She indicated still another door and would have gone to open it for
him.  But he brushed by her and threw it back himself and crossed the
threshold impatiently.  And again his emotion surging uppermost briefly
was one of surprise.  The room was empty; it was the unexpected and
incongruous trappings which astonished him.  On all hands the walls,
from ceiling to floor, were hidden by rich silken curtains, hanging in
deep purple folds, displaying a profusion of bright hued woven
patterns, both splendid and barbaric.  The floor was carpeted by a soft
thick rug, as brilliant as the wall drapes.  The two chairs were hidden
under similar drapes, the small square table covered by a mantle of
deep blue and gold which fell to the floor.  Beyond all of this the
solitary bit of furnishing was the object on the table whose oddity
caught and held his eye; a thin column of crystal like a ten-inch
needle, based in a red disc and supporting a hollow cap, the size of an
acorn cup, in which was a single stone or bead of glass, he knew not
which.  He only knew that the thing was alive with the fire in it and
blazed red, and he fancied it was a ruby.She had marked the look on his face and in her eyes the laughter deepened and the mockery stood higher. He frowned and stepped to the table, tossing down the pad of bank notes. "That is yours," he told her briefly. "I don't want it and I won't take it." Then she, too, came forward to the table. Her left hand took up the money swiftly, eagerly, it struck him, and thrust it out of sight somewhere among the folds of her gown. Then finally her laughter parted her lips and the low music of it filled the room. He knew in a flash now that she had never meant to allow her winnings to escape her; that there had been craft in the wording of the message she had sent him; that all along she counted on his coming to her as he had come. She sank into the chair nearest her and indicated the other to him. "If Señor Kendric will be seated," she said lightly, "I should like to speak with him."

In blazing anger had Kendric come here. Now, seeing clearly just how she had played with him the blood grew hotter in his face and hammered at his temples. "_Señora_," he said crisply, "there need be no talk between you and me since we have no business together." "_Señorita_," she corrected him curiously. "I am not married." "Nor is that a matter for us to discuss." He meant, as he desired, to be rude to her. "Since it does not interest me."

"It has interested many men," she laughed at him lightly, but still with that intense probing look filling the black depths of her eyes. "With them 

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