"You remember," began Sarojini, "that you were told you would reach enlightenment by gradations?... Now you stand upon the next to the last terrace."
With that she moved to one of the chests; lifted the lid; turned to Trent.
"Come closer," she commanded.
He did. And his eyes met the glitter of gems. And he caught his breath, for he knew he stood in the midst of the jewels for which he had penetrated into the forbidden arcanum of Asia.
"Look," directed the woman, indicating a card attached to the inside of the small chest. "It is written in Hindustani. See: H. H. Tukaji Rao Holkar III, Bahadur, Maharajah of Indore!"
There was a cool, tinkling sound as she drew from the chest a scarf of pearls—tiny lustrous spheres that shone like miniature moons.
"For these," she said, "André Chavigny died."
In the dimness, above the ray of the pocket-lamp, their eyes met, his expressionless, hers again like black opals. He heard her quick breathing—felt, as did she, the contagion of the jewels.... In her hands she held a fortune. Vaguely, irrelevantly, he tried to recall the sum at which the pearls of Indore were appraised; instead, wondered why she wished him to believe Chavigny out of the game.
"Hsien Sgam was the first to show me where the jewels were hidden," she resumed. "But he did not take me through the tunnel." Again the cool, musical tinkle as she dropped the pearls into the chest. "We came from the corridors above the Armory. The possibility of ever making away with the jewels seemed very meager—until I found out that there was a tunnel leading from a point somewhere outside the city up into the vaults of Lhakang-gompa. I learned it from a young layman who was loose of tongue and eager for tengas—learned also that there had been trouble between Sâkya-mûni and the Great Magician and that the Living Buddha was threatening to depose his chief sorcerer. So I went to the Great Magician...." She shrugged. "The lock is easy to him who knows the combination; thus with men.... The tunnel had been sealed; but after the sorcerer's men had worked for five nights that obstacle was removed. The passage was completely opened yesterday. The fool—the magician—thinks he will fly with us when we leave and receive a portion of the jewels! But he will never pass the walls of Shingtse-lunpo after to-night, nor will he interfere with my plans!"
Before Trent could ask the question that came to the end of his tongue Sarojini Nanjee threw back the lid of the largest of the chests, and the shimmer and flare of gems disconnected thought from speech.