Page:Orczy--the gates of Kamt.djvu/193

 Hugh and I sat opposite to her. It was impossible not to admire the beautiful girl before us, the most exquisite product of this lovely, exotic land. There was a magnetic charm about every one of her movements which recalled those of the panther beside her. After the first five minutes she had wrought hideous havoc in my dull old heart, and I was suddenly assailed with the wild temptation to make an egregious ass of myself. I was quite annoyed with Hugh that he did not seem very enthusiastic about her: he was surveying her as critically as he would have viewed a newly-unearthed mummy.

"Isn't she lovely, Girlie?" I contrived to whisper once during the banquet.

He did not reply, but with an inward smile, which made his eyes twinkle with merriment, he quietly slipped his hand beneath his cloak and drew out a tiny box which he handed over to me. It contained the iridescent scarabaæus, of which the little midnight swimmer had said that it would prove a subtle charm against Neit-akrit's beauty.

"Don't you want it?" I whispered again, astonished.

He shook his head, still smiling, and at that moment I looked up and saw Neit-akrit's eyes, more blue and iridescent than the beetle's wings, gazing across at Hugh with a strange, inquiring expression.

"What a beautiful jewel!" she said. Then, with the gesture of a spoilt child, "Wilt thou let me look at it?"

"Nay, Princess, it is no jewel," said Hugh, hiding the box again under his mantle, "and thou must forgive if I cannot allow even thy dainty fingers to touch it. It is a charm and its subtle virtue might vanish."

"A charm? Against what?"

"Against many serious evils and many grievous sins."