Then a strange thing happened.
Idris, keenly attentive to all that was passing, observed a curious expression stealing over Beatrice's face. Once before he had seen this expression, namely, at the time when she gave her opinion on the piece of steel taken from the Viking's skull. The pupils of her eyes were contracted, and set with a bright fixity of gaze upon the jewelled urn. The rigidity of her figure indicated a cataleptic state.
Her lips parted, and in a voice strangely unlike her own, she said:—
"The ashes of the dead!"
At this Lorelie gave a faint cry and drew away the vase, glancing again at Ivar. Then, with her hands she closed the eyes of Beatrice, and shook her gently. Beatrice opened her eyes again, and looked around with the surprised air of one aroused suddenly from sleep.
"Do you know what you have been saying?" Lorelie asked.
"No—what?"
"That this is a funereal urn."
"Have I been self-hypnotized again?"