"We are charmed to make the acquaintance of monsieur le docteur," said the other lady "as we know Algiers well and have often heard of his skill. Will not monsieur le docteur be seated while my daughter allows him to regard the ring?"
Seating himself beside the fair Mademoiselle Violette, the doctor took advantage of the kind offer of the two ladies, and began to examine carefully the object of their conversation. It was a splendid specimen of the scarabæus beetle carved out of a pale-greenish Beryl,[2] and fitted into a curiously wrought gold setting.
"What a valuable piece of jewellery, no modern bijoutier fashioned this," said the doctor, after a long and interested examination of the beautiful object before him.
"It has quite a little history attached to it I expect," said Mademoiselle Violette, "if we only knew. It was given to me a few years ago by Suleiman Bey who found it in a tomb belonging to one of the Pharaohs. Look, when I place it in front of me, so, and gaze at it steadily, there are times when I see in its depths the most wonderful things and the likenesses of people, some of whom I have never seen, and some again whom I seem to recognise."
"But it is quite extraordinary!" replied the doctor.
"Would you like me to look into it for you? Just to see if it will tell us something of your past, or what has happened to you, or some of your friends perhaps?" asked Violette.
"Ah, mademoiselle, I can see you are a sorceress, but I know my past already, alas! too well; would it not be a thousand times more interesting if you were to test its wonderful powers by letting me see a little way into the future?"
"I do not know whether I can do that, but if you will please to sit opposite to me, and be very very still without speaking, and be sure and keep your mind quite passive, and believe all the time that I really do hold the power, I will try."
Placing the ring on the table in front of her in the centre of a black silk handkerchief to avoid reflections, and bidding her companions to keep absolutely still and silent, Violette muttered some words in a very low tone, as if repeating some weird incantation, and then proceeded to concentrate her entire thoughts, and gaze fixedly on the ring.