We were alone in a small room, Sanoma Tora and I. In one corner were her sleeping silks and furs; between two windows was a carved bench upon which stood those toilet articles that are essential to a woman of Barsoom. It was not the apartment of a Jeddara; it was little better than the cell of a slave. As Sanoma Tora crossed the room listlessly toward a stool which stood before the toilet bench, her back was toward me and I dropped the robe of invisibility from about me. "Sanoma Tora!" I said in a low voice. Startled, she turned toward me. "Hadron of Hastor!" she exclaimed; "or am I dreaming?" "You are not dreaming, Sanoma Tora. It is Hadron of Hastor." "Why are you here? How did you get here? It is impossible. No men but Tul Axtar are permitted upon this level." "Here I am, Sanoma Tora, and I have come to take you back to Helium--if you wish to return." "Oh, name of my first ancestor, if I could but hope," she cried. "You may hope, Sanoma Tora," I assured her. "I am here and I can take you back." "I cannot believe it," she said. "I cannot imagine how you gained entrance here. It is madness to think that two of us could leave without being detected." I threw the cloak about me. "Where are you, Tan Hadron? What has become of you? What has happened?" cried Sanoma Tora. "This is how I gained entrance," I explained. "This is how we shall escape." I removed the cloak from about me. "What forbidden magic is this?" she demanded, and, as best I might in few words, I explained to her the compound of invisibility and how I had come by it. "How have you fared here, Sanoma Tora?" I asked her. "How have they treated you?" "I have not been ill treated," she replied; "no one has paid any attention to me." I could scent the wounded vanity in her tone. "Until tonight I had not seen Tul Axtar. I have just come from the hall where he holds court among his women." "Yes," I said, "I know. I was there. It was from there that I followed you here." "When can you take me away?" she asked. "Very quickly now," I replied. "I am afraid that it will have to be quickly," she said. "Why?" I asked. "When I passed Tul Axtar he stopped me for a moment and I heard him speak to one of the courtiers at his side. He told her to ascertain my name and where I was quartered. The women have told me what happens after Tul Axtar has noticed one of us, and I am afraid; but what difference does it make, I am only a slave." What a change had come over the haughty Sanoma Tora! Was this the same arrogant beauty who had refused my hand? Was this the Sanoma Tora who had aspired to be a jeddara? She was humbled now--I read it in the droop of her shoulders, in the trembling of her lips, in the fear-haunted light that shone from her eyes.