THE PRINCESS AND THE JEWEL DOCTOR By Robert Hichens Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers Copyright, 1905 In St. Petersburg society there may be met at the present time a certainRussian Princess, who is noted for her beauty, for an ugly defect--shehas lost the forefinger of her left hand--and for her extraordinaryattachment to the city of Tunis, where she has spent at least threemonths of each year since 1890--the year in which she suffered theaccident that deprived her of a finger. What that accident was, andwhy she is so passionately attached to Tunis, nobody in Russia seems toknow, not even her doting husband, who bows to all her caprices. But twopersons could explain the matter--a Tunisian guide named Abdul, and arather mysterious individual who follows a humble calling in the RueBen-Ziad, close to the Tunis bazaars. This latter is the Princess'spersonal attendant during her yearly visit to Tunis. He accompanies hereverywhere, may be seen in the hall of her hotel when she is at home, onthe box of her carriage when she drives out, close behind her whenshe is walking. He is her shadow in Africa. Only when she goes back toRussia does he return to his profession in the Rue Ben-Ziad. This is the exact history of the accident which befell the Princess in1890. In the spring of that year she arrived one night at Tunis. Shehad not long been married to an honourable man whom she adored. She wasrich, pretty, and popular. Yet her life was clouded by a great fearthat sometimes made the darkness of night almost intolerable to her. Shedreaded lest the darkness of blindness should come upon her. Both hermother, now dead, and her grandfather had laboured under this defect. They had been born with sight, and had become totally blind ere theyreached the age of forty. Princess Danischeff--as we may call her forthe purpose of this story--trembled when she thought of their fate, and that it might be hers. Certain books that she read, certainconversations on the subject of heredity that she heard in Petersburgsociety fed her terror. Occasionally, too, when she stood under a stronglight she felt a slight pain in her eyes. She never spoke of her fear, but she fell into a condition of nervous exhaustion that alarmed herhusband and her physician. The latter recommended foreign travel as atonic. The former, who was detained in the capital by political affairs, reluctantly agreed to a separation from his wife. And thus it cameabout, that, late one night of spring, the Princess and her companion, the elderly Countess de Rosnikoff, arrived in Tunis at the close of atour in Algeria, and put up at the Hotel Royal. The bazaars of Tunis are among the best that exist in the world ofbazaars, and, on the morning after her arrival, the Princess was anxiousto explore them with her companion. But Madame de Rosnikoff was fatiguedby her journey from Constantine. She begged the Princess to go withouther, desiring earnestly to be left in her bedroom with a cup of weaktea and a French novel. The Princess, therefore, ordered a guide and setforth to the bazaars. The guide's name was Abdul. He was a talkative young Eastern, and as heturned with the Princess into the network of tiny alleys that spreadsfrom the Bab-el-bahar to the bazaars, he poured forth a flood ofinformation about the marvels of his native city. The Princess listenedidly. That morning she was cruelly pre-occupied. As she stepped outof the hotel into the bright sunshine she had felt a sharp pain in hereyes, and now, though she held over her head a large green parasol, thepain continued. She looked at the light and thought of the darkness thatmight be coming upon her, and the chatter of Abdul sounded vague in herears. Presently, however, she was forced to attend to him, for he askedher a direct question. "To-day they sell jewels by auction near the Mosquée Djama-ez-Zitouna, "he said. "Would the gracious Princess like to see the market of thejewels?" The Princess put her hand to her eyes and assented in a low voice. Abdulturned out of the sunshine into a narrow alley covered with a woodenroof. It was full of shadows and of squatting men, who held out brownhands to the Princess as she passed. But she was staring at the shadowsand did not see the merchants of Goblin Market. Leaving this alley Abdulled her abruptly into a dense crowd of Arabs, who were all talking, gesticulating, and moving hither and thither, apparently under theinfluence of extreme excitement. Many of them held rings, bracelets, orbrooches between their fingers, and some extended palms upon which layquantities of uncut jewels--turquoises, sapphires, and emeralds. At alittle distance a grave man was noting down something in a book. Butthe Princess scarcely observed the progress of the jewel auction. Herattention had been attracted by an extraordinary figure that stood nearher. This was an immensely tall Arab, dressed in a dingy brown robe, andwearing upon his shaven head, which narrowed almost to a point at theback, a red fez with a large black tassel. His claw-like hands werecovered with rings and his bony wrists with bracelets. But the attentionof the Princess was riveted by his eyes. They were small and bright, andsquinted horribly--so horribly, that it was impossible to tell at whathe was looking. These eyes gave to his face an expression of diabolicand ruthless vigilance and cunning. He seemed at the same time to beseeing everything and to be gazing definitely at nothing. "That is Safti, the jewel doctor, " murmured Abdul in the ear of thePrincess. "A jewel doctor! What is that?" asked the Princess. "When you are sick he cures you with jewels. " "And what can he cure?" said the Princess, still looking at Safti, who was now bargaining vociferously with a fat Arab for a piece ofmilk-white jade. "All things. I was sick of a fever that comes with the summer. He gaveme a stone crushed to a powder, and I was well. He saved from death oneof the Bey's sons, who was dying from hijada. And then, too, he has astone in a ring which can preserve sight to him who is going blind. " The Princess started violently. "Impossible!" she cried. "It is true, " said Abdul. "It is a green stone--like that. " He pointed to an emerald which an Arab was holding up to the light. The Princess put her hand to her eyes. They still ached, and her templeswere throbbing furiously. "I cannot stay here, " she said. "It is too hot. But---- tell the jeweldoctor that I wish to visit him. Where does he live?" "In a little street, Rue Ben-Ziad, in a little house. But he is rich. "Abdul spread his arms abroad. "When will the gracious Princess----?" "This afternoon. At--at four o'clock you will take me. " Abdul spoke to Safti, who turned, squinted horribly at the Princess, andsalaamed to her with a curious and contradictory dignity, turning hisfingers, covered with jewels, towards the earth. That afternoon, at four, when the venerable Madame de Rosnikoff wasstill drinking her weak tea and reading her French novel, the Princessand Abdul stood before the low wooden door of the jewel doctor's house. Abdul struck upon it, and the terrible physician appeared in the darkaperture, looking all ways with his deformed eyes, which fascinated thePrincess. Having ascertained that he could speak a little broken French, like many of the Tunisian Arabs, she bade Abdul wait outside, andentered the hovel of the jewel doctor, who shut close the door behindher. The room in which she found herself was dark and scented. Faint lightfrom the street filtered in through an aperture in the wall, acrosswhich was partially drawn a wooden shutter. Round the room ran adivan covered with straw matting, and Safti now conducted the Princessceremoniously to this, and handed her a cup of thick coffee, which hetook from a brass tray that was placed upon a stand. As she sipped thecoffee and looked at the pointed head and twisted gaze of Safti, thePrincess heard some distant Arab at a street corner singing monotonouslya tuneless song, and the scent, the darkness, the reiterated song, andthe tall, strange creature standing silently before her gave to her, intheir combination, the atmosphere of a dream. She found it difficult tospeak, to explain her errand. At length she said: "You are a doctor? You can cure the sick?" Safti salaamed. "With jewels? Is that possible?" "Jewels are the only medicine, " Safti replied, speaking with suddenvolubility. "With the ruby I cure madness, with the white jade thedisease of the hijada, and with the bloodstone haemorrhage. I havemade a man who was ill of fever wear a topaz, and he arose from bed andwalked happily in the street. " "And with an emerald, " interrupted the Princess; "have you not preservedsight with an emerald? They told me so. " Safti's expression suddenly became grim and suspicious. "Who said that?" he asked sharply. "Abdul. Is it true? Can it be true?" Her cheeks were flushed. She spoke almost with violence, laying her handupon his arm. Safti seemed to stare hard into the corners of the littleroom. Perhaps he was really looking at the Princess. At length he said:"It is true. " "I will give any price you ask for it, " said the Princess. "You!" said Safti. "But you--" Suddenly he lifted his lean hands, took the face of the Princess betweenthem quite gently, and turned it towards the small window. She hadbegun to tremble. Holding her soft cheeks with his brown fingers, Saftiremained motionless for a long time, during which it seemed to thePrincess that he was looking away from her at some distant object. Shewatched his frightful and surreptitious eyes, that never told the truth, she heard the distant Arab's everlasting song, and her dream became anightmare. At last Safti dropped his hands and said: "It may be that some day you will need my emerald. " The Princess felt as if at that moment a bullet entered her heart. "Give it me--give it me!" she cried. "I am rich. I------" "I do not sell my medicines, " Safti answered. "Those who use them mustlive near me, here in Tunis. When they are healed they give back to methe jewel that has saved them. But you--you live far off. " With the swiftness of a woman the Princess saw that persuasion would beuseless. Safti's face looked hard as brown wood. She seemed to recoverfrom her emotion, and said quietly: "At least you will let me see the emerald?" Safti went to a small bureau that stood at the back of the room, openedone of its drawers with a key which he drew from beneath his dingy robe, lifted a small silver box carefully out, returned to the Princess, andput the box into her hand. "Open it, " he said. She obeyed, and took out a very small and antique gold ring, in whichwas set a rather dull emerald. Safti drew it gently from her, and put itupon the forefinger of her left hand. It was so tiny that it would notpass beyond the joint of the finger, and it looked ugly and odd upon thePrincess, who wore many beautiful rings. Now that she saw it she feltthe superstition that had sprung from her terror dying within her. Safti, with his crooked eyes, must have read her thought in her face, for he said: "The Princess is wrong. That medicine could cure her. The one who wearsit for three months in each year can never be blind. " Taking the emerald from her finger, he touched her two eyes with it, andit seemed to the Princess that, as he did so, the pain she felt in themwithdrew. Her desire for the jewel instantly returned. "Let me wear it, " she said, putting forth all her charm to soften thejewel doctor. "Let me take it with me to Russia. I will make you rich. " Safti shook his head. "The Princess may wear it here, in Tunis, " he replied. "Not elsewhere. " She began to temporise, hoping to conquer his resistance later. "I may take it with me now?" she asked. "At a fee. " "I will pay it. " The jewel doctor went to the door, and called in Abdul. Five minuteslater the Princess passed the singing Arab at the corner of the street, Rue Ben-Ziad. She had signed a paper pledging herself to return theemerald to Safti at the end of forty-eight hours, and to pay 125 francsfor her possession of it during that time. And she wore the emerald onthe forefinger of her left hand. On the following morning Madame de Rosnikoff said to the Princess: "I hate Tunis. It has an evil climate. The tea here is too strong, andI feel sure the drains are bad. Last night I was feverish. I am alwaysfeverish when I am near bad drains. " The Princess, who had slept well, and had waked with no pain in hereyes, answered these complaints cheerily, made the Countess some teathat was really weak, and drove her out in the sunshine to see Carthage. The Countess did not see it, because there is no longer a Carthage. Shewent to bed that night in a bad humour, and again complained of drainsthe next morning. This time the Princess did not heed her, for she wasthinking of the hour when she must return the emerald to Safti. "What an ugly ring that is, " said the old Countess. "Where did you getit? It is too small. Why do you wear it?" "I--I bought it in the bazaars, " answered the Princess. "My dear, you wasted your money, " said the companion; and she went tobed with another French novel. That afternoon the Princess implored Safti to sell her the emerald, and as he persistently declined she renewed her lease of it for anotherforty-eight hours. As she left the jewel doctor's home she did notnotice that he spoke some words in a low and eager voice to Abdul, pointing towards her as he did so. Nor did she see the strange bustle ofvaried life in the street as she walked slowly under the great Moorisharch of the Porte de France. She was deeply thoughtful. Since she had worn the ugly ring of Safti she had suffered no pain fromher eyes, and a strange certainty had gradually come upon her that, while the emerald was in her possession, she would be safe from theterrible disease of which she had so long lived in terror. Yet Saftiwould not let her have the ring. And she could not live for ever inTunis. Already she had prolonged her stay abroad, and was due in Russia, where her anxious husband awaited her. She knew not what to do. Suddenlyan idea occurred to her. It made her flush red and tingle with shame. She glanced up, and saw the lustrous eyes of Abdul fixed intently uponher. As he left her at the door of the hotel he said, "The Princess will stay long in Tunis?" "Another week at least, Abdul, " she answered carelessly. "You can gohome now. I shall not want you any more to-day. " And she walked into the hotel without looking at him again. When she wasin her room she sent for a list of the steamers sailing daily from Tunisfor the different ports of Africa and Europe. Presently she came to thebedside of Madame de Rosnikoff. "Countess, " she said, "you are no better?" "How can I be? The drains are bad, and the tea here is too strong. " "There is a boat that leaves for Sicily at midnight--for Marsala. Shallwe go in her?" The old lady bounded on her pillow. "Straight on by Italy to Russia?" she cried joyfully. The Princess nodded. A fierce excitement shone in her pretty eyes, andher little hands were trembling as she looked down at the dull emeraldof Safti. ***** At eleven o'clock that night the Princess and the Countess got into acarriage, drove to the edge of the huge salt lake by which Tunis liesand went on board the Stella d'Italia. The sky was starless. The winds were still, and it was very dark. As theship glided out from the shore the old Countess hurried below. But thePrincess remained on deck, leaning upon the bulwark, and gazing at thefading lights of the city where Safti dwelt. Two flames seemed burningin her heart, a fierce flame of joy, a fierce flame of contempt--ofcontempt for herself. For was she not a common thief? She looked atSafti's ring on her finger, and flushed scarlet in the darkness. Yet shewas joyful, triumphant, as she heard the beating of the ship's heart, and saw the lights of Tunis growing fainter in the distance, and feltthe onward movement of the _Stella d'Italia_ through the night. Shefelt herself nearer to Russia with each throb of the machinery. And fromRussia she would expiate her sin. From Russia she would compensate Saftifor his loss. The lights of Tunis grew fainter. She thought of the opensea. But suddenly she felt that the ship was slowing down. The engines beatmore feebly, then ceased to beat. The ship glided on for a moment insilence, and stopped. A cold fear ran over the Princess. She called to asailor. "Why, " she said, "why do we stop? Is anything wrong?" He pointed to some lights on the port side. "We are off Hammam-Lif, madame, " he said. "We are going to lie to forhalf-an-hour to take in cargo. " To the Princess that half-hour seemed all eternity. She remained upondeck, and whenever she heard the splash of oars as a boat drew near, orthe guttural sound of an Arab voice, she trembled, and, staring into theblackness, fancied that she saw the tall figure, the pointed head, andthe deformed eyes of the jewel doctor. But the minutes passed. Thecargo was all got on board. The boats drew off. And once again the shipshuddered as the heart of her began to beat, and the ebon water ranbackward from her prow. Then the Princess was glad. She laid the hand on which shone Safti'semerald upon the bulwark, and gazed towards the sea, turning her backupon the lights of Hammam-Lif. She thought of safety, of Russia. She didnot hear a soft step drawing near upon the deck behind her. She did notsee the flash of steel descending to the bulwark on which her hand waslaid. But suddenly the horrible cry of a woman in agony rang through thenight. It was instantly succeeded by a splash in the water, as a tallfigure dived over the vessel's side. When the sun rose on the following day over the minarets of Tunis the_Stella d'ltalia_, with the Princess on board, was far out at sea. The emerald of Safti was once more in the little house in the RueBen-Ziad. It was still upon the Princess's finger.