Maia

He was certainly of striking appearance. Taking no part in the turmoil round the wagon, he was leaning, with a relaxed yet alert air, against the doorpost of a wine shop, eating grapes-or at any rate holding a bunch in one hand- and staring directly at her. Everything about him suggested self-confidence, wealth and aristocracy. He was tall, with long, dark hair and a short, neatly-trimmed beard; and not so much handsome in any conventional way as having an aspect and air of gallantry which made one forget to consider whether he was or not. He was wearing a close-fitting abshay of rose-colored silk, with a silver belt at the waist. Its puffed sleeves, the inverted pleats of which were inset with silver, were gathered a little below the elbow. Both this and his pale-yellow, damasked breeches were overspread with small, semiprecious stones, lustrous and blue-green in color. His sword was sheathed in a scabbard jewelled with larger stones of the same sort, while slung at his back, on a crimson-tasselled cord, was a large hat adorned with colored plumes of red and blue. On his left shoulder, worked in silver thread, was the cognizance of a leopard.

Despite his elegance and flamboyant dress, his bearing suggested not so much the fop as the courtier and nobleman capable of turning soldier at need. He was plainly quite unconcerned to conceal his interest in Maia. She, abashed and self-conscious, looked quickly away, pulling up the bodice which Occula had disarranged. Yet when she looked round it was only to meet once more the young man's unwavering gaze.

"Smile, you fool," whispered Occula out of the side of her mouth.

Maia, feeling as awkward as a plowboy called to the side of a lady's carriage to tell her the way, tried to smile but found she seemed to have lost the trick. However, at this moment the young man smiled at her, tossed his grapes into the lap of a near-by beggar and strolled across the street, the crowd seeming to part before him as undergrowth parts before a hound on the scent.

Putting one hand on the rail at the girls' feet and looking up at Maia with an air expressive of admiration both given

and received (as though to say "It's pleasant to be beautiful-don't you agree?"), he said, "To my own great surprise, I don't seem to know your name. Still, I dare say you can put that right for me, can't you?"

"Oh-sir-I-that's to say-"

Maia's confusion was so clearly unfeigned that the young man, for a moment at all events, appeared to lose his own self-possession. With a slightly puzzled look he said, "I hope I've not embarrassed you or made a mistake. But if you're not shearnas-and very pretty ones at that-why are you riding through the lower city in an open jekzha, with no escort?"

"We're here from Thettit-Tonilda, sir," said Occula, smiling at him and leaning forward to put her hand for a moment on his, "with a recommendation to U-Lalloc."

"Oh, I see," said the young man, with an air of disappointment. "You mean he's going to sell you?"

"I'm very sorry; I'm afraid not, sir," answered Occula, as though he had made a request which she was obliged to decline with regret. "We're already promised to a noble house."

"I'm not at all surprised to hear it," said the young man. "Well, perhaps we may meet again. If that-er-noble house-"he smiled, giving an ironical, emphasis to the words-"should ever wish to part with you, perhaps you'll contrive to let me know, will you?"

With this he pressed a kiss on Maia's bare foot, turned on his heel and was gone across the market-place, his feathered hat tossing on his shoulders.

As the jekzha moved on, neither girl spoke for a minute or two. Then Maia, still bewildered by the encounter, said "But he never told us who he was."

"You're supposed to know who he is," answered Occula. "It wouldn' occur to him that you didn'. He's a Leopard, obviously."

"Do you know?"

"No, 'course I doan'. But it might be a good idea to find out, doan' you think?"

"Oh, I felt so terrible-"

"You doan' know your own strength, banzi, that's your trouble," said the black girl, smacking at a fly on her forearm. "You did fine. He woan' forget us in a hurry. Cran! I'm hungry, aren't you? Surely it can' be much further now."