CHAPTER TEN THE FORTUNE THAT WAS TOLD WITH TAROT CARDS Setos, the Dogberry of Tlamco, lived in a pretentious square house where the disused Laurel Hill Cemetery is now located. The house was gay in stucco ornament and artistic coloring. The surrounding grounds were extensive, and the rambling enclosure was altogether the most elaborate private establishment in the city. Quick, active, energetic and scientific, Setos had, also, the cunning of a schemer and the ambition of a dictator. In stature, he was short and pudgy, with a round, fat body and with disproportionately small extremities. He made many gestures with his arms and carried his straight stiff thumbs downward. His finger-nails were narrow, indicating obstinacy and conceit, while his thick and stubby fingers showed that he was cruel and selfish. Setos’s eyes were small and gray. In addition to long ham-like ears was a nose which was a cross between a hook and a beak. The thin lips and square jaws completed a countenance which reflected a bold and uncertain temper. The man had a nervous habit of clasping his coarse, fat hands, especially when excited or over-anxious. Withal, he was inordinately vain, not of his good looks certainly, but of his achievements—and, his godliness. Akaza had a way of looking straight through Setos’s mean, shabby nature which mightily irritated this entirely self-satisfied man. Setos always imagined that he was being put upon in the civic councils, and he was determined that the visitors should imbibe something of his greatness at the fountain-head. It did not require much diplomacy nor persuasion to induce Kerœcia to pay Ildiko a visit before leaving Tlamco. “When Eko Tanga says farewell, to-morrow,” Setos said to her, “it will save thee embarrassment to spend the remaining days with Ildiko. It would not be politic to take thy leave at the same time, because of the ill-concealed distrust between the Monbas and Eko Tanga. Shouldst thou go immediately after, it would be discourteous to the government of Ian. Let me urge thee strongly to continue here for a time.” “Give me leave to add my prayer to thine, father,” said Ildiko, quick to see the importance of the move to herself. With Kerœcia as her guest, she would have the eyes of the whole city on her for a time. “Rahula do persuade our friends to make us happy,” she concluded with a pretty, affected lisp. “I am wholly in thy hands,” responded Kerœcia. “Thy request lines with my desires. I am weary of public function. Besides, I am enslaved by curiosity concerning thy mode of living. Thou art not of the Azes.” “Rightly spoken,” said Ildiko. “Thou art justified in seeking to know the domestic habits of Tlamco. It is not granted me to read signs like Rahula, but I can see the drift already.” There was nothing malicious in Ildiko. Kerœcia colored quickly, but made no reply.