"As you will."
Fo-Hi momentarily raised the blazing eyes.
"Oh, empty shell of a vanished joy!" he cried.
Then, frenziedly grasping Miska by her arms, he glared into her impassive face.
"Your heart leaps wildly in your breast!" he whispered tenderly.
"Look into my eyes…."
Miska sighed and opened her eyes yet more widely. She shuddered and a slow smile appeared upon her lips.
The lacquer screen making the window was pushed open and Chunda Lal leapt in over the edge. As Fo-Hi drew the yielding, hypnotised girl towards him, Chunda Lal, a gleaming kukri held aloft, ran with a silent panther step across the floor.
He reached Fo-Hi, drew himself upright; the glittering blade quivered … and Fo-Hi divined his presence.
Uttering a short, guttural exclamation, he thrust Miska aside. She staggered dazedly and fell prone upon the floor. The quivering blade did not descend.
Fo-Hi drew himself rigidly upright, extending his hands, palms downward, before him. He was exerting a superhuman effort. The breath whistled through his nostrils. Chunda Lal, knife upraised, endeavored to strike; but his arm seemed to have become incapable of movement and to be held, helpless, aloft.