Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/50

36 had all the entrances blocked up after that."

"And since then," commented Aunt Agnes, "her poor father has been a madman. For the past ten years, he has haunted the Cuzco ruins, calling in vain to his daughter. He, at all events, will not believe that she was not carried off by the Indians." "But you yourself say he is mad."

"He lost his reason when he acquired the certitude that she had perished in their temple. A few days before she vanished, Maria-Cristina mysteriously received a very old and very heavy gold bracelet. That bracelet had a center plaque representing the sun...."

"My dear Agnes, you know that in this country jewelers stick the sun in wherever and whenever they can."

"That bracelet was the real one ... the same one that was sent to Amelia."

"Are you not exaggerating, Agnes? Really, really!... And with stories like these running about, they expect poor historians to be accurate!... I hope you are not taking notes of all this, Mr. Montgomery."

"I am exaggerating nothing," retorted Aunt Agnes obstinately. "It was the real Golden Sun bracelet.... Every ten years since Atahualpa, the last Inca king, was burned alive by