The shade of the window was worked by means of a small cord. I pulled
it down. Then I tied it into a firm leash which I fastened to the
metal collar of the leopard.
I half opened the door.
"There, now you can go. But quietly, quietly."
I had all the trouble in the world to curb the ardor of King Hiram who
dragged me along the shadowy labyrinth of corridors. It was shortly
before nine o'clock, and the rose-colored night lights were almost
burned out in the niches. Now and then, we passed one which was
casting its last flickers. What a labyrinth! I realized that from here
on I would not recognize the way to her room. I could only follow the
leopard.
At first furious, he gradually became used to towing me. He strained
ahead, belly to the ground, with snuffs of joy.
Nothing is more like one black corridor than another black corridor.
Doubt seized me. Suppose I should suddenly find myself in the baccarat
room! But that was unjust to King Hiram. Barred too long from the dear
presence, the good beast was taking me exactly where I wanted him to
take me.
Suddenly, at a turn, the darkness ahead lifted. A rose window, faintly
glimmering red and green, appeared before us.
The leopard stopped with a low growl before the door in which the rose
window was cut.
I recognized it as the door through which the white Targa had led me
the day after my arrival, when I had been set upon by King Hiram, when
I had found myself in the presence of Antinea.
"We are much better friends to-day," I said, flattering him so that he
would not give a dangerously loud growl.
I tried to open the door. The light, coming through the window, fell
upon the floor, green and red.
A simple latch, which I turned. I shortened the leash to have better
control of King Hiram who was getting nervous.
The great room where I had seen Antinea for the first time was
completely dark. But the garden on which it gave shone under a
clouded moon, in a sky weighted down with the storm which did not
break. Not a breath of air. The lake gleamed like a sheet of pewter.
I seated myself on a cushion, holding the leopard firmly between my
knees. He was purring with impatience. I was thinking. Not about my
goal. For a long time that had been fixed. But about the means.
Then, I seemed to hear a distant murmur, a faint sound of voices.
King Hiram growled louder, struggled. I gave him a little more leash.
He began to rub along the dark walls on the sides whence the voices
seemed to come. I followed him, stumbling as quietly as I could among
the scattered cushions.