"About two years ago, matters assumed a worse aspect. He again met Anita Rosario, the Spanish dancer, under whose guidance he had first turned to the halls for a livelihood, and once more took up with her. He seemed to have lost all thought or care for the feelings of his wife, for, after torturing her with jealousy over his attentions to the dancer, he took a house adjoining my own--on the borders of the most unfrequented part of the common at Wimbledon--established himself and Zuilika there, and brought the woman Anita home to live with them. From that period matters went from bad to worse. Evidently having tired of the stage, both Ulchester and Anita abandoned it, and turned the house into a sort of club where gambling was carried on to a disgraceful extent. Broken-hearted over the treatment she was receiving, Zuilika appealed to me and to my son to help her in her distress--to devise some plan to break the spell of Ulchester's madness and to get that woman out of the house. It was then that I first beheld her face. In her excitement she managed, somehow, to snap or loosen the fastening which held her yashmak, and it fell--fell, and let my son realise, as I realised, how wondrously beautiful it is possible for the human face to be!" "Steady, Major, steady! I can quite understand your feelings--can realise better than most men!" said Cleek with a sort of sigh. "You looked into heaven, and--well, what then? Let's have the rest of the story." "I think my son must have put it into her head to give Ulchester a taste of his own medicine--to attempt to excite his jealousy by pretending to find interests elsewhere. At any rate, she began to show him a great deal of attention--or, at least, so he says, although I never saw it. All I know is that she--she--well, sir, she deliberately led _me_ on until I was half insane over her, and--that's all!" "What do you mean by 'that's all'? The matter couldn't possibly have ended there, or else why this appeal to me?" "It ended for me, so far as her affectionate treatment of me was concerned; for in the midst of it the unexpected happened. Her father died, forgiving her, as Ulchester had hoped, but doing more than his wildest dreams could have given him cause to imagine possible. In a word, sir, the caliph not only bestowed his entire earthly possessions upon her, but had them conveyed to England by trusted allies and placed in her hands. There were coffers of gold pieces, jewels of fabulous value--sufficient, when converted into English money, as they were within the week, and deposited to her credit in the Bank of England, to make her the sole possessor of nearly three million pounds." "Phew!" whistled Cleek. "When these Orientals do it they certainly do it properly. That's what you might call 'giving with both hands,' Major, eh?"