I heard Lestrade whistling softly there in the darkness not ten paces away. The sound heartened me wonderfully. We were still together, and what might befall lost half its terror.
All at once our bearers halted. I was gently laid upon a couch. My bonds were loosened, and as I sprang to my feet a light flashed from above, and I found myself standing beside Lestrade. The throng had melted away as if by magic. A woman closely veiled and draped in a white garment, alone stood waiting. Ere I could speak she turned with a quick gesture and threw back the filmy covering that hid her face. Lestrade and I uttered a smothered exclamation, for the woman’s skin was fairer than our own, and as she spoke, we knew on the instant that the tale of Sagamoso was true, and that the daughter of the murdered explorer stood before us. The girl was trembling so that Gaston made haste to lead her to a couch, while I stood stolid, my eyes fixed upon her eyes, luminous and wide with mingled fear and joy, while I waited in breathless silence for her words.
“How I have suffered,” she said half to herself, and the English was sweet to me, and the sound of her voice yet sweeter. She looked about her as a frightened fawn looks when the dogs are upon her. “These walls have ears,” she said under her breath. “This horrible place is full of treachery. Still I must ask you, for I cannot wait. You are of my people. Have you come to save me?”
Lestrade took her hand in his and kissed it, and his voice was the voice of a mother soothing a tired child.
“It is our sacred purpose, and naught shall turn us,” he said.
“That and vengeance on your enemies,” I added.
“Hush!” she answered, with a warning gesture. She listened in silence for a moment, and then the folds of her veil once more hid her face, but I had seen the pretty color come back to her lips and cheek, and her smile of trust and gratitude had stirred me mightily. “I am Astolba, handmaid of Lah, the Queen,” she continued aloud, and with a subtile change of manner that Lestrade was quick to note and imitate.
As for me, I stood still gazing dumbly, yet drinking in the music of her speech.
“She, the beloved of the gods, has sent me hither, that you may learn from me the language of the people of the Walled City; that their customs and rites may be made known to you. So that, strangers though you be, you may yet stand within the inner circle,—if so the Queen will,—and bring knowledge and power to the followers of Edba and of Hed.”
She looked with pleading towards me, for with a woman’s quick instinct she saw that Gaston had no scruples at learning aught, let it but come from her fair lips.