Page:Stevenson New Arabian Nights (Scribner, 1895).djvu/181

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND.
165

find me harder than you dream, This is the first time that I have fallen across your path in anger, take care that it be the last."

With these words, motioning the clergyman to follow, Florizel left the apartment and directed his steps towards the garden-gate; and the Dictator, following with a candle, gave them light, and once more undid the elaborate fastenings with which he sought to protect himself from intrusion.

"Your daughter is no longer present," said the Prince, turning on the threshold, "Let me tell you that I understand your threats; and you have only to lift your hand to bring upon yourself sudden and irremediable ruin."

The Dictator made no reply; but as the Prince turned his back upon him in the lamplight he made gesture full of menace and insane fury; and the next moment, slipping round a corner, he was running at full speed for the nearest cab-stand.

(Here, says my Arabian, the thread of events is finally diverted from The House with the Green Blinds. One more adventure, he adds, and we have done with The Rajah's Diamond. That last link in the chain is known among the inhabitants of Bagdad by the name of The Adventure of Prince Florizel and a Detective.)