There was something so cruel in the gesture and the action, so full of deadly hate and loathing, that Alan, who witnessed it, experienced a new revulsion of feeling towards the Asika.

What kind of a woman must she be, he wondered, who could treat a discarded lover thus in the presence of his successor?
With a groan or a sob, it was difficult to say which, the poor man rose and perceived Alan, whose face he now beheld for the first time, since the Asika had told him not to mask himself as they would meet no one.
The sight of it seemed to fill him with jealous fury; at any rate he leapt at his rival, intending, apparently, to catch him by the throat.
Alan, who was watching him, stepped aside, so that he came into violent contact with the wall of the passage and, half-stunned by the shock, reeled onwards into the darkness.
"The hog!" said the Asika, or rather she hissed it, "the hog, who dared to touch me and to strike at you.

Well, his time is short--would that I could make it shorter! Did you hear what he sought of me ?" Alan, who wished for no confidences, replied by asking what the Mungana was doing in the Treasure House, to which she answered that the spirits who dwelt there were eating up his soul, and when they had devoured it all he would go quite mad and kill himself.
"Does this happen to all Munganas ?" inquired Alan.
"Yes, Vernoon, if the Asika hates them, but if she loves them it is otherwise.

Come, let us forget the wretch, who would kill you if he could," and she led the way into the hall and up it, passing between the heaps of gold.
On the table where lay the necklaces of gems she set down her lamp, whereof the light, all there was in that great place, flickered feebly upon the mask of Little Bonsa, which had been moved here apparently for some ceremonial purpose, and still more feebly upon the hideous, golden countenances and winding sheets of the ancient, yellow dead who stood around in scores placed one above the other, each in his appointed niche.

It was an awesome scene and one that oppressed Jeekie very much, for he murmured to Alan: "Oh my! Major, family vault child's play to this hole, just like----" here his comparison came to an end, for the Asika cut it short with a single glance.
"Sit here in front of me," she said to Alan, "and you, Jeekie, sit at your lord's side, and be silent till I bid you speak." Then she crouched down in a heap behind them, threw the cloth or veil she carried over her head, and in some way that they did not see, suddenly extinguished the lamp.
Now they were in deep darkness, the darkness of death, and in utter silence, the silence of the dead.