The Classic Mystery Collection - Arthur Conan Doyle [5703]
"Good heavens!" muttered Stuart--"this is almost incredible."
"I knew you would doubt what I had to tell you," declared Miska plaintively; "but I solemnly swear what I tell you is the truth. Yes, I was in the house of a slave-dealer, and on the very next day, because I was proficient in languages, in music and in dancing, and also because--according to their Eastern ideas--I was pretty, the dealer, Mohammed Abd-el-Bali ... offered me for sale."
She stopped, lowering her eyes and flushing hotly, then continued with hesitancy.
"In a small room which I can never forget I was offered the only indignity which I had been called upon to suffer since my abduction. I was _exhibited_ to prospective purchasers."
"As she spoke the words, Miska's eyes flashed passionately and her hand, which lay on the table, trembled. Stuart silently reached across and rested his own upon it.
"There were all kinds of girls," Miska continued, "black and brown and white, in the adjoining rooms, and some of them were singing and some dancing, whilst others wept. Four different visitors inspected me critically, two of them being agents for royal _harems_ and the other two--how shall I say it?--wealthy connoisseurs. But the price asked by Mohammed Abd-el-Bali was beyond the purses of all except one of the agents. He had indeed settled the bargain, when the singing and dancing and shouting--every sound it seemed--ceased about me ... and into the little room in which I crouched amongst perfumed cushions at the feet of the two men, walked Fo-Hi."
CHAPTER IV
MISKA'S STORY _(concluded)_
"Of course, I did not know that this was his name at the time; I only knew that a tall Chinaman had entered the room--and that his face was entirely covered by a green veil."
Stuart started, but did not interrupt Miska's story.
"This veil gave him in some way a frightfully malign and repellent appearance. As he stood in the doorway looking down I seemed to _feel_ his gaze passing over me like a flame, although of course I could not see his eyes. For a moment he stood there looking at me; and much as his presence had affected me, its affect upon the slave-dealer and my purchaser was extraordinary. They seemed to be stricken dumb. Suddenly the Chinaman spoke, in perfect Arabic. 'Her price?' he said.
"Mohammed Abd-el-Bali, standing trembling before him, replied:
"'Miska is already sold, lord, but----"
"'Her price?' repeated the Chinaman, in the same hard metallic voice and without the slightest change of intonation.
"The _harem_ agent who had bought me now said, his voice shaking so that the words were barely audible:
"'I give her up, Mohammed--I give her up. Who am I to dispute with the Mandarin Fo-Hi;' and performing an abject obeisance he backed out of the room.
"At the same moment, Mohammed, whose knees were trembling so that they seemed no longer capable of supporting him, addressed the Chinaman.
"'Accept the maiden as an unworthy gift,' he began--
"'Her price?' repeated Fo-Hi.
"Mohammed, whose teeth had begun to chatter, asked him twice as much as he had agreed to accept from the other, Fo-Hi clapped his hands, and a fierce-eyed Hindu entered the room.
"Fo-Hi addressed him in a language which I did not understand, although I have since learned that it was Hindustani, and the Indian from a purse which he carried counted out the amount demanded by the dealer and placed the money upon a little inlaid table which stood in the room. Fo-Hi gave him some brief order, turned and walked out of the room. I did not see him again for four years--that is until my nineteenth birthday.
"I know that you are wondering about many things and I will try to make some of them clear to you. You are wondering, no doubt, how such a trade as I have described is carried on in the East to-day almost under the eyes of European Governments. Now I shall surprise you. When I was taken from the house of the slave-dealer, in charge of Chunda Lal--for