s cry for blood--French blood. Is
it your wish to die together? _Pardi_! if it be between you two, am I
to have no choice which one I deliver? Why should you shrink back like
a baby at first sight of blood? I thought you a soldier, a man. Did
you not tell me you loved her no longer? did you not swear it with your
lips to mine?"

He made no response, staring at her with eyes full of unbelief, the
hideous uproar clanging about them in ceaseless volume. Naladi's face
flushed with rising anger.

"Yet you do! _Mon Dieu_, you do!" she panted, the tiger within
breaking loose. "Your words were a lie! Here, look at me," extending
her arms, the white flesh of her bosom clearly revealed in the parting
of her drapery. "Am I such as she? will I shrink like a coward,
mumbling prayer and fingering rosary? Am I afraid to work my will? Am
I not worth being loved? Am I the kind you think to play with? God's
mercy! I am minded to throw you both to the beasts. No, no, not that;
you dare not front me! I make my own choice of who shall die and who
live." She laughed mockingly. "Bah! I know your sort, Monsieur--'tis
as the wind blows; you love to-day, and forget to-morrow. Yet I keep
you for a plaything--I have no use for her. I care no longer how the
wolves tear her dainty limbs. Before this I have tasted vengeance and
found it sweet."

He shrank before her fury, all conceit and audacity fled, and words
failed him. Not even yet could he believe it true, but she permitted
no recovery.

"You think I lie. You think I threaten, but dare not act. You think
me a soft-hearted fool because I listened to your words of love. By
the gods! you shall learn better. I have heard love words before; none
ever spoke them to my ears without paying the price of deceit. _Mon
Dieu_! and shall you escape? I can hate as well as love; strike as
well as caress. So you played with me, Monsieur? used me to pass a
dull hour in the wilderness? _Sacre_! 't is now my chance to sport
with you. You forget who I am--I, Naladi, Daughter of the Sun, Queen
of the Natchez. Look down! there are hands waiting to rend at my word.
I will give them the girl-face for their blood-lust. Seek to stop me
if you dare!"

Never can I forget the expression on De Noyan's face as he listened.
Incredulity changed to loathing, then to despair. As though the woman
had snatched a mask from off her features he gazed now upon the demon
soul revealed in all it