Part 13 (2/2)

Monotonously--vaguely--her own voice replied: ”I am all right--I do not even feel the heat.”

Then, all again grew still, and her eyes closed, and her heart beat in a dull, laboured way.

Once more the shrill voice reached her; but it sounded far off, and indistinct: ”I hope you won't go off to sleep, like you did the last time, Princess; you frightened me terribly.”

The effort to reply was harder to make; yet once again the slow, sweet voice vibrated through the hushed and stifling heat:

”I shall not sleep--do not be alarmed.”

Five minutes later, when Mrs Ray Jefferson lifted her eyes from an examination of her suffering foot, she was surprised to see the Princess standing in the archway of the further room, exactly as she had done on the first occasion of her visiting the Baths.

”Are you going?” she called out. ”How is it I never saw you pa.s.s through the room?”

There was no answer--only the deep, wonderful eyes looked mournfully back at her, and, even as she met the gaze, the form seemed to fade away--the archway was vacant.

With a faint cry, Mrs Jefferson sprang to her feet, and rushed into the inner room. The intense heat stifled, and drove her back; but not before she saw the Princess lying on the couch, where she had left her... lying with closed eyes and folded hands; while on her pale, sad lips a faint smile seemed still to shed its lingering life.

The frantic calls of the terrified woman summoned the attendants. In a moment, that motionless figure was lifted and carried into the adjoining chamber.

But human science and human aid were powerless before a greater Mystery than the Princess Zairoff had embodied. The ”Mystery of Death!”

THE END.

<script>