Page:Harold Lamb--The House of the Falcon.djvu/32

. It is my misfortune that I must hasten by the most direct way, the tiresome C.P.R. boat, while you will cross from New York."

There was something fantastic, it seemed to Edith, in the thought of any one's taking a vacation from India in America, even in quaint Quebec. And Monsey did not appear to her to be a business man. Of course he might merely be cultivating her to gain the good will of powerful Arthur Rand

"In Srinagar," his low voice went on, "you will grant me the happiness of the dance that kismet has denied me here?"

"Yes, of course."

"Ah, you will not forget? Kashmir is the garden of India: Srinagar is the jewel of Kashmir."

Monsey was speaking to her of the Himalayas, of floating pleasure palaces of dead kings, and the shrines of the hills that were built before the coming of Europeans. They were walking back slowly toward the stairs, and Edith was wrapped up in his description of the place she had looked forward to seeing. A cloud was passing over the moon's face.

The girl was at the edge of the parapet and she stepped out upon what she thought to be the head of the stairway. A high-heeled foot slid over the brink of the height and she fell to her knees.

All the blood seemed to leave her heart, and every nerve tingled with swift pain. She cried out as she slipped downward and glimpsed the docks in the shadowy darkness below.

Then she felt an arm about her shoulders. Monsey's sharp exclamation of alarm penetrated the roaring in her ears. He must have thrown himself down on the grass beside her.