“Come, Nat!”

He stood a little to one side and bowed with mock politeness.  For a moment Captain Plum hesitated.  Under ordinary circumstances this spying through a window would have been repugnant to him.  But at present something seemed to tell him that it was not to satisfy his curiosity alone that Obadiah Price had given him this opportunity.  Would a look through that little window explain some of the mysteries of the night?

There came a low whisper in his ear.

“Do you smell lilac, Nat?  Eh?”

The councilor was grinning at him.  There was a suggestive gleam in his eyes.  He rubbed his hands almost fiercely.

In another instant Captain Plum had stepped upon the object beneath the window and parted the leaves.  Breathlessly he looked in.  A strange scene met his eyes.  He was looking into a vast room, illuminated by a huge hanging lamp suspended almost on a level with his head.  Under this lamp there was a long table and at the table sat seven women and one man.  The man was at the end nearest the window and all that Nat could see was the back of his head and shoulders.  But the women were in full view, three on each side of the table and one at the far end.  He guessed the man to be Strang; but he stared at the women and as his eyes traveled back to the one facing him at the end of the table he could scarcely repress the exclamation of surprise that rose to his lips.  It was the girl whom he had encountered at the councilor’s cabin.  She was leaning forward as if in an agony of suspense, her eyes on the king, her lips parted, her hands clutching at a great book which lay open before her.  Her cheeks were flushed with excitement.  And even as he looked Captain Plum saw her head fall suddenly forward upon the table, encircled by her arms.  The heavy braid of her hair, partly undone, glistened like red gold in the lamplight.  Her slender body was convulsed with sobs.  The woman nearest her reached over and laid a caressing hand on the bowed head, but drew it quickly away as if at a sharp command.

In his eagerness Nathaniel thrust his face through the foliage until his nose touched the glass.  When the girl lifted her head she straightened back in her chair—­and saw him.  There came a sudden white fear in her face, a parting of the lips as if she were on the point of crying out, and then, before the others had seen, she looked again at Strang.  She had discovered him and yet she had not revealed her discovery!  Nathaniel could have shouted for joy.  She had seen him, had recognized him!  And because she had not cried out she wanted him!  He drew his pistol from its holster and waited.  If she signaled for him, if she called him, he would burst the window.  The girl was talking now and as she talked she lifted her eyes.  Nathaniel pressed his face close against the window, and smiled.  That would let her know he was a friend.  She seemed to answer him with a little nod and he fancied that her eyes glowed with a mute appeal for his assistance.  But only for an instant, and then they turned again to the king.  Not until that moment did Nathaniel notice upon her bosom a bunch of crumpled lilacs.