A tall woman, magnificently dressed, was making her way towards Tchigorsky. Her face was the hue of old ivory, and as fine; her great lustrous eyes gleamed brightly; a mass of hair was piled high on a daintily poised head. The woman might have been extremely young so far as the touch of time was concerned, but the easy self-possession told another tale. The red lips tightened for an instant, a strange gleam came into the dark magnetic eyes as they fell upon Tchigorsky. Then the Indian Princess advanced with a smile, and held out her hand to the Russian. "So you are still here!" she said. There was the suggestion of a challenge in her tones. Her eyes met those of Tchigorsky as the eyes of two swordsmen might meet. There was a tigerish playfulness underlying the words, a call-note of significant warning. "I still take the liberty of existing," said Tchigorsky. "You are a brave man, doctor. Your friend here?" "Is my cousin Nicholas Tchigorsky? The poor fellow is blind and dumb, as the result of a terrible accident. Best not to notice him." The Princess shrugged her beautiful shoulders as she dropped gracefully into a seat. "I heard you were in London," she said, "and something told me that we should meet sooner or later. You are still interested in occult matters?" Again Ralph detected the note of warning in the speech. He could see nothing of the expression on that perfect face; but he could judge it fairly well. "I am more interested in occult matters than ever," Tchigorsky said gravely, "especially in certain discoveries placed in my hands by a traveler in Tibet." [Illustration: "I am more interested in occult matters than ever," Tchigorsky said gravely, "especially in certain discoveries placed in my hands by a traveler in Thibet."--Page 43.] "Ah, that was your fellow-countryman. He died, you know!" "He was murdered in the vilest manner. But before the end, he managed to convey important information to me." "Useless information unless you had the key." "There was one traveler who found the key, you remember?" "True, doctor. He also, I fancy, met with an accident that, unfortunately, resulted in his death." Ralph shuddered slightly. Princess Zara's tones were hard as steel. If she had spoken openly and callously of this man being murdered, she could not have expressed the same thing more plainly. A beautiful woman, a fascinating one; but a woman with no heart and no feeling where her hatreds were concerned. "It is just possible I have the key," said Tchigorsky. The eyes of the Princess blazed for a moment. Then she smiled. "Dare you use it?" she asked. "If you dare, then all the secrets of heaven and hell are yours. For four thousand years the priests of the temple at Lassa and the heads of my family have solved the future. You know what we can do. We are all powerful for evil. We can strike down our foes by means unknown to your boasted Western science. They are all the same to us, proud potentate, ex-meddling doctor."