"I know nothing of the matter," continued Goritz. "A Christian comes into your Harim and you kill him. If he turns out to be an officer of the law, what is it to me?"
"You will pay me that which you owe," shrieked the Effendi. "The man has broken my furniture."
"It is a pity he didn't break your head. I pay you nothing."
And then to Marishka, "Come, Countess, we must be upon our way."
Marishka stood staring at Goritz, a new horror in her eyes. She now understood. The Effendi thrust himself between them.
"You will pay me that which you owe," he stormed again.
"Stand aside!" said the German, and then to Marishka,
"If the Countess Strahni will be good enough to accompany me?" he said, civilly.
But Marishka stood fixed, staring at him with alien eyes, as the Effendi rushed forward toward her, his arms extended.
"She shall not go. She will see what has been done. He is _not the man_. She will remain here in my house until----"
"Stand aside, Effendi!" cried Goritz furiously, and as the man did not move, he caught him by the shoulder and thrust him roughly aside. He scorned to use a weapon, and the other man and the woman seemed completely dominated by his air of command.
"You will please come at once, Countess Strahni. There is no telling how soon the police will be coming."
Goritz paused, examining her keenly, as though he had not quite understood.
"I have asked you quite courteously, Countess----"
"I will not go," repeated Marishka. Her voice was ice-cold, like her body, which seemed to be frozen into immobility.
"I beg to remind you of your promise--to go with me----"
"Then I must take you," he said, striding toward her furiously, and reaching out a hand to seize her by the wrist.
Then a strange thing happened. The man in armor, in the corner behind Marishka, strode clanking forth into the room, while a voice reverberated in the iron helmet. What it said no one understood. The Effendi gazed at the moving thing in terror, and then with a shriek fled down the stairs, Zubeydeh and her companion, _calling in loud tones upon Allah_, at his heels. Goritz glanced at the thing and then stood irresolute a moment, as the man in the armor slowly raised an arm, for at the end of the arm Goritz saw a revolver pointed directly at him.