"Why taunt me?" she flashed. "Cannot your art supply the secret in whose quest I am?" The Persian bowed, but kept silent. Again, with the shifting mood, the rare, half-mournful smile shone in Theodora's face. "Though you may not be conscious of it," she said, laying her white hand on his trembling arm, "something impels me to unburden my heart to you. I have kept silence long." Hormazd nodded. "In the world one must always keep silence, veil one's grief and force a smile with the rest. Is it not lamentable to think of all the pent-up suffering, the inconceivably hideous agonies that remain forever unrevealed? Youth and innocence--" Theodora raised her arm. "Was I ever--what they call--innocent?" she interposed musingly. "When I was young--alas, how long it seems, though I am but thirty--the dream of my life was love! Perchance I inherited it from my mother. She was a Greek, and she possessed that subtle quality that can never die. What I was--it matters not. What I am--you know!" She raised herself to her full height. "I long for power. Men are my puppets. And I long for love! I have sought it in all shapes, in every guise. But I found it not. Only disillusion--disappointment have been my share. Will my one desire be ever fulfilled?" "Some day you shall know," he said quietly, keeping his dark gaze upon her. "I doubt me not I shall! But--when and where? Tell me then, you who know so much! When and where?" Hormazd regarded her quizzically, but made no immediate reply. After a time she continued. "Some say you are the devil's servant! Show me then your power. Read for me my fate!" She looked at him with an air of challenge. "It was not for this you came," the Persian said calmly, meeting the gaze of those mysterious wells of light whose appeal none had yet resisted whom she wished to bend to her desires. The woman turned a shade more pale. "Then call it a whim!" "What will it avail?" Her eyes flashed. "My will against--that other." A flash of lightning was reflected on the dark walls of the chamber. The thunder rolled in grand sullen echoes down the heavens. She heard it not. "What are you waiting for?" she turned to Hormazd. There was a note of impatience in her tone. "You are of to-day--yet not of to-day! Not of yesterday, nor to-morrow. To some in time comes love--" "But to me?" His voice sank to a frozen silence. She stood, gazing at him steadily. She was very pale, but the smile of challenge still lingered on her lips. "But to me?" she repeated. He regarded her darkly. "To you? Who knows?--Some day--" "Ah! When my fate has chanced! Are you a cheat then, like the rest?" He was silent, as one in the throes of some great emotion. She took a step towards him. He raised both hands as if to ward her off. His eyes saw shapes and scenes not within the reach of other's ken. "Tell me the truth," she said calmly. "You cannot deceive me!"