various parts of the room,
while here and there rich chairs and sofas were disposed; but these
were for the most part unoccupied, for the guests were clustered
together beneath the great candelabrum.

They were about thirty in number, and from their appearance I judged
them to belong to very different classes of society. Some were
poorly and even miserably attired, others adorned with gorgeous, and
not a few with valuable, jewellery. Here stood one who from his
clothes seemed to be a poor artisan; there lounged a fop in evening
dress. There was also a sprinkling of women, and not a few wore
masks of some black stuff concealing the upper part of their faces.

But the strangest feature of the company was that one and all were
entirely and even breathlessly watching the table in their midst.
Even the idlest scarcely raised his eyes to greet us as we entered,
and for a moment or two I paused at the door as one who had no
business with this strange assemblage. During these few moments I
was able to grasp the main points of what I saw.

The guests were grouped around the table, some sitting and others
standing behind their chairs. The table itself was oblong in shape,
and at its head sat the most extraordinary woman it had ever been my
lot to behold. She was of immense age, and so wrinkled that her face
seemed a very network of deeply-printed lines. Her complexion, even
in the candle-light, was of a deep yellow, such as is rarely seen in
the most jaundiced faces. Despite her age, her features were bold
and bore traces of a rare beauty outlived; her eyes were of a deep
yet glittering black, and as they flashed from the table to the faces
of her guests, seemed never to wink or change for an instant their
look of intense alertness.

But what was most noteworthy in this strange woman was neither her
eyes, her wrinkles, nor her curious colour, but the amazing quantity
of jewels that she wore. As she sat there beneath the glare of the
candelabrum she positively blazed with gems. With every motion of
her quick hands a hundred points of fire leapt out from the diamonds
on her fingers; with every turn of her wrinkled neck the light played
upon innumerable facets; and all the time those cold, lustrous eyes
scintillated as brightly as the stones. She was engaged in the game
as we entered, and turned her gaze upon us for an instant only, but
that momentary flash was so cold, so absolutely un-human, that I
doubted if I loo