I looked at Ustane, and then staggered back in horror, for
there upon her hair, right across her bronze-like tresses, were three
finger-marks _white as snow_. As for the girl herself, she had put her
hands to her head, and was looking dazed.
"Great heavens!" I said, perfectly aghast at this dreadful manifestation
of human power; but _She_ did but laugh a little.
"Thou thinkest, poor ignorant fool," she said to the bewildered woman,
"that I have not the power to slay. Stay, there lies a mirror," and she
pointed to Leo's round shaving-glass that had been arranged by Job with
other things upon his portmanteau; "give it to this woman, my Holly, and
let her see that which lies across her hair, and whether or no I have
power to slay."
I picked up the glass, and held it before Ustane's eyes. She gazed, then
felt at her hair, then gazed again, and then sank upon the ground with a
sort of sob.
"Now, wilt thou go, or must I strike a second time?" asked Ayesha, in
mockery. "Look, I have set my seal upon thee so that I may know thee
till thy hair is all as white as it.
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