As before, he wore the jewelled cap and the gorgeous, flowing robes, while the table in front of him was still strewn with sheets of metal on which he wrote with a pen, or stylus, that glittered like a diamond or his own fierce eyes.
Then he lifted his head and beckoned to us to ascend the dais.
"You are here.

It is well," he said, which was all his greeting.

Only when Tommy ran up to him he bent down and patted the dog's head with his long, thin hand, and, as he did so, his face softened.

It was evident to me that Tommy was more welcome to him than were the rest of us.
There was a long silence while, one by one, he searched us with his piercing glance.

It rested on me, the last of the three of us, and from me travelled to Yva.
"I wonder why I have sent for you ?" he said at length, with a mirthless laugh.