the shoulders, that was
curiously devoid of its customary insolence, Prince Otondo dismissed
these unfamiliar apprehensions and forbore to wonder at their strange
intrusion upon his wonted complacency.

"Apparently, a more agreeable occasion of reflection presented itself,
for a smile, half sinister, half genial, illumined the gloom of his fine
countenance. As if in obedience to its suggestion, he turned abruptly
from the fountain and re-entered the palace.

"Arrived at that portion of the structure set aside for his individual
use, he hurried, with expectant, lithe agility, through an opening in
the wall concealed hitherto by silken hangings, and entered upon a
narrow passageway, which terminated in another undulating subterfuge of
drapery.

"Pausing outside, the prince lightly touched a gong suspended from the
ceiling and which replied with a solemn chime-like resonance.

"In response, the curtains parted, and a native woman, pathetically ugly
and servile, appeared and prostrated herself in abject salutation.

"Following the direction of his hand the cringing creature arose and
hurried along the passageway just traversed by the prince, who,
satisfied as to her departure, parted the curtains and entered a small
ante-chamber, beyond which a sumptuously-appointed apartment extended.

"At the extreme end, with a demeanor more suggestive of expectation than
alarm or dejection, a young girl reclined upon a divan near the
lattice-screened window.

"Advised of the approach of her distinguished visitor by an advance
rendered as obvious as possible by the rustling sweep of the parted
curtains and an unwonted emphasis of tread, which avoided the rugs and
sought the tesselated floor for this purpose, the supple figure stood
erect and in an attitude of questioning deference awaited whatever
demonstration might follow this apparently not unexpected advent.

"As she stood thus in an unconscious pose of virginal dignity, the girl
seemed to express a subtle majesty, in which, at the moment, the prince
was manifestly deficient.

"A degree taller than her age would warrant, she appeared to the
enamored gaze of the prince the ideal of symmetrical slenderness.

"Her figure, perfectly proportioned, and chastened, by the ardent rigors
of the climate, of every fraction of superfluous flesh, appeared to bud
and round for the sole purpose of concluding in exquisite tapers.

"Her eyes, large and luminous and harmoniously fringed wit