that of a queen and a woman of business. The transformation

was sudden but entire.
'Thy words are very wise, Macumazahn. Forgive me my folly.

Ah, what a Queen I should be if only I had no heart! To be heartless
-- that is to conquer all. Passion is like the lightning, it

is beautiful, and it links the earth to heaven, but alas it blinds!
'And thou thinkest that my sister Sorais would levy war upon

me. So be it. She shall not prevail against me. I, too, have
my friends and my retainers. There are many, I say, who will

shout "Nyleptha!" when my pennon runs up on peak and pinnacle,
and the light of my beacon fires leaps tonight from crag to crag,

bearing the message of my war. I will break her strength and
scatter her armies. Eternal night shall be the portion of Sorais

of the Night. Give me that parchment and the ink. So.
Now summon the officer in the ante-room. He is a trusty man.'

I did as I was bid! and the man, a veteran and quiet-looking
gentleman of the guard, named Kara, entered, bowing low.

'Take this parchment,' said Nyleptha; 'it is thy warrant; and
guard every place of in and outgoing in the apartments of my

sister Sorais, the "Lady of the Night", and a Queen of the Zu-Vendi.
Let none come in and none go out, or thy life shall pay the

cost.'
The man looked startled, but he merely said, 'The Queen's word

be done,' and departed. Then Nyleptha sent a messenger to Sir
Henry, and presently he arrived looking uncommonly uncomfortable.

I thought that another outburst was about to follow, but wonderful
are the ways of woman; she said not a word about Sorais and his

supposed inconstancy, greeting him with a friendly nod, and stating
simply that she required his advice upon high matters. All the

same there was a look in her eye, and a sort of suppressed energy
in her manner towards him, that makes me think that she had not

forgotten the affair, but was keeping it for a private occasion.
Just after Curtis arrived the officer returned, and reported

that Sorais was gone. The bird had flown to the Temple, stating
that she was going, as was sometimes the custom among Zu-Vendi

ladies of rank, to spend the night in meditation before the altar.
We looked at each other significantly. The blow had fallen

very soon.
Then we set to work.

Generals who could be trusted were summoned from their quarters,
and as much of the State affairs as was thought desirable was

told to each, strict injunctions being given to them to get all
their available force together. The same was done with such

of the more powerful lords as Nyleptha knew she could rely on,
several of whom left that very day for distant parts of the country

to gather up their tribesmen and retainers. Sealed orders were
dispatched to the rulers of far-off cities, and some twenty messengers

were sent off before nightfall with instructions to ride early
and late till they reached the distant chiefs to whom their letters

were addressed: also many spies were set to work. All the afternoon
and evening we laboured, assisted by some confidential scribes,

Nyleptha showing an energy and resource of mind that astonished
me, and it was eight o'clock before we got back to our quarters.

Here we heard from Alphonse, who was deeply aggrieved because
our non-return had spoilt his dinner (for he had turned cook

again now), that Good had come back from his hawking and gone
on duty. As instructions had already been given to the officer

of the outer guard to double the sentries at the gate, and as
we had no reason to fear any immediate danger, we did not think

it worth while to hunt him up and tell him anything of what had
passed, which at best was, under the peculiar circumstances of

the case, one of those tasks that one prefers to postpone, so
after swallowing our food we turned in to get some much-needed

rest. Before we did so, however, it occurred to Curtis to tell
old Umslopogaas to keep a look-out in the neighbourhood of Nyleptha's

private apartments. Umslopogaas was now well known about the
place, and by the Queen's order allowed to pass whither he would

by the guards, a permission of which he often availed himself
by roaming about the palace during the still hours in a nocturnal

fashion that he favoured, and which is by no means uncommon amongst
black men generally. His presence in the corridors would not,

therefore, be likely to excite remark. Without any comment the
Zulu took up his axe and departed, and we also departed to bed.

I seemed to have been asleep but a few minutes when I was awakened
by a peculiarsensation of uneasiness. I felt that somebody

was in the room and looking at me, and instantly sat up, to see
to my surprise that it was already dawn, and that there, standing

at the foot of my couch and looking peculiarly grim and gaunt
in the grey light, was Umslopogaas himself.

'How long hast thou been there?' I asked testily, for it is not
pleasant to be aroused in such a fashion.

'Mayhap the half of an hour, Macumazahn. I have a word for thee.'
'Speak on,' I said, now wide enough awake.

'As I was bid I went last night to the place of the White Queen
and hid myself behind a pillar in the second anteroom, beyond

which is the sleeping-place of the Queen. Bougwan (Good) was
in the first anteroom alone, and outside the curtain of that

room was a sentry, but I had a mind to see if I could pass in
unseen, and I did, gliding behind them both. There I waited

for many hours, when suddenly I perceived a dark figure coming
secretly towards me. It was the figure of a woman, and in her

hand she held a dagger. Behind that figure crept another unseen
by the woman. It was Bougwan following in her tracks. His shoes

were off, and for so fat a man he followed very well. The woman
passed me, and the starlight shone upon her face.'

'Who was it?' I asked impatiently.
'The face was the face of the "Lady of the Night", and of a truth

she is well named.
'I waited, and Bougwan passed me also. Then I followed.

So we went slowly and without a sound up the long chamber.
First the woman, then Bougwan, and then I; and the woman saw

not Bougwan, and Bougwan saw not me. At last the "Lady of the
Night" came to the curtains that shut off the sleeping place

of the White Queen, and put out her left hand to part them.
She passed through, and so did Bougwan, and so did I. At the

far end of the room is the bed of the Queen, and on it she lay
very fast asleep. I could hear her breathe, and see one white

arm lying on the coverlid like a streak of snow on the dry grass.
The "Lady of the Night" doubled herself thus, and with the long

knife lifted crept towards the bed. So straight did she gaze
thereat that she never thought to look behind her. When she

was quite close Bougwan touched her on the arm, and she caught
her breath and turned, and I saw the knife flash, and heard it

strike. Well was it for Bougwan that he had the skin of iron
on him, or he had been pierced. Then for the first time he saw

who the woman was, and without a word he fell back astonished,
and unable to speak. She, too, was astonished, and spoke not,

but suddenly she laid her finger on her lip, thus, and walked
towards and through the curtain, and with her went Bougwan.

So close did she pass to me that her dress touched me, and I
was nigh to slaying her as she went. In the first outer room

she spoke to Bougwan in a whisper and, clasping her hands thus,
she pleaded with him, but what she said I know not. And so they

passed on to the second outer room, she pleading and he shaking
his head, and saying, "Nay, nay, nay". And it seemed to me that

he was about to call the guard, when she stopped talking and