now only as 'Zyco the Magician,' were in his grave there
would only be that one feeble old man between me and the title."

"Ah, I see!" said Cleek, in reply; then, seating himself at the table,
he arranged the shade of the lamp so that the light fell full upon the
Major's face while leaving his own in the shadow. "Then your interest
in the affair, Major, may be said to be a double one."

"More, sir--a triple one. I have a rival in the shape of my own son. He,
too, wishes to marry Zuilika--is madly enamoured of her, in fact; so
wildly that I have always hesitated to confess my own desires to him for
fear of the consequences. He is almost a madman in his outbursts of
temper; and where Zuilika is concerned--Perhaps you will understand, Mr.
Cleek, when I tell you that once when he thought her husband had
ill-used her, he came within an ace of killing the man. There was bad
blood between them always--even as boys--and, as men, it was bitterer
than ever because of _her_."

"Suppose you begin at the beginning and tell me the whole story, Major,"
suggested Cleek, studying the man's face narrowly. "How did the Earl of
Wynraven's son come to meet this singularly fascinating lady, and
where?"

"In Turkey--or Arabia--I forget which. He was doing his theatrical
nonsense in the East with some barn-storming show or other, having been
obliged to get out of England to escape arrest for some shady
transaction a year before. He was always a bad egg--always a disgrace to
his name and connections. That's why his father turned him off and never
would have any more to do with him. As a boy he was rather clever at
conjuring tricks and impersonations of all sorts--he could mimic
anything or anybody he ever saw, from the German Emperor down to a
Gaiety chorus girl, and do it to absolute perfection. When his father
kicked him out he turned these natural gifts to account, and, having
fallen in with some professional dancing-woman, joined her for a time
and went on the stage with her.

"It was after he had parted from this dancer and was knocking about
London and leading a disgraceful life generally that he did the thing
which caused him to hurry off to the East and throw in his lot with the
travelling company I have alluded to. He was always a handsome fellow
and had a way with him that was wonderfully taking with women, so I
suppose that that accounts as much as anything for Zuilika's infatuation
and her doing the mad thing she did. I don't