XX.—

 XXI.—

 XXII.—

 XXIII.—

 XXIV.—

 XXV.—

 XXVI.—

 XXVII.—

 XXVIII.—

 XXIX.—

THE CARDINAL MOTH

THE CARDINAL MOTH

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER I.

FLOWERS OF BLOOD.

FLOWERS OF BLOOD.

The purple darkness seemed to be filled with a nebulous suggestion of things beautiful; long trails and ropes of blossoms hung like stars reflected in a lake of blue. As the eye grew accustomed to the gloom these blooms seemed to expand and beautify. There was a great orange globe floating on a violet mist, a patch of pink swam against an opaque window-pane like a flight of butterflies. Outside the throaty roar of Piccadilly could be distinctly heard; inside was misty silence and the coaxed and pampered atmosphere of the Orient. Then a long, slim hand—a hand with jewels on it—was extended, and the whole vast dome was 

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