ave touched her arm, but
she drew away.

"In very truth, ideas are coming to me, Jane. I will be, some day
soon, the greatest man of my world. Does that attract you?"

"N-no," she said, stammering.

"I wish that it would," he said earnestly. "I do of reality wish
that it would. I will speak plainly, and it is in a way that Tako
never spoke to woman before. I have found myself, these last hours,
caring very much for your good opinion of me. That is surprising."

* * * * *

She stared at him with sudden fascination mingled with her fear. He
seemed for this moment wholly earnest and sincere. An attractive
sort of villain, this handsome giant, turned suddenly boyish and
naive.

"That is surprising," Tako repeated.

"Is it?"

"Very. That I should care what any woman thinks of me, particularly
a captive girl--but I do. And I realize, Jane, that our marriage
system is very different from yours. Repugnant to you, perhaps. Is
it?"

"Yes," she murmured. His gaze held her; she tried to shake it off,
but it held her.

"Then I will tell you this: I have always felt that the glittering
luxury of a large harem is in truth a very empty measure of man's
greatness. For Tako there will be more manly things. The power of
leadership--the power to rule my world. When I got that idea, it
occurred to me also that for a man like me there might be some one
woman--to stand alone by my side and rule our world."

His hand touched her arm, and though she shuddered, she left it
there. Tako added with a soft vibrant tenseness. "I am beginning to
think that you are that woman."

There was a sound in the corridor outside the door--enough to cause
Tako momentarily to swing his gaze. It broke the spell for Jane;
with a shock she realized that like a snake he had been holding her
fascinated. His gaze came back at once, but now she shook off his
hand from her arm.

"Tolla told me you--you said something like that to her," Jane said
with an ironic smile.

It angered him. The earnestness dropped from him like a mask. "Oh,
did she? And you have been mocking me, you two girls?"

* * * * *

He stood up, his giant length bringing his head almost to the
vaulted ceiling of the little compartment. "What degradation for
Tako that women should discuss his heart."

His frowning face gazed down at Jane; there was on it now nothing to
fascinate her; instead, his gaze inspired terror.