“Dear uncle, give me but a place in your heart next to my cousin Agatha, and—let the rest go,” said Eudora, in a voice vibrating with emotion.
Lord Leaton then formally presented his niece to her aunt and cousin, and to the Princess Pezzilini, all of whom received the beautiful young stranger with the utmost kindness and courtesy.
Agatha, in particular, seemed delighted with the acquisition of a congenial companion in her charming Indian cousin.
The evening passed delightfully; but for the sake of the weary traveller, the family party supped and separated at an unusually early hour.
It was soon after Lady Leaton had retired to her dressing-room that she heard a light tap at her door, and to her surprised exclamation of “Come in,” entered the Princess Pezzilini.
“You will pardon me for intruding upon you at this hour, but you know what great reason I have to be devoted to your service, Lady Leaton, and you know the force of my faith in presentiments. It is a presentiment that forces me to your presence to-night,” said the princess in a mournful voice.
“Madame, I thank you earnestly for the interest you deign to take in my welfare; but—I do not understand you,” said Lady Leaton, in surprise.
“And I do not understand myself; but I must speak, for the power of prophecy is upon me! Lady Leaton, beware of that Asiatic girl!”
“Madame!” exclaimed Lady Leaton, in extreme surprise.
“Yes, I know what you would say: she is your niece, the daughter of your husband’s brother. But I tell you that she is of the treacherous, cruel, and deadly Indian blood! I have watched her thoughts through this evening. I noted her look when Lord Leaton told her that she was the next heiress after Agatha. And I tell you that the gaze of the deadly cobra-di-capella of her native jungles is not more fatal than the glance of that Indian girl!”