Here was a test for our disguises that I did not care to risk. There was an open doorway at our left; beyond it I could see no one. "Come!" I said to Nur An, and without accelerating our speed we walked nonchalantly into the chamber, and as Nur An crossed the threshold, I closed the door behind him and as I did so I saw a young woman standing at the opposite side of the apartment looking squarely at us. "What do you here, warriors?" she demanded. Here, indeed, was an embarrassing situation. In the corridor without I could hear the clank of the accoutrements of the approaching warriors and I knew that the girl must hear it, too. If I did aught to arouse her suspicion, she had but to call for help, and how might I allay her suspicion when I had not the faintest conception of what might pass for a valid excuse for the presence of two warriors in this particular apartment, which for all I knew, might be the apartment of a princess of the royal house, to enter which without permission might easily mean death to a common warrior. I thought quickly, or perhaps I did not think at all; often we act rightly upon impulse and then credit the result to super-intelligence. "We have come for the girl," I stated brusquely. "Where is she?" "What girl?" demanded the young woman in surprise. "The prisoner, of course," I replied. "The prisoner?" she looked more puzzled than before. "Of course," said Nur An, "the prisoner. Where is she?" and I almost smiled for I knew that Nur An had not the faintest idea of what was in my mind. "There is no prisoner here," said the young woman. "These are the apartments of the infant son of Haj Osis." "The fool misdirected us," I said. "We are sorry that we intruded. We were sent to fetch the girl, Tavia, who is a prisoner in the palace." It was only a guess. I did not know that Tavia was a prisoner, but after the treatment that had been accorded me I surmised as much. "She is not here," said the young woman, "and as for you, you had better leave these apartments at once for if you are discovered here it will go ill with you." Nur An, who was standing beside me, had been looking at the young woman intently. He stepped forward now, closer to her. "By my first ancestor," he exclaimed in a low voice, "it is Phao!" The girl stepped back, her eyes wide with surprise and then slowly recognition dawned within them. "Nur An!" she exclaimed. Nur An came close to the girl and took her hand in his. "All these years, Phao, I have thought that you were dead," he said. "When the ship returned the captain reported that you and a number of others were killed." "He lied," said the girl. "He sold us into slavery here in Tjanath; but you, Nur An, what are you doing here in the harness of Tjanath?"