Neighbors heard her and ran
up, and she said to them:
"Yesterday, my parents went up to their room. I do not know who has
killed them both."
The bolder ones went up the stairs to see. They opened the
bed-curtains, and there were the man and his wife, stiff and with
their throats cut across. They looked to right and left. The window
was shut, and nothing was disturbed.
"It is a serious matter," they muttered. "Let us not act hastily."
One of them went at once to warn the district chief of police, who
came and examined the scene of the crime. He shut and sealed the
house, and led Eternal Life to the Governor's Court. The girl knelt
down and told all that she knew, and the Governor said:
"If the door and windows were closed, and nothing has been stolen, the
matter is dubious. Had your father an enemy?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"That is strange!" murmured the Governor, and thought for a moment.
Suddenly he told the officers to take off the silken veil with which
the young girl had half-covered her head. He could then see her
exceptional beauty.
"How old are you? Are you not betrothed?"
"I am seventeen, and I am still free."
"And you sleep on the ground-floor, while your parents have their room
above? That is very curious."
"Until quite recently your slave slept above. But fifteen days ago
they made a change.
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