"You haven't given up hope yet?"
The man shook his head sadly.
"I gave up hope when he went in. I waited to-night until dark before I came away from the moat."
"Once to-night I thought I saw a light in the tower, Vardos."
"If you did, Señorita Dolores, it was an unblessed flame." He sank into a chair weakly. "Once when I called to-night a wail came back to me. It sounded like a sigh of the damned. It may have been only the wind through the grated window. But it chilled my heart."
"You are a silly coward," retorted Dolores. "But what then, Vardos?"
"When I called the second time something moved in the turret of the keep, and my soul was joyful. Then, with a harsh cry, a black ugly bird flew from the turret, straight toward where the sun had set.... On my left, mind you, the sinister side,—the left—the left!"
The castanets and music in the other room grew louder.
"Oh, if the good Princess were only here!" moaned the girl. "She could help. She could do something."
"She's on her way," he told her hopelessly, "but what can she do—what can anyone do, with the imps of darkness all about her?"