Page:Weird Tales Volume 12 Issue 06 (1928-12).djvu/101

 As she spoke she led the way into one of the other rooms, a room far less severe than that room of clinging blackness. Here were charm and beauty. The hanging draperies were tapestries depicting flower gardens and children romping about in front of colorful temples. There were numerous teakwood chairs inlaid with ebony and mother-of-pearl disposed about the room in charming negligence. Tables bearing lighted lamps, lamps of blended restful intensity, added to the attraction. On the air floated an exotic perfume that made Li Kan drowsy as he inhaled it.

In the lighted room he had opportunity to survey more fully his companion. She was tall and slender. She glided about with snakelike ease, softly, serenely, soundlessly. The severity of her black costume was startling. It emphasized the ivory whiteness of her face and the vivid red splash of her lips. Li Kan selected a chair beside a table.

She waved a listless hand. "Drink," said she, "and forget."

On the table beside him was a jug and several cups. He poured the gay amber liquor into the vessels. It looked like liquid gold. Then proffering one to her he raised the other to his lips. The taste of that liquid was peculiar to an extreme. It caused his entire body to glow. It fired his blood. It made him forget. The past faded off into fog. Again he drank and nothing remained in his memory but the grace and charm of his lovely hostess. She sat opposite him singing softly to herself. The songs she sang were softly plaintive. For some unaccountable reason Li Kan shuddered. He was supremely contented. His will had been subjected to hers. She swayed him utterly. Poor Li Kan! At one sweep his soul had been captured by the Unknown.

"Drink," she whispered softly, pausing in her singing.

Li Kan drank as directed. It was pleasant to permit her to think for him.

Never in his life, he mused, had he beheld a woman so superbly beautiful as this strange singer who sat so calmly before him. Her white face fairly glowed. Her beauty was dazzling. Suddenly an intense desire overcame him to bestow some treasure upon her. At once he bethought himself of the wondrous opal which he had stolen from Ts Ah-nyi. He fumbled about in his garments until he located it. It gleamed like a bit of glowing metal as he held it out to her. She ejaculated a strange little cry as she put out her hand to seize it. It glowed gloriously until her hand closed upon it. Then instantly an odd change came over it. It ceased to glitter. The fire went out. It grew cold. She shuddered as she released it from her grasp. It fell to the floor, a cold, dead thing. Li Kan gazed at it fascinated. What had happened to this perfect stone? What was there in the touch of this lovely woman that deadened the fire in the opal?

Meanwhile the woman seemed slightly ill at ease. For the first time her wondrous poise forsook her. She seemed agitated, although at the same time she seemed more beautiful than ever. She walked nervously to where a vase of chrysanthemums stood upon a table. They were gorgeous yellow in the pungent light. Softly she drew one from the vase and pressed it to her lips. It withered at once and fell to the floor like a flower that had been parched and burned by the sun. Li Kan turned his head. He pretended that he had not witnessed the strange sight. The woman returned to her seat beside the table. She sighed softly but she did not sing again.

night Li Kan slept in a lavish chamber at the far end of the house. There were cushions and