r. I
drove the hoop across the grass to some elm trees. From behind one of
the trees came out two tall men dressed in white robes and turbans, who
looked to me like scriptural characters in a picture-book. One was an
elderly man with flashing, black eyes, hooked nose, and a long grey
beard. The other was much younger, but I do not remember him so well.
They were both brown in colour, but otherwise almost like white men; not
Negroes by any means. My hoop hit the elder man, and I stood still, not
knowing what to say. He bowed politely and picked it up, but did not
offer to return it to me. They talked together rapidly, and one of them
pointed to the moon-shaped birthmark which you see I have upon my
neck, for it was hot weather, and I was wearing a low-cut frock. It was
because of this mark that my father named me Luna. The elder of the two
said in broken English:

"'What is your name, pretty little girl?'

"I told him it was Luna Holmes. Then he drew from his robe a box made of
scented wood, and, opening it, took out some sweetmeat which looked
as if it had been frozen, and gave me a piece that, being very fond of
sweet, I put into my mouth. Next, he bowled the hoop along the ground
into the shadow of the trees--it was evening time and beginning to grow
dark--saying, 'Run, catch it, little girl!'

"I began to run, but something in the taste of that sweet caused me to
drop it from my lips. Then all grew misty, and the next thing I remember
was finding myself in the arms of the younger Eastern, with the nurse
and her 'cousin,' a stalwart person like a soldier, standing in front of
us.

"'Little girl go ill,' said the elder Arab. 'We seek policeman.'

"'You drop that child,' answered the 'cousin,' doubling his fists. Then
I grew faint again, and when I came to myself the two white-robed men
had gone. All the way home my governess scolded me for accepting sweets
from strangers, saying that if my parents came to know of it, I should
be whipped and sent to bed. Of course, I begged her not to tell them,
and at last she consented. Do you know, I think you are the first to
whom I have ever mentioned the matter, of which I am sure the governess
never breathed a word, though after that, whenever we walked in the
gardens, her 'cousin' always came to look after us. In the end I think
she married him."

"You believe the sweet was drugged?" I asked.

She nodded. "There was something very strange in it. It was a night
or two af