>>5692839Within the brougham, and the confines of the carriage, you ponder the impartations that Leighton, The Artist, divulged amidst his demented ramblings, visions and hallucinations. With pigment and brush he had sculpted upon canvas a vision of The Odalisque, a wanton Temptress of irresistible enticements, who would satiate the desires and secret wishes of any who might have once beheld her. Lord Mortmain had confiscated the painting and Leighton had been disgraced. Yet the artist had also hinted that there was more to this Odalisque - that perhaps he had seen a vision of the very same Temptress who had brought about the downfall of bygone kings, who had danced and demanded men decapitated before an ensorcelled throne, utterly entranced and possessed by her power. Was this the power of women? The power that women wielded over men, reaching through the ancient ages unto this very present day of now? Whatever could the Lord High Intelligencer Streynsham Mortmain want from this?
