It was hot, and a pang of remorse shot through me.

If this place had so shaken me, how must it have shaken Olaf?
It was with relief that I watched him, at Lakla's gentle command, drop into one of the litters and lie back, eyes closed, as two of the monsters raised its yoke to their scaled shoulders.

Nor was it without further relief that I myself lay back on the soft velvety cushions of another.
The cavalcade began to move.

Lakla had ordered O'Keefe placed beside her, and she sat, knees crossed Orient fashion, leaning over the pale head on her lap, the white, tapering fingers straying fondly through his hair.
Presently I saw her reach up, slowly unwind the coronal of her tresses, shake them loose, and let them fall like a veil over her and him.
Her head bent low; I heard a soft sobbing--I turned away my gaze, lorn enough in my own heart, God knew!.