"Dance to-night with all the devil that is in you, my beautiful,"
said Agapoulos, hurrying into the room.

Zahara turned aside, toying with the veils.

"They are rich, eh?" she said indifferently.

She was thinking of the fifty pounds which she had earned so
easily; and after all (how strangely her mind wandered) perhaps
he was really tired of the woman. The Spaniard had said so.

"Very rich," murmured Agapoulos complacently.

He brushed his moustache and rattled keys in his pocket. In his
dress clothes he looked like the manager of a prosperous picture
palace. "Safryeh!" he called.

When presently the music commenced, the players concealed behind
the tall screen, an expectant hush fell upon the wine-flushed
company. Hassan, who played the darabukkeh, could modulate its
throbbing so wonderfully.

Zahara entered the room, enveloped from shoulders to ankles in a
flame-coloured cloak. Between her lips she held a red rose.

"By God, what a beauty!" said a husky voice.

Zahara did not know which of the party had spoken, but she was
conscious of the fact that by virtue of the strange witchcraft