h, I--I can't tell you, but----"

She closed her lips tightly as though to check herself.

"I don't believe it is good for you," he said tenderly. "It seems to
cast a sort of spell over you."

"I know what it is! I know if I look deep into those eyes I shall see
my father. I feel that he is very near, somehow. I must look! I
must!"

She took it from his hands once more and he let it go. He was curious
to see how much truth there was in her impression and he felt that he
could take the idol from her at any time it seemed advisable to do so.
In the face of this new situation both of them lost interest in the
wounded man. He lay as though asleep.

The girl seated herself Turk fashion upon the rug before the grate
and, holding the golden figure in her lap, gazed down into the
sparkling stones which served for eyes. The light played upon the
dull, raw gold, throwing flickering shadows over its face. The thing
seemed to absorb the light growing warmer through it.

Wilson leaned forward to watch her with renewed interest. The contrast
between the tiny, ugly features of the image and the fresh,
palpitating face of the girl made an odd picture. As she sat so, the
lifeless eyes staring back at her with piercing insistence, it looked
for a moment like a silent contest between the two. She commanded and
the image challenged. A quickening glow suffused her neck and the
color crept to her cheeks. To Wilson it was as though she radiated
drowsy waves of warmth. With his eyes closed he would have said that
he had come to within a few inches of her, was looking at the thing
almost cheek to cheek with her. The room grew tense and silent. Her
eyes continued to brighten until it seemed as though they reflected
every dancing flame in the fire before her. Still the color deepened
in her cheeks until they grew to a rich carmine.

Wilson found himself leaning forward with quickening breath. She
seemed drifting further and further away from him and he sat fixed as
though in some trance. He noted the rhythmic heave of her bosom and
the full pulsation at the throat. The velvet sheen of the hair at her
temples caught new lights from the flames before her and held his
eyes like the dazzling spaces between the coals. Her lips moved, but
she spoke no word. Then it was that, seized with a nameless fear for
the girl, Wilson rose half way to his feet. He was checked by a
command from the man upon the floor.

"For the love of God, do not rouse h