Come, Sergius! Play the great trick of the evening! Administer the
oath!"
A frowning line puckered Thord's brows, but the expression of vexation
was but momentary. Turning to Leroy again he said:
"You are quite ready?"
"Quite," replied Leroy.
"And your friends----?"
Leroy smiled. "They are ready also!"
There followed a pause. Then Thord called in a clear low tone--
"Lotys!"
The woman sitting in the embrasure of the window rose, and turning
round fully confronted all the men. Her black cloak falling back on
either side, disclosed her figure robed in dead white, with a scarlet
sash binding her waist. Her face, pale and serene, was not beautiful;
yet beauty was suggested in every feature. Her eyes seemed to be half
closed in a drooping indifference under the white lids, which were
fringed heavily with dark gold lashes. A sculptor might have said, that
whatever claim to beauty she had was contained in the proud poise of
her throat, and the bounteous curve of her bosom, but though in a
manner startled by her appearance, the three men who had chanced upon
this night's adventure were singularly disappointed in it. They had
somehow expected that when that mysterious cloaked feminine figure
turned round, a vision of dazzling beauty would be disclosed; and at
the first glance there was nothing whatever about this woman that
seemed particularly worthy of note.
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