ecause I was proficient in languages, in music and in dancing, and
also because--according to their Eastern ideas--I was pretty, the
dealer, Mohammed Abd-el-Bali ... offered me for sale."

She stopped, lowering her eyes and flushing hotly, then continued
with hesitancy.

"In a small room which I can never forget I was offered the only
indignity which I had been called upon to suffer since my abduction.
I was _exhibited_ to prospective purchasers."

"As she spoke the words, Miska's eyes flashed passionately and her
hand, which lay on the table, trembled. Stuart silently reached
across and rested his own upon it.

"There were all kinds of girls," Miska continued, "black and brown and
white, in the adjoining rooms, and some of them were singing and some
dancing, whilst others wept. Four different visitors inspected me
critically, two of them being agents for royal _harems_ and the other
two--how shall I say it?--wealthy connoisseurs. But the price asked by
Mohammed Abd-el-Bali was beyond the purses of all except one of the
agents. He had indeed settled the bargain, when the singing and
dancing and shouting--every sound it seemed--ceased about me ... and
into the little room in which I crouched amongst perfumed cushions at
the feet of the two men, walked Fo-Hi."

CHAPTER IV

MISKA'S STORY _(concluded)_

"Of course, I did not know that this was his name at the time; I only
knew that a tall Chinaman had entered the room--and that his face was
entirely covered by a green veil."

Stuart started, but did not interrupt Miska's story.

"This veil gave him in some way a frightfully malign and repellent
appearance. As he stood in the doorway looking down I seemed to _feel_
his gaze passing over me like a flame, although of course I could not
see his eyes. For a moment he stood there looking at me; and much as
his presence had affected me, its affect upon the slave-dealer and my
purchaser was extraordinary. They seemed to be stricken dumb. Suddenly
the Chinaman spoke, in perfect Arabic. 'Her price?' he said.

"Mohammed Abd-el-Bali, standing trembling before him, replied:

"'Miska is already sold, lord, but----"

"'Her price?' repeated the Chinaman, in the same hard metallic voice
and without the slightest change of intonation.

"The _harem_ agent who had bought me now said, his voice shaking so
that the words were barely audible:

"'I give her up, Mohammed--I give her up. Who am I to dispute with the
Mandari