"Tell me who the woman is who has just entered ?" Karschoff glanced in the direction indicated, and for a moment his somewhat saturnine expression changed.

A smile played upon his lips, his eyes seemed to rest upon the figure of the girl half turned away from them with interest, almost with pleasure.

She was of an unusual type, tall and dark, dressed in black with the simplicity of a nun, with only a little gleam of white at her throat.

Her hair--so much of it as showed under her flower-garlanded hat--was as black as jet, and yet, where she stood in the full glare of the sunlight, the burnish of it was almost wine-coloured.

Her cheeks were pale, her expression thoughtful.