human life that
it is losing more than it gains, hence the in-
cessant, restless aching of the time, and the
perpetual longing for something Science can-
not teach, something vague, beautiful, in-
definable, yet satisfying to every pulse of
the soul ; and the nearest emotion to that
divine solace is what we in our higher and
better moments recognize as Love. And
Love was lost to Helen Murray ; the choice
pearl had fallen in the vast gulf of Might-
have-been, and not all the forces of Nature
would ever restore to her that priceless gem.
2l6 ZISKA
And while she wept to herself in solitude,
and her brother Denzil wandered about in
the gardens of the hotel, encouraging within
himself hopes of winning the bewitching
Ziska for a wife, Armand Gervase, shut up
in his room under plea of slight indisposition,
reviewed the emotions of the past night and
tired to analyze them. Some men are born
self-analysts, and are able to dissect their
feelings by some peculiar form of mental
surgery which finally leads them to cut out
tenderness as though it were a cancer, love
as a disease, and romantic aspirations as
mere uncomfortable growths injurious to
self-interest, but Gervase was not one of
these. Outwardly he assumed more or less
the composed and careless demeanor of the
modern French cynic, but inwardly the man
was a raging fire of fierce passions which were
sometimes too strong to be held in check.
At the present moment he was prepared to
sacrifice everything, even life itself, to obtain
possession of the woman he coveted, and he
made no attempt whatever to resist the tem-
pest of desire that was urging him on with
an invincible force in a direction which, for
some strange and altogether inexplicable
reason, he dreaded. Yes, there was a dim
sense of terror lurking behind all the wild
ZISKA. 217
passion that filled his soul a haunting, vague
idea that this sudden love, with its glowing
ardor and intoxicating delirium, was like the
brilliant red sunset which frequently prog-
nosticates a night of storm, ruin and death.
Yet, though he felt this presentiment like a
creeping shudder of cold through his blood,
it did not hold him back, or for a moment
impress him with the idea that it might be
better to yield no further to this desperate
love-madness which enthralled him.
Once only, he thought, " What if I left
Egypt now at once and saw her no
more?" And then he laughed scornfully
at the impossibility proposed. " Leave
Egypt ! " he muttered, " I might as well leave
the world altogether ! She would draw me
back with those sweet wild eyes of hers, she
would drag me from the uttermost parts of
the earth to fall at her feet in a very agony of
love. My God ! She must have her way and
do with me as she will, for I feel that she
holds my life in her hands ! "
As he spoke these last words half aloud,
he sprang up from the chair in which he had
been reclining, and stood for a moment lost
in frowning meditation.
" My life in her hands ! " he repeated mus-
ingly. " Yes, it has come to that ! My life ! "
218 ZISKA
A great sigh broke from him. " My life
my art my work my name ! In all these
things I have taken pride, and she she can
trample them under her feet and make of
me nothing more than man clamoring for
woman's love ! What a wild world it is !
What a strange Force must that be which
created it! the Force that some men call
God and others Devil! A strange, blind,
brute Force ! for it makes us aspire only to
fall ; it gives a man dreams of ambition and
splendid attainment only to fling him like a
mad fool on a woman's breast, and bid him
find there, and there only, the bewildering
sweetness which makes everything else in
existence poor and tame in comparison.
Well, well my life ! What is it ? A mere
grain of sand dropped in the sea ; let her do
with it as she will. God! How I felt her
power upon me last night, last night when
her lithe figure swaying in the dance remind-
ed me . . ."
He paused, startled at the turn his own
thoughts were taking.
" Of what ? Let me try and express to
myself now what I could not express or re-
alize last night. She Ziska I thought
was mine, mine from her dimpled feet to
her dusky hair, and she danced for me
ZISKA 2IQ
alone. It seemed that the jewels she wore
upon her rounded arms and slender ankles
were all love-gifts from me every circlet of
gold, every starry, shining gem on her fair
body was the symbol of some secret joy
between us joy so keen as to be almost
pain. And as she danced, I thought I was
in a vast hall of a majestic palace, where
open colonnades revealed wide glimpses of
a burning desert and deep blue sky. I heard
the distant sound of rolling drums, and not
far off I saw the Sphinx a creature not old
but new resting upon a giant pedestal and
guarding the sculptured gate of some great
temple which contained, as I then thought,
all the treasures of the world. I could paint
the picture as I saw it then ! It was a fleet-
ing impression merely, conjured up by the
dance that dizzied my brain. And that song
of the Lotus-lily ! That was strange very
strange, for I thought I had heard it often
before, and I saw myself in the vague
dream, a prince, a warrior, almost a king,
and far more famous in the world than I am
now ! "
He looked about him uneasily, with a
kind of nervous terror, and his eyes rested
for a moment on the easel where the pic-
ture he had painted of the Princess was
220 ZISKA
placed, covered from view by a fold of dark
cloth.
" Bah ! " he exclaimed at last with a forced
laugh, " What stupid fancies fool me ! It is
all the vague talk of that would-be learned
ass, Dr. Dean, with his ridiculous theories
about life and death. I shall be imagining
I am his fad, Araxes, next! This sort of
thing will never do. Let me reason out the
matter calmly. I love this woman, love her
to absolute madness. It is not the best kind
of love, maybe, but it is the only kind I am
capable of, and such as it is, she possesses it
all. What then? Well! We go to-morrow
to the Pyramids, and we join her at the
Mena House, I and the poor boy Denzil.
He will try his chance I mine. If he wins,
I shall kill him as surely as I myself live,
yes, even though he is Helen's brother. No
man shall snatch Ziska from my arms and
continue to breathe. If I win, it is possible
he may kill me, and I shall respect him for
trying to do it. But I shall satisfy my love
first ; Ziska will be mine mine in every
sense of possession, before I die. Yes, that
must be that will have to be. And after-
wards, why let Denzil do his worst ; a man
can but die once."
He drew the cloth off his easel and stared
ZISKA 221
at the strange picture of the Princess, which
seemed almost sentient in its half-watchful,
half-mocking expression.
" There is a dead face and a living one on
this canvas," he said, " and the dead face
seems to enthral me as much as the living.
Both have the same cruel smile, both the
same compelling magnetism of eye. Only
it is a singular thing that I should know the
dead face even more intimately than the
living that the tortured look upon it should
be a kind of haunting memory horrible
ghastly. . . ."
He flung the cloth over the easel again
impatiently, and tried to laugh at his own
morbid imagination.
" I know who is responsible for all this
nonsense," he said. " It is that ridiculous
little half-mad faddist, Dr. Dean. He is
going to the Mena House, too. Well ! he
will be the witness of a comedy or a tragedy
there, and Heaven alone knows which it
will be ! "
And to distract his thoughts from dwell-
ing any longer on the haunting ideas that
perplexed him, he took up one of the latest
and frothiest of French novels and began to
read. Some one in a room not far off was
singing a French song, a man with a rich
222 ZISKA
baritone voice, and unconsciously to him-
self Gervase caught the words as they rang
out full and clearly on the quiet, heated
air
O toi que j'ai tant aime
Songes-tu que je t'aime encor ?
Et dans ton ame alarme,
Ne sens-tu pas quelque remurd ?
Viens avec moi, si tu m'aimes,
Habiter dans ces deserts ;
Nous y vivrons pour nous memes,
Oublids de tout 1'univers !
And something like a mist of tears cloud-
ed his aching eyes as he repeated, half me-
chanically and dreamily
O toi que j'ai tant aime'e,
Songes-tu que je t'aime encor ?
ZISKA 223
CHAPTER XIII.
FOR the benefit of those among the un-
travelled English who have not yet broken
a soda-water bottle against the Sphinx, or
eaten sandwiches to the immortal memory
of Cheops, it may be as well to explain that
the Mena House Hotel is a long, rambling,
roomy building, situated within five minutes'
walk of the Great Pyramid, and happily
possessed of a golfing-ground and a marble
swimming-bath. That ubiquitous nuisance,
the " amateur photographer," can there have
his "dark room" for the development of
his more or less imperfect " plates " ; and
there is a resident chaplain for the piously
inclined. With a chaplain and a " dark
room," what more can the aspiring soul of
the modern tourist desire? Some of the
rooms at the Mena House are small and
stuffy ; others large and furnished with suffi-
cient elegance : and the Princess Ziska had
secured a " suite " of the best that could
be obtained, and was soon installed there
224 ZISKA
with befitting luxury. She left Cairo quite
suddenly, and without any visible prepara-
tion, the morning after the reception in
which she had astonished her guests by her
dancing: and she did not call at the Gezireh
Palace Hotel to say good-bye to any of her
acquaintances there. She was .perhaps con-
scious that her somewhat " free " behavior
had startled several worthy and sanctimoni-
ous persons ; and possibly she also thought
that to take rooms in an hotel which was
only an hour's distance from Cairo, could
scarcely be considered as absenting herself
from Cairene society. She was followed to
her desert retreat by Dr. Dean, Armand
Gervase, and Denzil Murray, who drove to
the Mena House together in one carriage,
and were more or less all three in a sober
and meditative frame of mind. They ar-
rived in time to see the Sphinx bathed in the
fierce glow of an ardent sunset, which turned
the golden sands to crimson, and made the
granite monster look like a cruel idol surround-
ed by a sea of blood. The brilliant red of
the heavens flamed in its stony eyes, and gave
them a sentient look as of contemplated
murder, and the same radiance fitfully
playing on the half-scornful, half-sensual lips
caused them to smile with a seeming volup-
ZISKA 225
tuous mockery. Dr. Dean stood transfixed
for a while at the strange splendor of the
spectacle, and turning to his two silent com-
panions, said suddenly :
" There is something, after all, in the un-
guessed riddle of the Sphinx. It is not a
fable ; it is a truth. There is a problem to
be solved, and that monstrous creature knows
it ! The woman's face, the brute's body
Spiritualism and Materialism in one ! It is
life, and more than life ; it is love. Forever
and forever it teaches the same wonderful,
terrible mystery. We aspire, yet we fall ;
love would fain give us wings wherewith to
fly ; but the wretched body lies prone
supine ; it cannot soar to the Light Eter-
nal."
"What is the Light Eternal?" queried
Gervase, moodily. " How do we know it
exists? We cannot prove it. This world
is what we see ; we have to do with it and
ourselves. Soul without body could not
exist. . . ."
" Could it not ? " said the Doctor. " How,
then, does body exist without soul ? "
This was an unexpected but fair question,
and Gervase found himself curiously per-
plexed by it. He offered no reply, neither
did Denzil, and they all three slowly entered
226 ZISKA
the Mena House Hotel, there to be met with
deferential salutations by the urbane and
affable landlord, and to be assured that they
would find their rooms comfortable, and also
that " Madame la Princesse Ziska" expected
them to dine with her that evening. At this
message, Denzil Murray made a sign to Ger-
vase that he wished to speak to him alone.
Gervase move aside with him.
" Give me my chance ! " said Denzil,
fiercely.
" Take it ! " replied Gervase listlessly.
" Let to-night witness the interchange of
hearts between you and the Princess ; I shall
not interfere."
Denzil stared at him in sullen astonish-
ment.
"You will not interfere? Your fancy for
her is at an end ? "
Gervase raised his dark, glowing eyes and
fixed them on his would-be rival with a
strange and sombre expression.
" My ' fancy ' for her ? My good boy, take
care what you say ! Don't rouse me too far,
for I am dangerous ! My ' fancy ' for her !
What do you know of it? You are hot-
blooded and young ; but the chill of the
North controls you in a fashion, while I a
man in the prime of manhood am of the
ZISKA. 227
South, and the Southern fire brooks no con-
trol. Have you seen a quiet ocean, smooth
as glass, with only a dimple in the deep blue
to show that perhaps, should occasion serve,
there might arise a little wave ? And have
you seen the wild storm breaking from a
black cloud and suddenly making that quiet
expanse nothing but a tourbillon of furious
elements, in which the very sea-gull's cry is
whelmed and lost in the thunder of the
billows ? Such a storm as that may be com-
pared to the ' fancy ' you suppose I feel for
the woman who has dragged us both here to
die at her feet for that, I believe, is what
it will come to. Life is not possible under
the strain of emotion with which we two are
living it. . . ."
He broke off, then resumed in quieter
tones :
" I say to you : Use your opportunities
while you have them. After dinner I will
leave you alone with the Princess. I will go
out for a stroll with Dr. Dean. Take your
chance, Denzil, for, as I live, it is your last !
It will be my turn next ! Give me credit for
to-night's patience ! "
He turned quickly away, and in a moment
was gone. Denzil Murray stood still for a
while, thinking deeply, and trying to review
228 ZISKA
the position in which he found himself. He
was madly in love with a woman for whom
his only sister had the most violent antipathy ;
and that sister, who had once been all in all
to him, had now become almost less than
nothing in the headstrong passion which con-
sumed him. No consideration for her peace
and ultimate happiness affected him, though
he was sensible of a certain remorseful pity
when thinking of her gentle ways and docile
yielding to his often impatient and impetuous
humors ; but, after all, she was only his
'sister, she could not understand his present
condition of mind. Then there was Gervase,
whom he had for some years looked upon as
one of his most admired and intimate friends ;
now he was nothing more or less than a rival
and an enemy, notwithstanding his seeming
courtesy and civil self-restraint. As a matter
of fact, he, Denzil, was left alone to face his
fate : to dare the brilliant seduction of the
witching eyes of Ziska, to win her or to lose
her forever ! And consider every point as
he would, the weary conviction was borne in
upon him that, whether he met with victory
or defeat, the result would bring more misery
than joy.
When he entered the Princess's salon that
evening, he found Dr. Dean and Gervase
ZISKA 229
already there. The Princess herself, attired
in a dinner-dress made with quite a modern
Parisian elegance, received him in her usual
graceful manner, and expressed with much
sweetness her hope that the air of the desert
would prove beneficial to him after the great
heats that had prevailed in Cairo. Nothing
but conventionalities were spoken. Oh,
those conventionalities ! What a world of
repressed emotions they sometimes cover!
How difficult it is to conceive that the man
and woman who are greeting each other
with calm courtesy in a crowded drawing-
room are the very two, who, standing face to
face in the moonlit silence of some lonely
grove of trees or 'haded garden, once in their
lives suddenly realized the wild passion that
neither dared confess ! Tragedies lie deepest
under conventionalities such secrets are
buried beneath them as sometimes might
make the angels weep! They are safeguards,
however, against stronger emotions ; and the
strange bathos of two human creatures talk-
ing politely about the weather when the
soul of each is clamoring for the other, has
sometimes, despite its absurdity, saved the
situation.
At dinner, the Princess Ziska devoted
herself almost entirely to the entertainment
230 ZISKA
of Dr. Dean, and awakened his interest
very keenly on the subject of the Great
Pyramid.
" It has never really been explored," she
said. " The excavators who imagine they
have fathomed its secrets are completely in
error. The upper chambers are mere deceits
to the investigator ; they were built and
planned purposely to mislead, and the secrets
they hide have never even been guessed at,
much less discovered."
" Are you sure of that ? " inquired the
Doctor, eagerly. " If so, would you not
give your information. . . ."
" I neither give my information nor sell
it," interrupted the Princess, smiling coldly.
" I am only a woman and women are sup-
posed to know nothing. With the rest of
my sex, I am judged illogical and imagina-
tive; you wise men would call my knowl-
edge of history deficient, my facts not
proven. But, if you like, I will tell you the
story of the construction of the Great
Pyramid, and why it is unlikely that anyone
will ever find the treasures that are buried
within it. You can receive the narrative
with the usual incredulity common to men ;
I shall not attempt to argue the pros and
cons with you, because I never argue. Treat
ZISKA 231
it as a fairy-tale no woman is ever supposed
to know anything for a fact, she is too
stupid. Only men are wise ! "
Her dark, disdainful glance flashed on
Gervase and Denzil ; anon she smiled be-
witchingly, and added :
" Is it not so?"
" Wisdom is nothing compared to beauty,"
said Gervase. " A beautiful woman can turn
the wisest man into a fool."
The Princess laughed lightly.
" Yes, and a moment afterwards he regrets
his folly," she said. " He clamors for the
beautiful woman as a child might cry for the
moon, and when he at last possesses her, he
tires. Satisfied with having compassed her
degradation, he exclaims : " What shall I do
with this beauty, which, because it is mine,
now palls upon me ? Let me kill it and for-
get it ; I am aweary of love, and the world is
full of women ! ' That is the way of your
sex, Monsieur Gervase ; it is a brutal way,
but it is the one most of you follow."
" There is such a thing as love ! " said
Denzil, looking up quickly, a pained flush on
his handsome face.
" In the hearts of women, yes ! " said
Ziska, her voice growing tremulous with
strange and sudden passion. " Women love
232 ZISKA
ah ! with what force and tenderness and
utter abandonment of self ! But their love
is in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred utterly
wasted ; it is a largesse flung to the ungrate-
ful, a jewel tossed in the mire ! If there
were not some compensation in the next life
for the ruin wrought on loving women, the
Eternal God himself would be a mockery
and a jest."
" And is he not ? " queried Gervase, iron-
ically. " Fair Princess, I would not will-
ingly shake your faith in things unseen, but
what does the ' Eternal God,' as you call Him,
care as to the destiny of any individual
unit on this globe of matter? Does He
interfere when the murderer's knife descends
upon the victim ? And has He ever inter-
fered ? He it is who created the sexes and
placed between them the strong attraction
that often works more evil and misery than
good ; and what barrier has He ever inter-
posed between woman and man, her natural
destroyer ? None ! save the trifling one
of virtue, which is a flimsy thing, and often
breaks down at the first temptation. No,
my dear Princess ; the ' Eternal God,' if there
is one, does nothing but look on impassively
at the universal havoc of creation. And in
the blindness and silence of things, I cannot
ZISKA 233
recognize an Eternal God at all ; we were
evidently made to eat, drink, breed and die
and there an end."
" What of ambition ? " asked Dr. Dean.
" What of the inspiration that lifts a man
beyond himself and his material needs, and
teaches him to strive after the Highest?"
" Mere mad folly ! " replied Gervase im-
petuously. "Take the Arts. I, for ex-
ample, dream of painting a picture that shall
move the world to admiration, but I seldom
grasp the idea I have imagined. I paint
something, anything, and the world gapes
at it, and some rich fool buys it, leaving
me free to paint another something ; and
so on and so on, to the end of my career.
I ask you what satisfaction does it bring ?
What is it to Raphael that thousands of
human units, cultured and silly, have stared
at his ' Madonnas ' and his famous Cartoons ? "
" Well, we do not exactly know what it
may or may not be to Raphael," said the
Doctor, meditatively. " According to my
theories, Raphael is not dead, but merely
removed into another form, on another
planet possibly, and is working elsewhere.
You might as well ask what it is to Araxes
now that he was a famous warrior once ? "
Gervase moved uneasily.
234 ZISKA
"You have got Araxes on the brain,
Doctor," he said, with a forced smile, " and
in our conversation we are forgetting that
the Princess has promised to tell us a fairy-
tale, the story of the Great Pyramid."
The Princess looked at him, then at Denzil
Murray, and lastly at Dr. Dean.
" Would you really care to hear it ? " she
asked.
" Most certainly ! " they all three answered.
She rose from the dinner-table.
" Come here to the window," she said.
" You can see the great structure now, in
the dusky light, look at it well and try, if
you can, to realize that deep, deep down in
the earth on which it stands is a connected
gallery of rocky caves wherein no human
foot has ever penetrated since the Deluge
swept over the land and made a desert of all
the old-time civilization ! "
Her slight figure appeared to dilate as she
spoke, raising one slender hand and arm to
point at the huge mass that towered up
against the clear, starlit sky. Her listeners
were silent, awed and attentive.
" One of the latest ideas concerning the
Pyramids is, as you know, that they were
built as towers of defence against the Del-
uge. That is correct. The wise men of
ZISKA 235
the old days foretold the time when 'the
waters should rise and cover the earth,' and
these huge monuments were prepared and
raised to a height which it was estimated
would always appear above the level of the
coming flood, to show where the treasures
of Egypt were hidden for safety. Yes,
the treasures of Egypt, the wisdom, the
science of Egypt ! They are all down there
still ! And there, to all intents and purposes,
they are likely to remain."
" But archaeologists are of the opinion that
the Pyramids have been thoroughly ex-
plored," began Dr. Dean, with some excite-
ment.
The Princess interrupted him by a slight
gesture.
" Archaeologists, my dear Doctor, are like
the rest of this world's so-called ' learned '
men ; they work in one groove, and are
generally content with it. Sometimes an
unusually brilliant brain conceives the erratic
notion of working in several grooves, and is
straightway judged as mad or fanatic. It is
when these comet-like intelligences sweep
across the world's horizon that we hear of a
Julius Caesar, a Napoleon, a Shakespeare.
But archaeologists are the narrowest and
dryest of men, they preconceive a certain
236 X ZISKA.
system of work and follow it out by mathe-
matical rule and plan, without one touch
of imagination to help them to discover new
channels of interest or historical information.
As I told you before I began to speak, you
are welcome to entirely disbelieve my story
of the Great Pyramid, but as I have begun
it, you may as well hear it through."
She paused a moment, then went on :
" According to my information, the build-
ing of the Pyramids was commenced three
hundred years before the Deluge, in the
time of Saurid, the son of Sabaloc, who, it is
said, was the first to receive a warning dream
of the coming flood. Saurid, being con-
vinced by his priests, astrologers and sooth-
sayers that the portent was a true one, be-
came from that time possessed of one idea,
which was that the vast learning of Egypt,
its sciences, discoveries and strange tradi-
tions should not be lost, and that the ex-
ploits and achievements of those who were
great and famous in the land should be so
recorded as never to be forgotten. In those
days, here where you see these measureless
tracts of sand, there were great mountainous
rocks and granite quarries, and Saurid util-
ized these for the hollowing out of deep
caverns in which to conceal treasure. When
ZISKA. 237
these caverns were prepared to his liking, he
caused a floor to be made, portions of which
were rendered movable by means of secret
springs, and then leaving a hollow space of
some four feet in height, he started founda-
tions for another floor above it. This upper
floor is what you nowadays see when you
enter the Pyramid, and no one imagines
that under it is an open space with room to
walk in, and yet another floor below, where
everything of value is secreted."
Dr. Dean t drew a long breath of wonder-
ment.
" Astonishing, if true ! "
The Princess smiled somewhat disdain-
fully, and went on :
"Saurid's work was carried on after his
death by his successors, and with thousands
of slaves toiling night and day the Pyramids
were in the course of years raised above the
caverns which concealed Egypt's mysteries.
Everything was gradually accumulated in
these underground store-houses, the en-
graved talismans, the slabs of stone on which
were deeply carved the geometrical and astro-
nomical sciences ; indestructible glass chests
containing papyri, on which were written the
various discoveries made in beneficial drugs,
swift poisons, and other medicines. And
238 ZISKA
among these many things were thirty great
jars full of precious stones, some of which
were marvels of the earth. They are there
still ! And some of the great men who died
were interred in these caves, every one in a
separate chamber inlaid with gold and gems,
and I think," here the Princess turned her
dark eyes full on Dr. Dean, " I think that if
you knew the secret way of lifting the ap-
parently immovable floor, which is like the
solid ground, and descending through the
winding galleries beneath, it is more than
probable you would find in the Great Pyra-
mid the tomb of Araxes ! "
Her eyes glistened strangely in the even-
ing light with that peculiar fiery glow which
had made Dr. Dean once describe them as
being like the eyes of a vampire-bat, and
there was something curiously impressive in
her gesture as she once more pointed to the
towering structure which loomed against the
heavens, with one star flashing immediately
above it. A sudden involuntary shudder
shook Gervase as with icy cold ; he moved
restlessly, and presently remarked :
" Well, it is a safe tomb, at any rate !
Whoever Araxes was, he stands little chance
of being exhumed if he lies two floors below
the Great Pyramid in a sealed-up rocky
ZISKA 239
cavern ! Princess, you look like an inspired
prophetess ! so much talk of ancient and
musty times makes me feel uncanny, and I
will, with your permission, have a smoke
with Dr. Dean in the garden to steady my
nerves. The mere notion of thirty vases
of unclaimed precious stones hidden down
yonder is enough to upset any man's
equanimity ! "
" The papyri would interest me more than
the jewels," said Dr. Dean. " What do you
say, Denzil ? "
Denzil Murray woke up suddenly from a
fit of abstraction.
" Oh, I don't know anything about it,"
he answered. " I never was very much in-
terested in those old times, they seem to
me all myth. I could never link past, pres-
ent and future together as some people can ;
they are to me all separate things. The
past is done with, the present is our own
to enjoy or to detest, and the future no man
can look into."
" Ah, Denzil, you are young, and reflec-
tion has not been very hard at work in that
headstrong brain of yours," said Dr. Dean
with an indulgent smile, " otherwise you
would see that past, present and future are
one and indissoluble. The past is as much
240 ZISKA
a part of your present identity as the pres-
ent, and the future, too, lies in you in em-
bryo. The mystery of one man's life con-
tains all mysteries, and if we could only
understand it from its very beginning we
should find out the cause of all things, and
the ultimate intention of creation."
" Well, now, you have all had enough
serious talk," said the Princess Ziska lightly,
"so let us adjourn to the drawing-room.
One of my waiting-women shall sing to you
by and by ; she has a very sweet voice."
" Is it she who sings that song about the
lotus-lily ? " asked Gervase, suddenly.
The Princess smiled strangely.
" Yes, it is she."
Dr. Dean chose a cigar from a silver box
on the table ; Gervase did the same.
" Won't you smoke, Denzil ? " he asked
carelessly.
" No, thanks ! " Denzil spoke hurriedly
and hoarsely. " I think if the Princess
will permit me I will stay and talk with
her in the drawing-room while you two have
your smoke together."
The Princess gave a charming bow of
assent to this proposition. Gervase took
the Doctor somewhat roughly by the arm
and led him out through the open French
ZISKA 241
window into the grounds beyond, remark-
ing as he went :
" You will excuse us, Princess ? We leave
you in good company ! "
She smiled.
" I will excuse you, certainly ! But do
not be long ! "
And she passed from the dining-room in-
to the small saloon beyond, followed closely
by Denzil.
Once out in the grounds, Gervase gave
vent to a boisterous fit of wild laughter, so
loud and fierce that little Dr. Dean came to
an abrupt standstill, and stared at him in
something of alarm as well as amazement.
" Are you goir.g mad, Gervase ? " he asked.
" Yes ! " cried Gervase, " that is just it, I
am going mad, mad for love, or whatever
you please to call it ! What do you think
I am made of ? Flesh and blood, or cast-
iron ? Heavens ! Do you think if all the
elements were to combine in a war against
me, they should cheat me out of this woman
or rob me of her? No, no! A thousand
times no! Satisfy yourself, my excellent
Doctor, with your musty records of the past,
prate as you choose of the future, but
in the immediate, burning, active present
my will is law ! And the fool Denzil thinks
16
242 ZISKA
to thwart me, I, who have never been
thwarted since I knew the meaning of ex-
istence ! "
He paused in a kind of breathless agita-
tion, and Dr. Dean grasped his arm firmly.
" Come, come, what is all this excitement
for ? " he said. " What are you saying about
Denzil ? "
Gervase controlled himself with a violent
effort and forced a smile.
" He has got his chance, I have given it
to him ! He is alone with the Princess, and
he is asking her to be his wife ! "
" Nonsense ! " said the Doctor sharply.
" If he does commit such a folly, it will be
no use. The woman is not human ! "
" Not human? " echoed Gervase, his black
eyes dilating with a sudden amazement
" What do you mean ? "
The little Doctor rubbed his nose im-
patiently and seemed sorry he had spoken.
" I mean let me see ! What do I mean ? "
he said at last meditatively " Oh, well, it
is easy enough of explanation. There are
plenty of people like the Princess Ziska to
whom I would apply the words ' not human.'
She is all beauty and no heart. Again if
you follow me she is all desire and no
passion, which is a character ' like unto the
ZISKA 243
beasts which perish.' A large majority of
men are made so, and some women, though
the women are comparatively few. Now,
so far as the Princess Ziska is concerned,"
continued the Doctor, fixing his keen, pene-
trative glance on Gervase as he spoke, " I
franklyadmit to you that I find in her material
fora very curious and complex study. That
is why I have come after her here. I have
said she is all desire and no passion. That
of itself is inhuman ; but what I am busy
about now is to try and analyze the nature
of the particular desire that moves her, con-
trols her, keeps her alive, in short. It is not
love ; of that I feel confident ; and it is not
hate, though it is more like hate than love.
It is something indefinable, something that
is almost occult, so deep-seated and bewilder-
ing is the riddle. You look upon me as a
madman yes ! I know you do ! But mad
or sane, I emphatically repeat, the Princess
is not human, and by this expression I wish
to imply that though she has the outward
appearance of a most beautiful and seductive
human body, she has the soul of a fiend.
Now, do you understand me ? "
" It would take CEdipus himself all his time
to do that," said Gervase, forcing a laugh
which had no mirth in it, for he was con-
244 ZISKA
scious of a vaguely unpleasant sensation a
chill, as of some dark presentiment, which
oppressed his mind. " When you know I do
not believe in the soul, why do you talk to
me about it? The soul of a fiend, the soul
of an angel, what are they ? Mere empty
terms to me, meaning nothing. I think I
agree with you though, in one or two points
concerning the Princess ; par exemple, I do
not look upon her as one of those delicately
embodied purities of womanhood before
whom we men instinctively bend in rev-
erence, but whom, at the same time, we gen-
erally avoid, ashamed of our vileness. No ;
she is certainly not one of the
" ' Maiden roses left to die
Because they climb so near the sky,
That not the boldest passer-by
Can pluck them from their vantage high.'
And whether it is best to be a solitary
' maiden-rose ' or a Princess Ziska, who shall
say ? And human or inhuman, whatever
composition she is made of, you may make
yourself positively certain that Denzil Murray
is just now doing his best to persuade her
to be a Highland chatelaine in the future.
Heavens, what a strange fate it will be for
la belle Egyptienne ! "
ZISKA 245
" Oh, you think she is Egyptian then ? "
queried Dr. Dean, with an air of lively
curiosity.
" Of course I do. She has the Egyptian
type of form and countenance. Consider
only the resemblance between her and the
dancer she chose to represent the other night
the Ziska-Charmazel of the antique sculp-
ture on her walls ! "
" Ay, but if you grant one resemblance,
you must also admit another," said the Doc-
tor quickly. " The likeness between your-
self and the old-world warrior, Araxes, is no
less remarkable ! " Gervase moved uneasily,
and a sudden pallor blanched his face,
making it look wan and haggard in the light
of the rising moon. " And it is rather sin-
gular," went on the imperturbable savant,
" that according to the legend or history
whichever you please to consider it, for in
time, legends become histories and histories
legends Araxes should have been the lover
of this very Ziska-Charmazel, and that you,
who are the living portrait of Araxes, should
suddenly become enamored of the equally
living portrait of the dead woman ! You
must own, that to a mere onlooker and ob-
server like myself, it seems a curious coin-
cidence ! "
246 ZISKA
Gervase smoked on in silence, his level
brows contracted in a musing frown.
" Yes, it seems curious," he said at last,
" but a great many curious coincidences
happen in this world so many that we, in
our days of rush and turmoil, have not time
to consider them as they come or go. Per-
haps of all the strange things in life, the
sudden sympathies and the headstrong pas-
sions which spring up in a day or a night
between certain men and certain women are
the strangest. I look upon you, Doctor, as
a very clever fellow with just a little twist
in his brain, or let us say a * fad ' about
spiritual matters ; but in one of your more
or less fantastic and extravagant theories I
am half disposed to believe, and that is the
notion you have of the possibility of some
natures, male and female, having met before
in a previous state of existence and under
different forms, such as birds, flowers, or
forest animals, or even mere incorporeal
breaths of air and flame. It is an idea which
I confess fascinates me. It seems fairly
reasonable too, for, as many scientists argue
that you cannot destroy matter, but only
transform it, there is really nothing impos-
sible in the suggestion."
ZISKA 247
He paused, then added slowly as he flung
the end of his cigar away :
" I have felt the force of this odd fancy of
yours most strongly since I met the Prin-
cess Ziska."
" Indeed ! Then the impression she gave
you first is still upon you that of having
known her before ? "
Gervase waited a minute or two before
replying ; then he answered :
"Yes. And not only of having known
her before, but of having loved her before.
Love ! mon Dieu ! what a tame word it
is ! How poorly it expresses the actual
emotion ! Fire in the veins delirium in
the brain reason gone to chaos ! And this
madness is mildly described as ' love ? ' '
" There are other words for it," said the
Doctor. " Words that are not so poetic, but
which, perhaps, are more fitting."
" No ! " interrupted Gervase, almost fierce-
ly. " There are no words which truly de-
scribe this one emotion which rules the
world. I know what you mean, of course ;
you mean evil words, licentious words, and
yet it has nothing whatever to do with
these. You cannot call such an exalted
state of the nerves and sensations by an
evil name."
248 ZISKA
Dr. Dean pondered the question for a few
moments.
" No, I am not sure that I can," he said,
meditatively. " If I did, I should have to
give an evil name to the Creator who de-
signed man and woman and ordained the
law of attraction which draws, and often
drags them together. I like to be fair to
everybody, the Creator included; yet to be
fair to everybody I shall appear to sanction
immorality. For the fact is that our civili-
zation has upset all the original intentions
of nature. Nature evidently meant Love,
or the emotion we call Love, to be the
keynote of the universe. But apparently
Nature did not intend marriage. The
flowers, the birds, the lower animals, mate
afresh every spring, and this is the creed
that the disciples of Naturalism nowadays
are anxious to force upon the attention of
the world. It is only men and women, they
say, that are so foolish as to take each other
for better or worse till death do them part.
Now, I should like, from the physical scien-
tist's point of view, to prove that the men
and women are wrong, and that the lower
animals are right ; but spiritual science
comes in and confutes me. For in spiritual
science I find this truth, which will not be
ZISKA 249
gainsaid namely, that from time imme-
morial, certain immortal forms of Nature
have been created solely for one another;
like two halves of a circle, they are intended
to meet and form the perfect round, and all
the elements of creation, spiritual and mate-
rial, will work their hardest to pull them to-
gether. Such natures, I consider, should
absolutely and imperatively be joined in
marriage. It then becomes a divine decree.
Even grant, if you like, that the natures so
joined are evil, and that the sympathy be-
tween them is of a more or less reprehensi-
ble character, it is quite as well that they
should unite, and that the result of such an
union should be seen. The evil might come
out of them in a family of criminals which
the law could exterminate with advantage *
to the world in general. Whereas on the
other hand, given two fine and aspiring
natures with perfect sympathy between
them, as perfect as the two notes of a per-
fect chord, the children of such a marriage
would probably be as near gods as humanity
could bring them. I speak as a scientist
merely. Such consequences are not fore-
seen by the majority, and marriages as a
rule take place between persons who are by
no means made for each other. Besides, a
250 ZISKA
kind of devil comes into the business, and
often prevents the two sympathetic natures
conjoining. Love-matters alone are quite
sufficient to convince me that there is a
devil as well as a divinity that ' shapes our
ends.' "
" You speak as if you yourself had loved,
Doctor," said Gervase, with a half smile.
"And so I have," replied the Doctor,
calmly. " I have loved to the full as passion-
ately and ardently as even you can love. I
thank God the woman I loved died, I could
never have possessed her, for she was already
wedded, and I would not have disgraced
her by robbing her from her lawful husband.
So Death stepped in and gave her to me
forever ! " and he raised his eyes to the
solemn starlit sky. " Yes, nothing can ever
come between us now ; no demon tears her
white soul from me ; she died innocent of
evil, and she is mine mine in every pulse of
her being, as we shall both know hereafter ! "
His face, which was not remarkable for
any beauty of feature, grew rapt and almost
noble in its expression, and Gervase looked
at him with a faint touch of ironical wonder.
" Upon my word, your morality almost
outreaches your mysticism ! " he said. " I
see you are one of those old-fashioned men
ZISKA 251
who think marriage a sacred sort of thing
and the only self-respecting form of love."
" Old-fashioned I may be," replied Dr.
Dean ; " but I certainly believe in marriage
for the woman's sake. If the license of men
were not restrained by some sort of barrier
it would break all bounds. Now I, had I
chosen, could have taken the woman I loved
to myself ; it needed but a little skilful per-
suasion on my part, for her husband was a
drink-sodden ruffian . . ."
" And why, in the name of Heaven, did
you not do so ? " demanded Gervase impa-
tiently.
" Because I know the end of all such
liaisons," said the Doctor sadly. " A month
or two of delirious happiness, then years of
remorse to follow. The man is lowered in
his own secret estimation of himself, and the
woman is hopelessly ruined, socially and
morally. No, Death is far better ; and in
my case Death has proved a good friend, for
it has given me the spotless soul of the
woman I loved, which is far fairer than her
body was."
" But, unfortunately, intangible ! " said
Gervase, satirically.
The Doctor looked at him keenly and
coldly.
252 ZISKA
" Do not be too sure of that, my friend !
Never talk about what you do not under-
stand ; you only wander astray. The spirit-
ual world is a blank to you, so do not pre-
sume to judge of what you will never realize
till realization is forced upon you ! "
He uttered the last words with slow and
singular emphasis.
" Forced upon me ? " began Gervase.
"What do you mean? . . ."
He broke off abruptly, for at that moment
Denzil Murray emerged from the doorway
of the hotel, and came towards them with an
unsteady, swaying step like that of a drunken
man.
" You had better go in to the Princess,"
he said, staring at Gervase with a wild smile ;
" she is waiting for you ! "
" What's the matter with you, Denzil ? "
inquired Dr. Dean, catching him by the arm
as he made a movement to go on and pass
them.
Denzil stopped, frowning impatiently.
" Matter ? Nothing ! What should be
the matter ? "
" Oh, no offence ; no offence, my boy ! "
and Dr. Dean at once loosened his arm. " I
only thought you looked as if you had had
some upset or worry, that's all."
ZISKA 253
" Climate ! climate ! " said Denzil, hoarse-
ly. " Egypt does not agree with me, I
suppose ! the dryness of the soil breeds
fever and a touch of madness ! Men are not
blocks of wood or monoliths of stone ; they
are creatures of flesh and blood, of nerve
and muscle ; you cannot torture them
so. . . ."
He interrupted himself with a kind of
breathless irritation at his own speech.
Gervase regarded him steadily, slightly
smiling.
" Torture them how, Denzil ? " asked the
Doctor, kindly. " Dear lad, you are talking
nonsense. Come and stroll with me up and
down ; the air is quite balmy and delightful ;
it will cool your brain."
" Yes, it needs cooling ! " retorted Denzil,
beginning to laugh with a sort of wild hilarity.
" Too much wine, too much woman, too
much of these musty old-world records and
ghastly pyramids ! "
Here he broke off, adding quickly :
" Doctor, Helen and I will go back to
England next week, if all is well."
" Why, certainly, certainly ! " said Dr.
Dean, soothingly. " I think we are all begin-
ning to feel we have had enough of Egypt. I
shall probably return home with you. Mean-
254 ZISKA
while, come for a stroll and talk to me ; Mon-
sieur Armand Gervase will perhaps go in and
excuse us for a few minutes to the Princess
Ziska."
" With pleasure ! " said Gervase ; then,
beckoning Denzil Murray aside, he whis-
pered :
" Tell me, have you won or lost ? "
" Lost !" replied Denzil, fiercely, through
his set teeth. " It is your turn now ! But,
if you win, as sure as there is a God above
us, I will kill you ! "
" So it ! But not till I am ready for kill-
ing ! After to-morrow night I shall be at
your service, not till then ! "
And smiling coldly, his dark face looking
singularly pale and stern in the moonlight,
Gervase turned away, and, walking with his
usual light, swift, yet leisurely tread, entered
the Princess's apartment by the French win-
dow which was still open, and from which
the sound of sweet music came floating deli-
ciously on the air as he disappeared.
ZISKA 255
CHAPTER XIV.
IN a half-reclining attitude of indolently
graceful ease, the Princess Ziska watched
from beneath the slumbrous shadow of her
long-fringed eyelids the approach of her
now scarcely-to-be controlled lover. He
came towards her with a certain impetuosity
of movement which was so far removed from
ordinary conventionality as to be wholly
admirable from the purely picturesque point
of view, despite the fact that it expressed
more passion and impatience than were
in keeping with nineteenth-century customs
and manners. He had almost reached her
side before he became aware that there
were two other women in the room besides
the Princess, silent, veiled figures that sat,
or rather crouched, on the floor, holding
quaintly carved and inlaid musical instru-
ments of some antique date in their hands,
the only sign of life about them being their
large, dark, glistening almond-shaped eyes,
which were every now and then raised and
2?6 ZISKA.
fixed on Gervase with an intense and search-
ing look of inquiry. Strangely embarrassed
by their glances, he addressed the Princess
in a low tone :
" Will you not send away your women?"
She smiled.
" Yes, presently ; if you wish it, I will.
But you must hear some music first. Sit
down there," and she pointed with her
small jewelled hand to a low chair near her
own. " My lutist shall sing you something,
in English, of course ! for all the world
is being Anglicized by degrees, and there
will soon be no separate nations left. Some-
thing, too, of romantic southern passion is
being gradually grafted on to English senti-
ment, so that English songs are not so stupid
as they were once. I translated some stanzas
from one of the old Egyptian poets into
English the other day, perhaps you will like
them. Myrmentis, sing us the ' Song of
Darkness.' "
An odd sensation of familiarity with the
name of " Myrmentis " startled Gervase as
he heard it pronounced, and he looked at
the girl who was so called in a kind of dread.
But she did not meet his questioning re-
gard, she was already bending over her lute
and tuning its strings, while her companion
ZISKA 257
likewise prepared to accompany her on a
similar though larger instrument, and in an-
other moment her voice, full and rich, with
a sobbing passion in it which thrilled him
to the inmost soul, rang out on the warm
silence :
In the darkness what deeds are done !
What wild words spoken !
What joys are tasted, what passion wasted !
What hearts are broken !
Not a glimpse of the moon shall shine,
Not a star shall mark
The passing of night, or shed its light
On my Dream of the Dark !
On the scented and slumbrous air,
Strange thoughts are thronging ;
And a blind desire more fierce than fire
Fills the soul with longing ;
Through the silence heavy and sweet
Comes the panting breath
Of a lover unseen from the Might-Have-Been,
Whose loving is Death !
In the darkness a deed was done,
A wild word spoken !
A joy was tasted, a passion wasted,
A heart was broken !
Not a glimpse of the moon shall shine,
Not a star shall mark
The passing of night, or shed its light
On my Dream of the Dark !
The song died away in a shuddering echo,
17
258 ZISKA
and before Gervase had time to raise his
eyes from their brooding study of the floor
the singer and her companion had noiselessly
disappeared, and he was left alone with the
Princess Ziska. He drew along breath, and
turning fully round in his chair, looked at
her steadily. There was a faint smile on her
lips a smile of mingled mockery and tri-
umph, her beautiful witch-like eyes glit-
tered. Leaning towards her, he grasped her
hands suddenly in his own.
" Now," he whispered, " shall I speak or
be silent ? "
" Whichever you please," she responded
composedly, still smiling. " Speech or si-
lence rest equally with yourself. I compel
neither."
" That is false ! " he said passionately.
" You do compel ! Your eyes drag my very
soul out of me your touch drives me into
frenzy ! You temptress ! You force me to
speak, though you know already what I have
to say ! That I love you, love you ! And
that you love me ! That your whole life
leaps to mine as mine to yours ! You know
all this ; if I were stricken dumb, you could
read it in my face, but you will have it
spoken you will extort from me the whole
secret of my madness ! yes, for you to take
ZISKA 259
a cruel joy in knowing that I am mad mad
for the love of you ! And you cannot be
too often or too thoroughly assured that
your own passion finds its reflex in me ! "
He paused, abruptly checked in his wild
words by the sound of her low, sweet, chill
laughter. She withdrew her hands from his
burning grasp.
" My dear friend," she said lightly, " you
really have a very excellent opinion of your-
self excuse me for saying so ! ' My own
passion ! ' Do you actually suppose I have
a ' passion ' for you ? " And rising from her
chair, she drew up her slim supple figure to
its full height and looked at him with an
amused and airy scorn. " You are totally
mistaken ! No one man living can move
me to love ; I know all men too well ! Their
natures are uniformly composed of the same
mixture of cruelty, lust and selfishness ; and
forever and forever, through all the ages
of the world, they use the greater part of
their intellectual abilities in devising new
ways to condone and conceal their vices.
You call me ' temptress ' ; why ? The
temptation, if any there be, emanates from
yourself and your own unbridled desires ; I
do nothing. I am made as I am made; if
my face or my form seems fair in your eyes,
260 ZISKA
this is not my fault. Your glance lights on
me, as the hawk's lights on coveted prey ;
but think you the prey loves the hawk in
response ? It is the mistake all men make
with all women, to judge them always as
being of the same base material as them-
selves. Some women there are who shame
their womanhood ; but the majority, as a
rule, preserve their self-respect till taught
by men to lose it."
Gervase sprang up and faced her, his eyes
flashing dangerously.
" Do not make any pretence with me ! "
he said half angrily. " Never tell me you
cannot love ! . . ."
" I have loved ! " she interrupted him.
" As true women love, once, and only once.
It suffices ; not for one lifetime, but many.
I loved ; and gave myself ungrudgingly and
trustingly to the man my soul worshipped.
I was betrayed, of course ! it is the usual
story quite old, quite commonplace! I
can tell it to you without so much as a blush
of pain ! Since then I have not loved, I
have hated ; and I live but for one thing
Revenge."
Her face paled as she spoke, and a some-
thing vague, dark, spectral and terrible
seemed to enfold her like a cloud where she
ZISKA 26l
stood. Anon she smiled sweetly, and with
a bewitching provocativeness.
"Your 'passion/ you see, my friend
awakens rather a singular ' reflex ' in me !
not quite of the nature you imagined ! "
He remained for a moment inert; then,
with an almost savage boldness, threw his
arm about her.
" Have everything your own way, Ziska ! "
he said in quick, fierce accents. " I will ac-
cept all your fancies, and humor all your
caprices. I will grant that you do not love
me I will even suppose that I am repellent
to you, but that shall make no difference
to my desire ! You shall be mine ! willing
or unwilling! If every kiss I take from your
lips be torn from you with reluctance, yet
those kisses I will have ! you shall not
escape me ! You you, out of all women in
the world, I choose . . ."
" As your wife ? " said Ziska slowly, her
dark eyes gleaming with a strange light as
she dexterously withdrew herself from his
embrace.
He uttered an impatient exclamation.
"My wife! Dieu ! What a banalitd !
You, with your exquisite, glowing beauty
and voluptuous charm, you would be a ' wife '
that tiresome figure-head of utterly dull
262 ZISKA
respectability? You, with your unmatched
air of wild grace and freedom, would submit
to be tied down in the bonds of marriage,
marriage, which to my thinking and that of
many other men of my character, is one of
the many curses of this idiotic nineteenth
century ! No, I offer you love, Ziska !
ideal, passionate love ! the glowing, raptur-
ous dream of ecstasy in which such a thing
as marriage would be impossible, the merest
vulgar commonplace almost a profanity."
" I understand ! " and the Princess Ziska
regarded him intently, her breath coming
and going, and a strange smile quivering on
her lips. " You would play the part of an
Araxes over again ! "
He smiled ; and with all the audacity of
a bold and determined nature, put his arms
round her and drew her close up to his
breast.
" Yes," he said, " I would play the part
of an Araxes over again ! "
As he uttered the words, an indescribable
sensation of horror seized him a mist dark-
ened his sight, his blood grew cold, and a
tremor shook him from head to foot. The
fair woman's face that was lifted so close to
his own seemed spectral and far off ; and for
a fleeting moment her very beauty grew into
ZISKA 263
something like hideousness, as if the strange
effect of the picture he had painted of her
was now becoming actual and apparent
namely, the face of death looking through
the mask of life. Yet he did not loosen his
arms from about her waist ; on the contrary
he clasped her even more closely, and kept
his eyes fixed upon her with such pertinacity
that it seemed as if he expected her to van-
ish from his sight while he still held her.
" To play the part of an Araxes aright,"
she murmured then in slow and dulcet ac-
cents, " you would need to be cruel and
remorseless, and sacrifice my life or any
woman's life to your own clamorous and
selfish passion. But you, Armand Gervase,
educated, civilized, intellectual, and totally
unlike the barbaric Araxes, could not do that,
could you ? The progress of the world, the
increasing intelligence of humanity, the com-
ing of the Christ, these things are surely of
some weight with you, are they not? Or
are you made of the same savage and im-
penitent stuff as composed the once famous
yet brutal warrior of old time ? Do you
admire the character and spirit of Araxes ?
he who, if history reports him truly, would
snatch a woman's life as though it were a
wayside flower, crush out all its sweetness
264 ZISKA
and delicacy, and then fling it into the dust
withered and dead ? Do you think that
because a man is strong and famous, he has
a right to the love of woman ? a charter to
destroy her as he pleases ? If you remember
the story I told you, Araxes murdered with
his own hand Ziska-Charmazel the woman
who loved him."
" He had perhaps grown weary of her,"
said Gervase, speaking with an effort, and
still studying the exquisite loveliness of the
bewitching face that was so close to his own,
like a man in a dream.
At this she laughed, and laid her two
hands on his shoulders with a close and cling-
ing clasp which thrilled him strangely.
" Ah, there is the difficulty ! " she said.
" What cure shall ever be found for love-
weariness ? Men are all like children they
tire of their toys ; hence the frequent trouble
and discomfort of marriage. They grow
weary of the same face, the same caressing
arms, the same faithful heart ! You, for in-
stance, would grow weary of me ! "
" I think not," answered Gervase. And
now the vague sense of uncertainty and pain
which had distressed him passed away, leav-
ing him fully self-possessed once more. " I
think you are one of those exceptional
ZISKA 265
women whom a man never grows weary of :
like a Cleopatra, on any other old-world
enchantress, you fascinate with a look, you
fasten with a touch, and you have a singular
freshness and wild attraction about you which
makes you unlike any other of your sex. I
know well enough that I shall never get the
memory of you out of my brain ; your face
will haunt me till I die ! "
" And after death ? " she queried, half-clos-
ing her eyes, and regarding him languorously
through her silky black lashes.
" Ah, ma belle, after that there is nothing
to be done even in the way of love. Tout
est fini ! Considering the brevity of life and
the absolute certainty of death, I think that
the men and women who are so foolish as to
miss any opportunities of enjoyment while
they are alive deserve more punishment than
those who take all they can get, even in the
line of what is called wickedness. Wicked-
ness is a curious thing : it takes different
shapes in different lands, and what is called
' wicked ' here, is virtue in, let us say, the Fiji
Islands. There is really no strict rule of con-
duct in the world, no fixed law of morality."
" There is honor ! " said the Princess,
slowly ; " A code which even savages recog-
nize."
266 ZISKA
He was silent. For a moment he seemed
to hesitate ; but his indecision soon passed.
His face flushed, and anon grew pale, as
closing his arms more victoriously round the
fair woman who just then appeared volun-
tarily to yield to his embrace, he bent down
and whispered a few words in the tiny ear,
white and delicate as a shell, which was half-
hidden by the rich loose clusters of her
luxuriant hair. She heard, and smiled ; and
her eyes flashed with a singular ferocity which
he did not see, otherwise it might have
startled him.
" I will answer you to-morrow," she said.
"Be patient till then."
And as she spoke, she released herself
determinedly from the clasp of his arms and
withdrew to a little distance, looking at him
with a fixed and searching scrutiny.
" Do not preach patience to me ! " he ex-
claimed with a laugh. " I never had that
virtue, and I certainly cannot begin to culti-
vate it now."
" Had you ever any virtues ? " she asked
in a playful tone of something like satire.
He shrugged his shoulders.
" I do not know what you consider virtues,"
he answered lightly: " If honesty is one, I
have that. I make no pretence to be what
ZISKA 267
I am not. I would not pass off somebody
else's picture as my own, for instance. But
I cannot sham to be moral. I could not
possibly love a woman without wanting her
all to myself, and I have not the slightest
belief in the sanctimonious humbug of a man
who plays the Platonic lover only. But I
don't cheat, and I don't lie. I am what
I am. . . ."
" A man ! " said Ziska, a lurid and vin-
dictive light dilating and firing her wonderful
eyes. " A man ! the essence of all that is
evil, the possibility of all that is good ! But
the essence is strong and works ; the possi-
bility is a dream which dissolves in the
dreaming ! "
"Yes, you are right, ma ch^re ! " he re-
sponded carelessly. " Goodness as the
world understands goodness never makes
a career for itself worth anything. Even
Christ, who has figured as a symbol of good-
ness for eighteen hundred years, was not
devoid of the sin of ambition : He wanted to
reign over all Judaea."
" You view Him in that light ? " inquired
Ziska with a keen look. " And as man only ? "
" Why, of course ! The idea of an incar-
nate God has long ago been discarded by
all reasoning thinkers."
268 ZISKA
" And what of an incarnate devil ? " pur-
sued Ziska, her breath coming and going
quickly.
" As impossible as the other fancy ! " he
responded almost gayly. " There are no gods
and no devils, ma belle ! The world is ruled
by ourselves alone, and it behoves us to
make the best of it. How will you give me
my answer to-morrow ? When shall I see
you ? Speak low and quickly, Dr. Dean is
coming in here from the garden : when
when ? "
" I will send for you," she answered.
"At what hour?"
" The moon rises at ten. And at ten my
messenger shall come for you."
" A trustworthy messenger, I hope ? One
who knows how to be silent ? "
" As silent as the grave ! " she said, look-
ing at him fixedly. " As secret as the Great
Pyramid and the hidden tomb of Araxes ! "
And smiling, she turned to greet Dr. Dean,
who just then entered the saloon.
"Denzil has gone to bed," he announced.
" He begged me to excuse him to you,
Princess. I think the boy is feverish. Egypt
doesn't agree with him."
" I am sorry he is ill," said the Princess
with a charming air of sympathy.
ZISKA 269
"Oh, he isn't exactly ill," returned the
Doctor, looking sharply at her beautiful face
as he spoke. " He is simply unnerved and
restless. I am a little anxious about him.
I think he ought to go back to England
or Scotland."
" I think so, too," agreed Gervase. " And
Mademoiselle Helen with him."
" Mademoiselle Helen you consider very
beautiful?" murmured the Princess, unfurl-
ing her fan and waving it indolently to and
fro.
" No, not beautiful," answered the Doctor
quickly. " But very pretty, sweet and
lovable and good."
" Ah then, of course some one will break
her heart ! " said the Princess calmly. " That
is what always happens to good women."
And she smiled as she saw Gervase flush,
half with anger, half with shame. The little
Doctor rubbed his nose crossly.
" Not always, Princess," he said. " Some-
times it does ; in fact pretty often. It is an
unfortunate truth that virtue is seldom re-
warded in this world. Virtue in a woman
nowadays "
" Means no lovers and no fun ! " said Ger-
vase gayly. " And the possibility of a highly
decorous marriage with a curate or a bank-
2/0 ZISKA
clerk, followed by the pleasing result of a
family of little curates or little bank-clerks.
It is not a dazzling prospect ! "
The Doctor smiled grimly ; then after a
wavering moment of indecision, broke out
into a chuckling laugh.
"You have an odd way of putting things,"
he said. " But I'm afraid you may be right
in your estimate of the position. Quite as
many women are as miserably sacrificed on
the altar of virtue as of vice. It is * a mad
world/ as Shakespeare says. I hope the
next life we pass into after this one will at
least be sane."
" Well, if you believe in Heaven, you have
Testament authority for the fact that there
will be ' neither marriage nor giving in mar-
riage ' there, at any rate," laughed Gervase.
"And if we wish to follow that text out
truly in our present state of existence and
become * as the angels of God ' we ought at
once to abolish matrimony."
" Have done ! Have done ! " exclaimed
the Doctor, still smiling, however, notwith-
standing his protest. " You Southern
Frenchmen are half barbarians, you have
neither religion nor morality."
" Dieu merci ! " said Gervase, irreverently ;
then turning to the Princess Ziska, he bowed
ZISKA 2/1
low and with a courtly grace over the hand
she extended towards him in farewell.
" Good-night, Princess ! " then in a whisper
he added : " To-morrow I shall await your
summons."
" It will come without fail, never fear ! "
she answered in equally soft tones. " I hope
it may find you ready."
He raised his eyes and gave her one
long, lingering, passionate look ; then with
another " Good-night," which included Dr.
Dean, left the room. The Doctor lingered
a moment, studying the face and form of
ihe Princess with a curiously inquisitive
air; while she in her turn confronted him
haughtily, and with a touch of defiance in
her aspect.
" Well," said the savant presently, after
a pause : " Now you have got him, what are
you going to do with him ? "
She smiled coldly, but answered nothing.
" You need not flash your beautiful eyes
at me in that eminently unpleasant fashion,"
pursued the Doctor, easily. "You see I
know you, and I am not afraid of you. I
only make a stand against you in one re-
spect : you shall not kill the boy Denzil."
" He is nothing to me ! " she said, with a
gesture of contempt.
2/2 ZISKA
" I know he is nothing to you ; but you
are something to him. He does not recog-
nize your nature as I do. I must get him
out of the reach of your spell "
" You need not trouble yourself," she in-
terrupted him, a sombre melancholy darken-
ing her face ; " I shall be gone to-morrow."
" Gone altogether?" inquired the Doctor
calmly and without surprise, "Not to come
back?"
" Not in this present generation ! " she
answered.
Still Dr. Dean evinced no surprise.
" Then you will have satisfied yourself ? "
he asked.
She bent her head.
" For the time being yes ! I shall have
satisfied myself."
There followed a silence, during which the
little Doctor looked at his beautiful com-
panion with all the meditative interest of a
scientist engaged in working out some intri-
cate and deeply interesting problem.
" I suppose I may not inquire how you
propose to obtain this satisfaction? "he said.
" You may inquire, but you will not be
answered ! " she retorted, smiling darkly.
" Your intentions are pitiless ? "
Still smiling, she said not a word.
ZISKA 273
"You are impenitent ? "
She remained silent.
" And, worst of all, you do not desire
redemption ! You are one of those who for-
ever and ever cry, ' Evil, be thou my good ! '
Thus for you, Christ died in vain ! "
A faint tremor ran through her, but she
was still mute.
" So you and creatures like you, must
have their way in the world until the end,"
concluded the Doctor, thoughtfully. " And
if all the philosophers that ever lived were
to pronounce you what you are, they would
be disbelieved and condemned as madmen !
Well, Princess, I am glad I have never at
any time crossed your path till now, or
given you cause of offence against me. We
part friends, I trust ? Good-night ! Fare-
well ! "
She held out her hand. He hesitated
before taking it.
" Are you afraid ? " she queried coldly.
" It will not harm you ! "
" I am afraid of nothing," he said, at once
clasping the white taper fingers in his own,
"except a bad conscience."
" That will never trouble you ! " and the
Princess looked at him full and steadily.
" There are no dark corners in your life no
18
274 ZISKA
mean side-alleys and trap-holes of deceit;
you have walked on the open and straight
road. You are a good man and a wise one.
But though you, in your knowledge of spirit-
ual things, recognize me for what I am, take
my advice and be silent on the matter. The
world would never believe the truth, even if
you told it, for the time is not yet ripe for
men and women to recognize the avengers of
their wicked deeds. They are kept pur-
posely in the dark lest the light should kill ! "
And with her sombre eyes darkening, yet
glowing with the inward fire that always
smouldered in their dazzling depths, she
saluted him gravely and gracefully, watching
him to the last as he slowly withdrew.
ZISKA 275
CHAPTER XV.
THE next day broke with a bright, hot
glare over the wide desert, and the sky in its
cloudless burning blue had more than its
usual appearance of limitless and awful
immensity. The Sphinx and the Pyramids
alone gave a shadow and a substance to the
dazzling and transparent air, all the rest of
the visible landscape seemed naught save
a far-stretching ocean of glittering sand,
scorched by the blazing sun. Dr. Maxwell
Dean rose early and went down to the hotel
breakfast in a somewhat depressed frame of
mind ; he had slept badly, and his dreams had
been unpleasant, when not actually ghastly,
and he was considerably relieved, though he
could not have told why, when he saw his
young friend Denzil Murray, seated at the
breakfast table, apparently enjoying an ex-
cellent meal.
" Hullo, Denzil ! " he exclaimed cheerily,
" I hardly expected you down yet. Are
you better ? "
276 ZISKA
" Thanks, I am perfectly well," said Denzil,
with a careless air. I thought I would break-
fast early in order to drive into Cairo before
the day gets too sultry."
" Into Cairo ! " echoed the Doctor. " Why,
aren't you going to stay here a few days ? "
" No, not exactly," answered Denzil, stir-
ring his coffee quickly and beginning to
swallow it in large gulps. " I shall be back
to-night, though. I'm only going just to see
my sister and tell her to prepare for our
journey home. I shan't be absent more than
a few hours."
" I thought you might possibly like to go
a little further up the Nile?" suggested the
Doctor.
" Oh, no, I 've had enough of it ! You see,
when a man proposes to a woman and gets
refused, he can't keep on dangling round that
woman as if he thought it possible she might
change her mind." And he forced a smile.
"I've got an appointment with Gervase
to-morrow morning, and I must come back
to-night in order to keep it but after that
I'm off."
" An appointment with Gervase ? " re-
peated the Doctor, slowly. " What sort of
an appointment? "
Denzil avoided his keen look.
ZISKA 2/7
" Really, Doctor, you are getting awfully
inquisitive ! "he exclaimed with a hard laugh.
" You want to know altogether too much ! "
" Yes, I always do ; it is a habit of mine,"
responded Dr. Dean, calmly. " But in the
present case, it doesn't need much perspicuity
to fathom your mystery. The dullest clod-
hopper will tell you he can see through a
millstone when there's a hole in it. And I
was always a good hand at putting two and
two together and making four out of them.
You and Gervase are in love with the same
woman ; the woman has rejected you and is
encouraging Gervase ; Gervase, you think,
will on this very night be in the position of
the accepted lover, for which successful for-
tune attending him, you, the rejected one,
propose to kill him to-morrow morning if you
can, unless he kills you. And you are going
to Cairo to get your pistols or whatever
weapons you have arranged to fight with,
and also to say good-bye to your sister."
Denzil kept his eyes fixed studiously on
the table-cloth and made no answer.
" However," continued the Doctor com-
placently, " you can have it all your own
way as far as I am concerned. I never inter-
fere in these sort of matters. I should do no
good if I attempted it. Besides, I haven't
278 ZISKA
the slightest anxiety on your behalf not
the slightest. Waiter, some more coffee,
please ? "
" Upon my word ! " exclaimed Denzil,
with a fretful laugh, " you are a most ex-
traordinary man, Doctor ! "
" I hope I am ! " retorted the Doctor.
" To be merely ordinary would not suit my
line of ambition. This is very excellent
coffee " here he peered into the fresh pot
of the fragrant beverage just set before him.
" They make it better here than at the Gezireh
Palace. Well, Denzil, my boy, when you get
into Cairo, give my love to Helen and tell
her we'll all go home to the old country
together ; I, myself, have got quite enough
out of Egypt this time to satisfy my fondness
for new experiences. And let me assure you,
my good fellow, that your proposed duel with
Gervase will not come off ! "
" It will come off ! " said Denzil, with
sudden fierceness. " By Heaven, it shall !
it must ! "
" More wills than one have the working
out of our destinies," answered Dr. Dean
with some gravity. " Man is not by any
means supreme. He imagines he is, but that
is only one of his many little delusions. You
think you will have your way ; Gervase thinks
ZISKA 279
he will have his way ; I think I will have my
way ; but as a matter of fact there is only
one person in this affair whose * way ' will
be absolute, and that person is the Princess
Ziska. Ce que femme veut Dieu veut"
" She has nothing whatever to do with the
matter," declared Denzil.
" Pardon ! She has everything to do with
it. She is the cause of it and she knows it.
And as I have already told you, your pro-
posed fight will not come off." And the
little Doctor smiled serenely. " There is
your carriage at the door, I suppose. Off
with you, my boy ! be off like a whirlwind,
and return here armed to the teeth if you
like ! You have heard the expression ' fight-
ing the air' ? That is what you will do to-
morrow morning ! "
And apparently in the best of all possible
humors, Dr. Dean accompanied his young
friend to the portico of the hotel and watched
him drive off down the stately avenue of
palm-trees which now cast their refreshing
shade on the entire route from the Pyramids
to Cairo. When he had fairly gone, the
thoughtful savant surveyed the different
tourists who were preparing to ascend the
Pyramids under the escort of their Arab
guides, regardless of the risks they ran of
28O ZISKA
dislocated arms and broken shoulder-bones,
and in the study of the various odd types
thus presented to him, he found himself fairly
well amused,
" Protoplasm mere protoplasm ! " he
murmured. " The germ of soul has not yet
attained to individual consciousness in any
one of these strange bipeds. Their thoughts
are as jelly, their reasoning powers in em-
bryo, their intellectual faculties barely per-
ceptible. Yet they are interesting, viewed in
the same light and considered on the same
scale as fish or insects merely. As men and
women of course they are misnomers, laugh-
able impossibilities. Well, well ! in the
space of two or three thousand years, the pro-
toplasm may start into form out of the void,
and the fibres of a conscious Intellectuality
may sprout, but it will have to be in some
other phase of existence certainly not in
this one. And now to shut myself up and
write my memoranda for I must not lose a
single detail of this singular Egyptian psychic
problem. The whole thing I perceive is
rounding itself towards completion and ca-
tastrophe but in what way ? How will
it how can it end ? "
And with a meditative frown puckering
his brows, Dr. Dean folded his hands behind
ZISKA. 28l
his back and retired to his own room, from
whence he did not emerge all day.
Armand Gervase in the meanwhile was
making himself the life and soul of every-
thing at the Mena House Hotel. He struck
up an easy acquaintance with several of the
visitors staying there, said pretty things to
young women and pleasant things to old,
and in the course of a few hours succeeded
in becoming the most popular personage in
the place. He accepted invitations to par-
ties, and agreed to share in various* excur-
sions, till he engaged himself for every day
in the coming week, and was so gay and
gallant and fascinating in manner and bear-
ing that fair ladies lost their hearts to him
at a glance, and what amusement or pleas-
ure there was at the Mena House seemed
to be doubly enhanced by the mere fact of
his presence. In truth Gervase was in
a singular mood of elation and excitation ; a
strong inward triumph possessed him and
filled his soul with an imperious pride and
sense of conquest which, for the time being,
made him feel as though he were a very
king of men. There was nothing in his
nature of the noble tenderness which makes
the lover mentally exalt his beloved as a
queen before whom he is content to sub-
282 ZISKA
mit his whole soul in worship ; what he
realized was merely this : that here was one
of the most beautiful and seductive women
ever created, in the person of the Princess
Ziska, and that he, Gervase, meant to pos-
sess that loveliest of women, whatever hap-
pened in the near or distant future. Of
her, and of the influence of his passion on
her personally, he did not stop to think,
except with the curiously blind egotism
which is the heritage of most men, and
which led him to judge that her happiness
would in some way or other be enhanced
by his brief and fickle love. For, as a rule,
men do not understand love. They under-
stand desire, amounting sometimes to mer-
ciless covetousness for what they cannot
get, this is a leading natural characteristic
of the masculine nature but Love love
that endures silently and faithfully through
the stress of trouble and the passing of
years love which sacrifices everything to
the beloved and never changes or falters,
this is a divine passion which seldom or
never sanctifies and inspires the life of a
man. Women are not made of such base
material ; their love invariably springs first
from the Ideal, not the Sensual, and if after-
wards it develops into the sensual, it is
ZISKA 283
through the rough and coarsening touch of
man alone.
Throughout the entire day the Princess
Ziska herself never left her private apart-
ments, and towards late afternoon Gervase
began to feel the hours drag along with
unconscionable slowness and monotony.
Never did the sun seem so slow in sinking ;
never did the night appear so far off. When
at last dinner was served in the hotel, both
Denzil Murray and Dr. Dean sat next to
him at table, and, judging from outward
appearances, the most friendly relations ex-
isted between all three of them. At the
close of the meal, however, Denzil made a
sign to Gervase to follow him, and when
they had reached a quiet corner, said :
" I am aware of your victory ; you have
won where I have lost. But you know my
intention? "
" Perfectly ! " responded Gervase, with a
cool smile.
" By Heaven ! " went on the younger man,
in accents of suppressed fury, " if I yielded
to the temptation which besets me when I
see you standing there facing me, with your
easy and self-satisfied demeanor, when I
know that you mean dishonor where I meant
honor, when you have had the effrontery
284 ZISKA
to confess to me that you only intend to
make the Princess Ziska your mistress when
I would have made her my wife, God ! I
could shoot you dead at this moment ! "
Gervase looked at him steadily, still smil-
ing slightly ; then gradually the smile died
away, leaving his countenance shadowed by
an intense melancholy.
" I can quite enter into your feelings, my
dear boy ! " he said. " And do you know,
I'm not sure that it would not be a good
thing if you were to shoot me dead ! My
life is of no particular value to anybody,
certainly not to myself ; and I begin to think
I've been always more or less of a failure.
I have won fame, but I have missed some-
thing but upon my word, I don't quite
know what ! "
He sighed heavily, then suddenly held
out his hand.
" Denzil, the bitterest foes shake hands
before fighting each other to the death, as
we propose to do to-morrow; it is a civil
custom and hurts no one. I should like to
part kindly from you to-night ! "
Denzil hesitated ; then something stronger
than himself made him yield to the impulsive
note of strong emotion in his former friend's
voice, and the two men's hands met in a
ZISKA 285
momentary silent grasp. Then Denzil turned
quickly away.
" To-morrow morning at six," he said,
briefly ; " close to the Sphinx."
" Good ! " responded Gervase. " The
Sphinx shall second us both and see fair
play. Good-night, Denzil ! "
" Good-night ! " responded Denzil, coldly,
as he moved on and disappeared.
A slight shiver ran through Gervase's
blood as he watched him depart.
" Odd that I should imagine I have seen
the last of him ! " he murmured. " There
are strange portents in the air of the desert,
I suppose ! Is he going to his death ? Or
am I going to mine? "
Again the cold tremor shook him, and
combating with his uneasy sensations, he
went to his own apartment, there to await
the expected summons of the Princess. No
triumph filled him now ; no sense of joy
elated him ; a vague fear and dull forebod-
ing were all the emotions he was conscious
of. Even his impatient desire of love had
cooled, and he watched the darkening of
night over the desert, and the stars shining out
one by one in the black azure of the heavens,
with a gradually deepening depression. A
dreamy sense stole over him of remoteness
286 ZISKA
or detachment from all visible things, as
though he were suddenly and mysteriously
separated from the rest of humankind by
an invisible force which he was powerless to
resist. He was still lost in this vague half-
torpor or semi-conscious reverie, when a
light tap startled him back to the realization
of earth and his earthly surroundings. In
response to his " Entrez ! " the tall Nubian,
whom he had seen in Cairo as the guardian
of the Princess's household, appeared, his
repulsive features looking, if anything, more
ghastly and hideous than ever.
" Madame la Princesse demande votre
presence ! " said this unlovely attendant of
one of the fairest of women. " Suivez-moi ! "
Without a moment's hesitation or loss
of time, Gervase obeyed, and allowing his
guide to precede him at a little distance,
followed him through the corridors of the
hotel, out at the hall door and beyond,
through the garden. A clock struck ten as
they passed into the warm evening air, and
the mellow rays of the moon were beginning
to whiten the sides of the Great Pyramid.
A few of the people staying in the hotel
were lounging about, but these paid no partic-
ular heed to Gervase or his companion. At
about two hundred yards from the entrance
ZISKA 287
of the Mena House, the Nubian stopped and
waited till Gervase came up with him.
" Madame la Princcsse vous aime, Monsieur
Gervase!" he said, with a sarcastic grin.
''Mais, elle veut que V Amour soit toujours
aveugle ! oui, toujours ! C'est le destin qui
vous appelle, il faut soumettre ! U Amour
sans yeux ! oui ! en fin, comme ga ! "
And before Gervase could utter a word
of protest, or demand the meaning of this
strange proceeding, his arms was suddenly
seized and pinioned behind his back, his
mouth gagged, and his eyes blindfolded.
M"aintenant" continued the Nubian.
" Nous irons ensemble ! "
Choked and mad with rage, Gervase for a
few moments struggled furiously as well as
he was able with his powerful captor. All
sorts of ideas surged in his brain : the Prin-
cess Ziska might, with all her beauty and
fascination, be nothing but the ruler of a band
of robbers and murderers who could tell ?
Yet reason did not wholly desert him in ex-
tremity, for even while he tried to fight for
his liberty he remembered that there was no
good to be gained out of takinghim prisoner ;
he had neither money nor valuables nothing
which could excite the cupidity of even a
starving Bedouin. As this thought crossed
288 ZISKA
his brain, he ceased his struggles abruptly,
and stood still, panting for breath, when
suddenly a sound of singing floated towards
him:
" Oh, for the pure cold heart of the Lotus-Lily !
A star above
Is its only love,
And one brief sigh of its scented breath
Is all it will ever know of Death !
Oh, for the passionless heart of the Lotus-Lily ! "
He listened, and all power of resistance
ebbed slowly away from him ; he became
perfectly passive almost apathetic and
yielding to the somewhat rough handling of
his guide, allowed himself to be urged with
silent rapidity onward over the thick sand,
till he presently became conscious that he
was leaving the fresh open air and entering
a building of some sort, for his feet pressed
hard earth and stone instead of sand. All
at once he was forcibly brought to a stand-
still, and a heavy rolling noise and clang,
like distant muttered thunder, resounded in
his ears, followed by dead silence. Then
his arm was closely grasped again, and he
was led on, on and on, along what seemed
to be an interminable distance, for not a
glimmer of light could be seen under the
tight folds of the bandage across his eyes.
ZISKA 289
Presently the earth shook under him,
some heavy substance was moved, and there
was another booming thunderous noise, ac-
companied by the falling of chains.
" Cest Vescalier de Madame la Princesse ! "
said the Nubian. " Prts de la chambre
nuptiale ! Descendez ! Vite ! "
Down down ! Resistance was useless,
even had he cared to resist, for he felt as
though twenty pairs of hands instead of one
were pushing him violently on all sides ;
down, still down he went, dumb, blind and
helpless, till at last he was allowed to stop
and breathe. His arms were released, the
bandage was taken from his eyes, the gag
from his mouth he was free ! Free yes !
but where ? Thick darkness encompassed
him ; he stretched out his hands in the murky
atmosphere and felt nothing.
" Ziska ! " he cried.
The name sprang up against the silence
and struck out numberless echoes, and with
the echoes came a shuddering sigh, that was
not of them, whispering :
" Charmazel ! "
Gervase heard it, and a deadly fear, born
of the supernatural, possessed him.
" Ziska ! Ziska ! " he called again wildly.
" Charmazel ! " answered the penetrating
2QO ZISKA
unknown voice ; and as it thrilled upon the
air like a sob of pain, a dim light began to
shine through the gloom, waveringly at first,
then more steadily, till it gradually spread
wide, illuminating with a pale and spectral
light the place in which he found himself,
a place more weird and wondrous than any
mystic scene in dream-land. He stumbled
forward giddily, utterly bewildered, staring
about him like a man in delirium, and speech-
less with mingled horror and amazement.
He was alone utterly alone in a vast square
chamber, the walls and roof of which were
thickly patterned and glistening with gold.
Squares of gold were set in the very pave-
ment on which he trod, and at the furthest
end of the chamber, a magnificent sarco-
phagus of solid gold, encrusted with thous-
ands upon thousands of jewels, which were
set upon it in marvellous and fantastic devices,
glittered and flashed with the hues of living
fire. Golden cups, golden vases, a golden
suit of armor, bracelets and chains of gold
intermixed with gems, were heaped up
against the walls and scattered on the floor ;
and a round shield of ivory inlaid with gold,
together with a sword in a jewelled sheath,
were placed in an upright position against
the head of the sarcophagus, from whence
ZISKA 291
all the spectral and mysterious light seemed
to emerge. With thickly beating heart and
faltering pulses Gervase still advanced,
gazing half entranced, half terrified at the
extraordinary and sumptuous splendor
surrounding him, muttering almost uncon-
sciously as he moved along :
" A king's sepulchre, a warrior's tomb !
How came I here ? and why ? Is this a
trysting-place for love as well as death?
and will she come to me ? ..."
He recoiled suddenly with a violent start,
for there, like a strange Spirit of Evil risen
from the ground, leaning against the great
gold sarcophagus, her exquisite form scarcely
concealed by the misty white of her draper-
ies, her dark hair hanging like a cloud over
her shoulders, and her black eyes aflame with
wrath, menace and passion, stood the mys-
terious Ziska !
292 ZISEA
CHAPTER XVI.
STRICKEN dumb with a ghastly super-
natural terror which far exceeded any or-
dinary sense of fear, he gazed at her, spell-
bound, his blood freezing, his very limbs
stiffening, for now now she looked like the
picture he had painted of her ; and Death
Death, livid, tortured and horrible, stared
at him skull-wise from the transparent cover-
ing of her exquisitely tinted seeming-human
flesh. Larger and brighter and wilder grew
her eyes as she fixed them on him, and her
voice rang through the silence with an un-
earthly resonance as she spoke and said :
" Welcome, my lover, to this abode of
love! Welcome to these arms, for whose
embraces your covetous soul has thirsted un-
appeased ! Take all of me, for I am yours !
aye, so truly yours that you can never
escape me ! never separate from me no !
not through a thousand thousand centuries !
Life of my life ! Soul of my soul ! Possess
me, as I possess you ! for our two unre-
ZISKA 293
penting spirits form a dual flame in Hell
which must burn on and on to all eternity !
Leap to my arms, master and lord, king
and conqueror ! Here, here ! " and she
smote her white arms against her whiter
bosom. " Take all your fill of burning
wickedness of cursed joy ! and then sleep !
as you have slept before, these many thou-
sand years ! "
Still mute and aghast he stared at her ;
his senses swam, his brain reeled, and then
slowly, like the lifting of a curtain on the
last scene of a dire tragedy, a lightning
thought, a scorching memory, sprang into
his mind and overwhelmed him like a roll-
ing wave that brings death in its track.
With a fierce oath he rushed towards her,
and seized her hands in his hands cold as
ice and clammy as with the dews of the
grave.
"Ziska! Woman! Devil! Speak before
you drive me to madness ! What passion
moves you thus what mystic fooling? In-
to what place have I been decoyed at your
bidding? Why am I brought hither?
Speak, speak ! or I shall murder you ! "
" Nay ! " she said, and her slight swaying
form dilated and grew till she seemed to rise
up from the very ground and to tower above
2Q4 ZISKA
him like an enraged demon evoked from
mist or flame. " You have done that once !
To murder me twice is beyond your power ! "
And as she spoke her hands slipped from
his like the hands of a corpse newly dead.
"Never again can you hurl forth my an-
guished soul unprepared to the outer dark-
ness of things invisible ; never again ! For
I am free ! free with an immortal freedom
free to work out repentance or revenge,
even as Man is free to shape his course for
good or evil. He chooses evil ; I choose
revenge ! What place is this, you ask ? "
and with a majestic gliding motion she ad-
vanced a little and pointed upward to the
sparkling gold-patterned roof. " Above us,
the Great Pyramid lifts its summit to the
stars ; and here below, here where you will
presently lie, my lover and lord, asleep in
the delicate bosom of love -here. . . ."
She paused, and a low laugh broke from
her lips ; then she added slowly and impres-
sively :
" Here is the tomb of Araxes ! "
As she spoke, a creeping sense of coldness
and horror stole into his veins like the ap-
proach of death, the strange impressions
he had felt, the haunting and confusing
memory he had always had of her face and
ZISKA 295
voice, the supernatural theories he had lately
heard discussed, all rushed at once upon his
mind, and he uttered a loud involuntary cry.
" My God ! What frenzy is this ! A
woman's vain trick ! a fool's mad scheme !
What is Araxes to me ? or I to Araxes ? "
" Everything ! " replied Ziska, the vindic-
tive demon light in her eyes blazing with a
truly frightful intensity. " Inasmuch as ye
are one and the same ! The same dark soul
of sin unpurged, uncleansed through ages
of eternal fire ! Sensualist ! Voluptuary !
Accursed spirit of the man I loved, come
forth from the present Seeming-of-things !
Come forth and cling to me ! Cling ! for
the whole forces of a million universes shall
not separate us ! O Eternal Spirits of the
Dead ! " and she lifted her ghostly white
arms with a wild gesture. " Rend ye the
veil ! Declare to the infidel and unbeliever
the truth of the life beyond death ; the life
wherein ye and I dwell and work, clamoring
for late justice ! "
Here she sprang forward and caught the
arm of Gervase with all the fierce eagerness
of some ravenous bird of prey ; and as she
did so he knew her grasp meant death.
" Remember the days of old, Araxes !
Look back, look back from the present to
296 ZISKA
the past, and remember the crimes that are
still unavenged ! Remember the love sought
and won ! remember the broken heart !
remember the ruined life ! Remember the
triumphs of war ! the glories of conquest !
Remember the lust of ambition ! the treach-
ery ! the slaughter ! the blasphemies
against high Heaven ! Remember the night
of the Feast of Osiris the Feast of the Sun !
Remember how Ziska-Charmazel awaited her
lover, singing alone for joy, in blind faith
and blinder love, his favorite song of the
Lotus-Lily! The moon was high, as it is
now! the stars glittered above the Pyra-
mids, as they glitter now! in the palace
there was the sound of music and triumph
and laughter, and a whisper on the air of the
fickle heart and changeful mood of Araxes ;
of another face which charmed him, though
less fair than that of Ziska-Charmazel ! Re-
member, remember ! " and she clung closer
and closer as he staggered backward half
suffocated by his own emotions and the hor-
ror of her touch. "Remember the fierce
word ! the quick and murderous blow !
the plunge of the jewelled knife up to the
hilt in the passionate white bosom of Char-
mazel ! the lonely anguish in which she
died ! Died, but to live again and pursue
ZISKA 297
her murderer ! to track him down to his
grave wherein the king strewed gold, and
devils strewed curses ! down, down to the
end of all his glory and conquest into the
silence of yon gold-encrusted clay! And
out of silence again into sound and light and
fire, ever pursuing, I have followed followed
through a thousand phases of existence !
and I will follow still through limitless space
and endless time, till the great Maker of this
terrible wheel of life Himself shall say,
' Stop ! Here ends even the law of venge-
ance ! ' Oh, for ten thousand centuries
more in which to work my passion and prove
my wrong ! All the treasure of love de-
spised ! all the hope of a life betrayed ! all
the salvation of heaven denied ! Tremble,
Soul of Araxes ! for hate is eternal, as love
is eternal ! the veil is down, and Memory
stings ! "
She turned her face, now spectral and
pallid as a waning moon, up to him ; her
form grew thin and skeleton-like, while
still retaining the transparent outline of its
beauty ; and he realized at last that no crea-
ture of flesh and blood was this that clung
to him, but some mysterious bodiless horror
of the Supernatural, unguessed at by the out-
er world of men ! The dews of death stood
298 ZISKA
thick on his forehead ; there was a straining
agony at his heart, and his breath came in
quick convulsive gasps ; but worse than his
physical torture was the overwhelming and
convincing truth of the actual existence of
the Spiritual Universe, now so suddenly and
awfully revealed. What he had all his life
denied was now declared a certainty ; where
he had been deaf and blind, he now heard
and saw. Ziska ! Ziska-Charmazel ! In
very truth he knew he remembered her ; in
very truth he knew he had loved her ; in very
truth he knew he had murdered her ! But
another still stranger truth was forcing itself
upon him now ; and this was, that the old love
of the old old days was arising within him in
all its strength once more, and that he loved
her still ! Unreal and terrible as it seemed, it
was nevertheless a fact, that as he gazed upon
her tortured face, her beautiful anguished
eyes, her phantom form, he felt that he would
give his own soul to rescue hers and lift her
from the coils of vengeance into love again !
Her words awoke vibrating pulsations of
thought, long dormant in the innermost re-
cesses of his spirit, which, like so many dag-
ger-thrusts, stabbed him with a myriad rec-
ollections ; and as a disguising cloak may
fall from the figure of a friend in a masquer-
ZISKA 299
ade, so his present-seeming personality
dropped from him and no longer had any
substance. He recognized himself as Araxes
always the same Soul passing through
a myriad changes, and all the links of his
past and present were suddenly welded to-
gether in one unbroken chain, stretching
over thousands of years, every link of which
he was able to count, mark, and recognize.
By the dreadful light of that dumb compre-
hension which flashes on all parting souls at
the moment of dissolution, he perceived at
last that not the Body but the Spirit is the
central secret of life, not deeds, but thoughts
evolve creation. Death ? That was a name
merely ; there was no death, only a change
into some other form of existence. What
change what form would be his now ? This
thought startled him roused him, and
once again the low spirit-voice of his long-
ago betrayed and murdered love thrilled in
his ears :
" Soul of Araxes, cling to my soul ! for
this present life is swiftly passing ! No more
scorn of the Divine can stand whither we are
speeding, for the Terrible and Eternal Truth
overshadows us and our destinies ! Closed
are the gates of Heaven, open wide are the
portals of Hell ! Enter with me, my lover
300 ZTSKA
Araxes! die as I died, unprepared and
alone ! Die, and pass out into new life
again such life as mine such torture as
mine such despair as mine such hate as
mine ! . . . "
She ceased abruptly, for he, convinced now
of the certainty of Immortality, was suddenly
moved to a strange access of courage and
resolution. Something sweet and subtle
stirred in him, a sense of power, a hint of
joy, which completely overcame all dread of
death. Old love revived, grew stronger in
his soul, and his gaze rested on the shadowy
form beside him, no longer with horror but
with tenderness. She was Ziska-Charmazel,
she had been his love the dearest portion
of his life once in the far-off time ; she had
been the fairest of women and more than
fair, she had been faithful ! Yes, he remem-
bered that, as he remembered Her! Every
curve in her beautiful body had been a joy
for him alone ; and for him alone her lips,
sweet and fresh as rosebuds, had kept their
kisses. She had loved him as few women
have either heart or strength to love, and
he had rewarded her fidelity by death and
eternal torment ! A struggling cry escaped
him, and he stretched out his arms :
" Ziska ! Forgive forgive ! "
ZISKA 301
As he uttered the words, he saw her wan
face suddenly change, all the terror and
torture passed from it like a passing cloud,
beautiful as an angel's, it smiled upon him,
the eyes softened and flashed with love,
the lips trembled, the spectral form glowed
with a living luminance, and a mystic Glory
glittered above the dusky hair ! Filled with
ecstasy at the sight of her wondrous loveli-
ness, he felt nothing of the coldness of death
at his heart, a divine passion inspired him,
and with the last effort of his failing strength
he strove to gather all the spirit-like beauty
of her being into his embrace.
" Love Love ! " he cried. " Not Hate,
but Love ! Come back out of the darkness,
soul of the woman I wronged ! Forgive
me ! Come back to me ! Hell or Heaven,
what matters it if we are together ! Come
to me, come ! Love is stronger than
Hate!"
Speech failed him ; the cold agony of
death gripped at his heart and struck him
mute, but still he saw the beautiful passion-
ate eyes of a forgiving Love turned glori-
ously upon him like stars in the black chaos
whither he now seemed rushing. Then
came a solemn surging sound as of great
wings beating on a tempestuous air, and all
302 ZISKA
the light in the tomb was suddenly extin-
guished. One instant more he stood up-
right in the thick darkness ; then a burning
knife seemed plunged into his breast, and
he reeled forward and fell, his last hold on
life being the consciousness that soft arms
were clasping him and drawing him away
away he knew not whither and that warm
lips, sweet and tender, were closely pressed on
his. And presently, out of the heavy gloom
came a Voice which said :
" Peace ! The old gods are best, and the
law is made perfect. A life demands a life.
Love's debt must be paid by Love ! The
woman's soul forgives ; the man's repents,
wherefore they are both released from bond-
age and the memory of sin. Let them go
hence, the curse is lifted ! "
* * * *
Once more the wavering ghostly light
gave luminance to the splendor of the tomb,
and showed where, fallen sideways among
the golden treasures and mementoes of the
past, lay the dead body of Armand Gervase.
Above him gleamed the great jewelled
sarcophagus ; and within touch of his pas-
sive hand was the ivory shield and gold-
hilted sword of Araxes. The spectral radi-
ance gleamed, wandered and flitted over all
ZISKA 303
things, now feebly, now brilliantly, till
finally flashing with a pale glare on the dark
dead face, with the proud closed lips and black
level brows, it flickered out ; and one of the
many countless mysteries of the Great Pyra-
mid was again hidden in impenetrable dark-
ness.
***
Vainly Denzil Marray waited next morn-
ing for his rival to appear. He paced up
and down impatiently, watching the rosy
hues of sunrise spreading over the wide
desert and lighting up the massive features
of the Sphinx, till as hour after hour passed
and still Gervase did not come, he hurried
back to the Mena House Hotel, and meet-
ing Dr. Maxwell Dean on the way, to him
poured out his rage and perplexity.
" I never thought Gervase was a coward ! "
he said hotly.
" Nor should you think so now," returned
the Doctor, with a grave and preoccupied
air. " Whatever his faults, cowardice was
not one of them. You see, I speak of him
in the past tense. I told you your intended
duel would not come off, and I was right.
Denzil, I don't think you will ever see either
Armand Gervase or the Princess Ziska
again."
304 ZISKA
Denzil started violently.
" What do you mean ? The Princess is
here, here in this very house."
" Is she ? " and Dr. Dean sighed some-
what impatiently. " Well, let us see ! "
Then, turning to a passing waiter, he in-
quired : " Is the Princess Ziska here still ? "
" No, sir. She left quite suddenly late last
night ; going on to Thebes, I believe, sir."
The Doctor looked meaningly at Denzil.
" You hear ? "
But Denzil in his turn was interrogating
the waiter.
" Is Mr. Gervase in his room ? "
" No, sir. He went out about ten o'clock
yesterday evening, and I don't think he
is coming back. One of the Princess Ziska's
servants the tall Nubian whom you may
have noticed, sir brought a message from
him to say that his luggage was to be sent to
Paris, and that the money for his bill would
be found on his dressing-table. It was all
right, of course, but we thought it rather
curious."
And glancing deferentially from one to
the other of his questioners with a smile, the
waiter went on his way.
" They have fled together ! " said Denzil
then, in choked accents of fury. " By
ZISKA 305
Heaven, if I had guessed the plan already
formed in his treacherous mind, I would
never have shaken hands with Gervase last
night ! "
" Oh, you did shake hands ? " queried Dr.
Dean, meditatively. " Well, there was no
harm in that. You were right. You and
Gervase will meet no more in this life, believe
me ! He and the Princess Ziska have un-
doubtedly, as you say, fled together but
not to Thebes ! "
He paused a moment, then laid his hand
kindly on Denzil's shoulder.
" Let us go back to Cairo, my boy, and
from thence as soon as possible to England.
We shall all be better away from this terrible
land, where the dead have far more power
than the living ! "
Denzil stared at him uncomprehendingly.
"You talk in riddles ! " he said, irritably.
" Do you think I shall let Gervase escape
me ? I will track him wherever he has gone,
I daresay I shall find him in Paris."
Dr. Dean took one or two slow turns up
and down the corridor where they were con-
versing, then stopping abruptly, looked his
young friend full and steadily in the eyes.
" Come, come, Denzil. No more of this
folly/' he said, gently. " Why should you
306 ZISKA
entertain these ideas of vengeance against
Gervase ? He has really done you no harm.
He was the natural mate of the woman you
imagined you loved, the response to her
query, the other half of her being ; and
that she was and is his destiny, and he hers,
should not excite your envy or hatred. I
say you imagined you loved the Princess
Ziska, it was a young man's hot freak of
passion for an almost matchless beauty, but
no more than that. And if you would be
frank with yourself, you know that passion
has already cooled. I repeat, you will never
see Gervase or the Princess Ziska again in
this life ; so make the best of it."
" Perhaps you have assisted him to escape
me ! " said Denzil frigidly.
Dr. Dean smiled.
" That's rather a rough speech, Denzil !
But never mind ! " he returned. " Your
pride is wounded, and you are still sore.
Suspect me as you please, make me out a
new Pandarus, if you like I shall not be
offended. But you know for I have often
told you that I never interfere in love
matters. They are too explosive, too vitally
dangerous ; outsiders ought never to meddle
with them. And I never do. Come back
with me to Cairo. And when we are once
ZISKA 307
more safely established on the solid and un-
romantic isles of Britain, you will forget all
about the Princess Ziska ; or if you do re-
member her, it will only be as a dream in the
night, a kind of vague shadow and uncer-
tainty, which will never seriously trouble
your mind. You look incredulous. I tell
you at your age love is little more than a
vision ; you must wait a few years yet before
it becomes a reality, and then Heaven help
you, Denzil ! for you will be a troublesome
fellow to deal with ! Meanwhile, let us get
back to Cairo and see Helen."
Somewhat soothed by the Doctor's good-
nature, and a trifle ashamed of his wrath,
Denzil yielded, and the evening saw them
both back at the Gezireh Palace Hotel,
where of course the news of the sudden dis-
appearance of Armand Gervase with the
Princess Ziska created the utmost excite-
ment. Helen Murray shivered and grew
pale as death when she heard it ; lively old
Lady Fulkeward simpered and giggled, and
declared it was " the most delightful thing
she had ever heard of ! " an elopement in
the desert was " so exquisitely romantic ! "
Sir Chetwynd Lyle wrote a conventional
and stilted account of it for his paper, and
ponderously opined that the immorality
308 ZISKA.
of Frenchmen was absolutely beyond any
decent journalist's powers of description.
Lady Chetwynd Lyle, on the contrary, said
that the " scandal " was not the fault of Ger-
vase ; it was all " that horrid woman," who had
thrown herself at his head. Ross Courtney
thought the whole thing was " queer ; " and
young Lord Fulkeward said there was some-
thing about it he didn't quite understand,
something " deep," which his aristocratic
quality of intelligence could not fathom.
And society talked and gossiped till Paris and
London caught the rumor, and the name
of the famous French artist, who had so
strangely vanished from the scene of his tri-
umphs with a beautiful woman whom no one
had ever heard of before, was soon in every-
body's mouth. No trace of him or of the
Princess Ziska could be discovered ; his port-
manteau contained no letters or papers,
nothing but a few clothes ; his paint-box
and easel were sent on to his deserted studio
in Paris, and also a blank square of canvas,
on which, as Dr. Dean and others knew,
had once been the curiously-horrible por-
trait of the Princess. But that appalling
" first sketch " was wiped out and clean
gone as though it had never been painted,
and Dr. Dean called Denzil's attention to
ZISKA 309
the fact. But Denzil thought nothing of it,
as he imagined that Gervase himself had
obliterated it before leaving Cairo.
A few of the curious among the gossips
went to see the house the Princess had lately
occupied, where she had " received " society
and managed to shock it as well. It was
shut up, and looked as if it had not been
inhabited for years. And the gossips said
it was " strange, very strange ! ' and con-
fessed themselves utterly mystified. But
the fact remained that Gervase had disap-
peared and the Princess Ziska with him.
" However," said Society, " they can't pos-
sibly hide themselves for long. Two such
remarkable personalities are bound to appear
again somewhere. I daresay we shall come
across them in Paris or on the Riviera. The
world is much too small for the holding of
a secret."
And presently, with the approach of
spring, and the gradual break-up of the Cairo
" season," Denzil Murray and his sister
sailed from Alexandria en route for Venice.
Dr. Dean accompanied them ; so did the
Fulkewards and Ross Courtney. The
Chetwynd-Lyles went by a different steamer,
" old " Lady Fulkeward being quite too much
for the patience of those sweet but still unen-
310 ZISKA
gaged " girls " Muriel and Dolly. One night
when the great ship was speeding swiftly
over a calm sea, and Denzil, lost in sorrow-
ful meditation, was gazing out over the
trackless ocean with pained and passionate
eyes which could see nothing but the witch-
ing and exquisite beauty of the Princess
Ziska, now possessed and enjoyed by Ger-
vase, Dr. Dean touched him on the arm and
said:
" Denzil, have you ever read Shakes-
peare ? "
Denzil started and forced a smile.
" Why, yes, of course ! "
" Then you know the lines
' There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy ? '
The Princess Ziska was one of those
' things.' "
Denzil regarded him in wonderment.
" What do you mean ? "
" Oh, of course, you will think me insane,"
said the Doctor, resignedly. " People always
take refuge in thinking that those who tell
them uncomfortable truths are lunatics.
You've heard me talk of ghosts? ghosts
that walk and move about us like human
beings ? and they are generally very brilliant
ZISKA 311
and clever impersonations of humanity, too
and that nevertheless are not human ? "
Denzil assented.
" The Princess Ziska was a ghost ! " con-
cluded the Doctor, folding his arms very
tightly across his chest and nodding defiantly.
" Nonsense ! " cried Denzil. " You are
mad ! "
" Precisely the remark I thought you would
make ! " and Dr. Dean unfolded his arms again
and smiled triumphantly. " Therefore, my
dear boy, let us for the future avoid this sub-
ject. I know what I know ; I can distinguish
phantoms from reality, and I am not deceived
by appearances. But the world prefers igno-
rance to knowledge, and even so let it be.
Next time I meet a ghost I'll keep my own
counsel ! " He paused a moment, then
added : " You remember I told you I was
hunting down that warrior of old time,
Araxes?"
Denzil nodded, a trifle impatiently.
"Well," resumed the Doctor slowly,
" Before we left Egypt I found him ! But
how I found him, and where, is my secret ! "
# * * *
* * * *
312 ZISKA
Society still speaks occasionally of Armand
Gervase, and wonders in its feeble way when
he will be " tired " of the Egyptian beauty
he ran away with, or she of him. Society
never thinks very far or cares very much
for anything long, but it does certainly expect
to see the once famous French artist " turn
up " suddenly, either in his old quarters in
Paris, or in one or the other of the fashionable
resorts of the Riviera. That he should be
dead has never occurred to anyone, except
perhaps Dr. Maxwell Dean. But Dr. Dean
has grown extremely reticent almost surly ;
and never answers any questions concerning
his Scientific Theory of Ghosts, a work which,
when published, created a great deal of excite-
ment, owing to its singularity and novelty of
treatment. There was the usual "hee-hawing"
from the donkeys in the literary pasture, who
fondly imagined their brayings deserved to be
considered in the light of serious opinion ;
and then after a while the book fell into the
hands of scientists only, men who are begin-
ning to understand the discretion of silence,
and to hold their tongues as closely as the
Egyptian priests of old did, aware that the
great majority of men are never ripe for
knowledge. Quite lately Dr. Dean attended
two weddings, one being that of " old "
ZISKA 313
Lady Fulkeward, who has married a very
pretty young fellow of five-and-twenty, whose
dearest consideration in life is the shape of
his shirt-collar ; the other, that of Denzil
Murray, who has wedded the perfectly well-
born, well-bred and virtuous, if somewhat
cold-blooded, daughter of his next-door
neighbor in the Highlands. Concerning his
Egyptian experience he never speaks , he
lives the ordinary life of the Scottish land-
owner, looking after his tenantry, considering
the crops, preserving the game, and clearing
fallen timber ; and if the glowing face of
the beautiful Ziska ever floats before his
memory, it is only in a vague dream from
which he quickly rouses himself with a
troubled sigh. His sister Helen has never
married. Lord Fulkeward proposed to her
but was gently rejected, whereupon the dis-
consolate young nobleman took a journey to
the States and married the daughter of a
millionaire oil-merchant instead. Sir Chet-
wynd Lyle and his pig-faced spouse still
thrive and grow fat on the proceeds of the
Daily Dial, and there is faint hope that one
of their " girls "will wed an aspiring journal-
ist, a bold adventurer who wants 4< a share
in the paper" somehow, even if he has to
marry Muriel or Dolly in order to get it.
314 ZISKA
Ross Courtney is the only man of the party
once assembled at the Gezireh Palace Hotel
who still goes to Cairo every winter, fascinated
thither by an annually recurring dim notion
that he may " discover traces " of the lost
Armand Gervase and the Princess Ziska.
And he frequently accompanies the numerous
sight-seers who season after season drive
from Cairo to the Pyramids, and take pleas-
ure in staring at the Sphinx with all the im-
pertinence common to pigmies when con-
templating greatness. But more riddles than
that of the Sphinx are lost in the depths of
the sandy desert ; and more unsolved prob-
lems lie in the recesses of the past than even
the restless and inquiring spirit of modern
times will ever discover ; and if it should
ever chance that in days to come, the secret
of the movable floor of the Great Pyramid
should be found, and the lost treasures of
Egypt brought to light, there will probably
be much discussion and marvel concerning
the Golden Tomb of Araxes. For the hiero-
glyphs on the jewelled sarcophagus speak of
him thus and say :
" Araxes was a Man of Might, far exceed-
ing in Strength and Beauty the common sons
of men. Great in War, Invincible in Love,
he did Excel in Deeds of Courage and of
ZISKA 315
Conquest, and for whatsoever Sins he did
in the secret Weakness of humanity commit,
the Gods must judge him. But in all that
may befit a Warrior, Amenhotep The King
doth give him honor, and to the Spirits of
Darkness and of Light his Soul is here com-
mended to its Rest."
Thus much of the fierce dead hero of old
time, but of the mouldering corpse that lies
on the golden floor of the same tomb, its
skeleton hand touching, almost grasping, the
sword of Araxes, what shall be said ? Noth-
ing since the Old and the New, the Past and
the Present, are but as one moment in the
countings of eternity, and even with a late
repentance Love pardons all.
FINIS.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Los Angeles
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.
NOV 8 195
OCT 2 3 1918
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LOS ANGELES
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