olden egg."

"Very good--perhaps tonight----We shall see."

"I shall be prepared, Excellency."

The voices died away and melted into the murmur of a crowd, which merged
curiously into the whir of an automobile. But it was dark again and the
spots of light in the darkness reappeared. One, two, three, a dozen she
counted and then they vanished. She was alone, an atom in the expanse of
infinity, but the darkness and the perfume now oppressed, suffocated
her, and she tried to escape. But she moved her limbs with difficulty,
and a weight sealed her eyelids. She struggled up against it and managed
to rise upon one elbow and look about her.

She was awake. Slowly memory returned, the memory of things which seemed
to have happened a long while before, and time and distance seemed to
have robbed them of their sting. She was awake and alone in a dark room,
lying on a low couch, upon which were spread a number of pillows of
strange design. A latticed window was near, and outside, the shadows of
a tree branch fell across the barred rectangle, cutting the lines of
light into broken lozenges of shadow. The room was furnished somberly
but richly with heavy hangings and teakwood furniture decorated with
mother-of-pearl. A lantern of curious design depended from the ceiling.
There was a figure standing in the corner. She raised herself upon one
elbow and examined the figure attentively, not frightened yet, but
merely curious.

It was a suit of ancient armor of a period with which she was
unfamiliar. She moved her limbs painfully and sat up. Her head throbbed
for a few moments but she found that she was able to think clearly
again. Slowly she realized where she was and what had happened. The blue
door in the wall--this the house that adjoined the garden. She had
slept--how long she did not know, but the beams of sunlight were orange
in color and made a brilliant arabesque upon an embroidered hanging on
the opposite wall. She must have slept long. Her dreams returned to her,
fleeting and elusive, like the _ignes fatui_ which had been a part of
them. The whir of wheels, the vision of the vari-colored crowd, the
murmur of voices speaking--these too had been a dream. She tried to
recall what the voices had murmured. Phrases came to her. "Ten thousand
_kroner_--the goose that lays the golden egg----" It was all like a
story from a fairy tale. She looked about her--a dream--of course. Who
could have been speaking of _kroners_ and golden e