He was thinking, designing actively as he watched her. “Surely, Princess,” he said, with an affectation of humility, “the resources of my art are at your gracious disposal. Will you be seated till the moment of revelation arrives?”
He turned and busied himself with certain preparations. Presently with a gesture of warning he drew aside a dark curtain and disclosed a deep-set mirror, the surface showing nothing but a dead black reflection. Immediately it was disclosed, a vapour spread over and blurred the glass.
The Princess had risen and taken a step towards the mirror. Parabosco turned sharply as the vapour rose; there was evil intent in his face.
“Princess,” he said significantly, “you are not as ordinary inquirers are. The destinies of royal personages float in a higher plane, are woven in a grander frame than those of ordinary mortals. The rewards of divination must be proportionate.”
The man’s meaning was as obvious as his looks were evil. After a moment’s hesitation she took out her purse and laid another gold piece upon the table. The man’s eyes remained fixed in their greed.
“That is no price,” he said bluntly, “for the revelation of a royal destiny.”
“The rewards of divination, as you call them,” the Princess replied with quiet scorn, “seem to be governed not so much by proportion as by extortion. Here, I will give you no more.”
As she spoke she laid a second gold coin beside the other. Parabosco took them up and turned to the mirror, still obscured by the rising vapour. Without looking back, he beckoned her to his side and enjoining silence by a gesture, pointed to the recess. Gradually the vapour became less dense till at length it was so attenuated that the black reflection could once more be seen. The professor recited a rigmarole in the style of an incantation—once more the vapour swept across the glass and as it rolled away a picture became faintly visible. Standing erect, Parabosco signed to his companion to look closely into the mirror. As she bent forward to see through the tantalising mist, the dim picture grew clearer till she could make out its subject.
The interior of a church, a priest at the altar, before him a bride and bridegroom, the man in a splendid uniform. But the whole indistinct, and remaining only a few seconds before it was obscured by a fresh cloud of vapour.
“You saw?” Parabosco asked.