"What is it? What is it?" asked the blind man, with that feverish impatience which the smallest events excite in isolated communities. "'Tis the new leper. She is very beautiful," replied voices. "I'm not a leper," cried Panayota. "God save me and protect me, and keep the evil eye from me!" "Hush!" whispered Aglaia. "Do not betray yourself." "Describe her to me, my brother." "She has beautiful hair and eyes and----" But the remainder of the description was drowned in the many questionings of new arrivals. The gossip priest had told several acquaintances of Panayota's advent, and the news was spreading through the whole village. The group grew to a dozen--to twenty. They moved closer to the door and stood looking silently in--such as possessed eyes. Fear, horror and anger surged through Panayota's heart at the time; afterwards she could never think of those pitiable, outraged wrecks of the image of God without tears. A burly form parted the throng and a face looked in--a face infinitely disgusting and infinitely terrible, and that somehow reminded Panayota of a lion--she could not tell why. "Take them away! Take them away!" moaned Panayota, covering her face with her hands and retreating behind Aglaia. And suddenly her overwrought nerves found vent in tears, and she began to sob violently. Aglaia, but little better accustomed to the horrid spectacle than her guest, found her voice with difficulty. "Go away," she said, "for your souls' sakes! Do you not see that you are frightening the poor thing to death?" "Perhaps she doesn't think I am beautiful," said the Face, with a laugh. "I had come to ask her to marry me." "Are you Christians or Turks?" asked Aglaia, remembering that nearly all the members of the colony were Greeks. "Go away and come at another time. In God's name, go away!" She could not shut the door, as two or three of the lepers had crowded into the opening. "Doesn't like our looks, eh?" said another. "Never mind, brothers; she'll look like the rest of us soon enough--and you, too, for that matter, Madam Aglaia. There's nothing in the world like leprosy as a cure for pride." Thanks to Panayota's sobs, she did not hear the remark, but Aglaia did, and felt all of its cruel force. She could make no reply, except: "True, true. God have mercy!" Thus she stood, helpless, when of a sudden the hideous faces were all turned away from the door together. "Silence!" cried one of the lepers, for a military quickstep could be heard in the distance. "Allah be praised!" said one of the Turks. "It is the Sultan's army going forth to conquer the island." [Illustration: ... she covered her lace with her hands and shrank back into the lepers' hut] The insistent, eager notes of martial music caught Panayota's ear. A moment she stood listening, and then turned deadly pale. "Kostakes!" she gasped. "Kostakes and the Bashi Bazouks!" and again she caught at the door jamb to keep herself from falling.