refreshingly. And quite suddenly there was framed in one of
them a figure more exotic, more bizarre, than any of our maskers had
been.

His dark robe was folded over his breast, and the silver shaft of a
knife showed in his red girdle. His white wool stuck out from under
his red fez, and his ear-rings gleamed against his black cheeks, and
the bracelets on his wiry arms made a faint tinkling as he leaned
forward. Emboldened by his twinkling eyes, his crooked, friendly
smile, eager to question him, I drew nearer. He stretched out his
hand, and slipped into mine the half of a broken coin.

CHAPTER XV

THE HEART OF HYNDS HOUSE

I stood staring at the broken coin in my hand with a sort of
stupefaction, while The Jinnee moved slowly away from the window. I
had received a summons I could not ignore. Had I not promised,
smilingly indeed, but sincerely, to answer that call whenever and
however it should come?

The music had ceased for the moment, and the big hall was quite
empty, for the dancers had trooped into the dining-room, from which
came laughter and chattering voices, and the chink of silver and
china. The great front doors were wide open. I slipped unseen into
the darkly bright, whispering night.

The moon was high in the heavens, for it was past midnight; the wind
was chill upon my shoulders, the dew silvery under my feet. There
was an odor abroad--the ineffable odor of sleepily stirring spring,
of young new leaves budding, of tender grass, growing like a baby's
hair.

At some distance ahead I could just distinguish the dark figure of
the messenger, flitting soundless as a shadow. And then, to my
infinite relief, out of the shrubbery stepped Boris, and thrust his
doggy nose into my hand. I laid hold of his collar, and he trotted
sedately beside me.

I had half expected to be led to the gray-gabled cottage, but The
Jinnee stole along in the shadow of the hedge, stopped beside the
spring-house, and held up his hand.

"In the name of God!" said I, involuntarily.

"The compassionate, the merciful!" finished The Jinnee, and turning
to the east made a profound reverence. There was something so simple
and so sincere in his manner that my momentary fear subsided.

"But why have I been sent for? Why are _you_ here?" I wondered.

He folded his arms upon his breast, and in a sing-song voice,
curiously unlike any other I had ever heard, answered parrotlike:

"This is the word of the master: Take to the f