esentful; her brows were straight and dark, and the eyes
beneath were shadowy. She was slim and moved swiftly, and her skin was
white as milk. This, then, was the girl upon whom Hito had cast his evil
glance. Nicanor kept his eyes on her as she came, and wondered if she
was newly bought, that he had not seen her during the months he had been
at the villa.

"I bring the brazier Nerissa commanded," said Nicanor, and she nodded.

"Nerissa is busy with our lady. I will take it in."

"She is not ill?" he asked anxiously.

"Nay, not ill," the girl answered. "It is but that she feels the cold. I
will take the brazier." She looked at him with some surprise that he did
not give it up.

"It is heavy," he warned her. "Stay one moment, I pray you. Will you not
tell me your name? I have been in this house these many months, and
never before have I seen you."

"I am called Eldris," she answered. "And I have been here also, but--it
is true you have not seen me, although at times I have seen you. I have
been seen by none save--"

"Save one, perhaps," said Nicanor, and looked into her eyes. "I bring
you word from Hito--if you are she he told me to seek out. He saith that
he, Hito, is willing to see you to-night; that he expects you, and that
you will understand. He saith that he awaits you--you will know where;
and if you do not come, he will find out why. Also--"

He stopped on the word. The girl had gone gray; and into her eyes there
leaped a look of helpless terror, of dumb anguish and nameless fear. And
at once, with the look, she became elusively familiar. A memory, half
lost, beckoned to him, of a white and tortured face, of eyes which held
the terror of a wounded animal at bay, of a long red welt across brown
shoulders. His glance went to the girl's shoulders, white as milk, half
hidden under her coarse white tunic.

[Illustration: "'You sent for me, Lady Varia?'"]

"Hito!" the girl exclaimed below her breath; and again--"Hito!" She
flung out her hands with a movement of bitter despair and hid her face
in them. "What can I do? Where can I go?" she cried hopelessly. "Since
the first day he saw me this hath hung over me--and what can I do? O my
God! what can I do against him?"

"You do not go willingly?" Nicanor questioned, and took note of the
exclamation she had used.

"You will not force me to him!" she gasped in terror, misunderstanding,
and shrank from him.

"Not I! I am no man's procurer!" Nicanor said curtly.