And there carried Thangobrind the
jeweller away those whose duty it was, to the house where the two men
hang, and taking down from his hook the left-hand of the two, they put
that venturous jeweller in his place; so that there fell on him the
doom that he feared, as all men know though it is so long since, and
there abated somewhat the ire of the envious gods.
And the only daughter of the Merchant Prince felt so little gratitude
for this great deliverance that she took to respectability of the
militant kind, and became aggressively dull, and called her home the
English Riviera, and had platitudes worked in worsted upon her
tea-cosy, and in the end never died, but passed away in her residence.
THE HOUSE OF THE SPHINX
When I came to the House of the Sphinx it was already dark. They made
me eagerly welcome. And I, in spite of the deed, was glad of any
shelter from that ominous wood. I saw at once that there had been a
deed, although a cloak did all that a cloak may do to conceal it. The
mere uneasiness of the welcome made me suspect that cloak.
The Sphinx was moody and silent. I had not come to pry into the
secrets of Eternity nor to investigate the Sphinx's private life, and
so had little to say and few questions to ask; but to whatever I did
say she remained morosely indifferent.
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