you!"

The man stood almost motionless, moistening his dry lips with his
tongue, but his eyes moved continually, stealing uneasy glances around
him and upward, where, on the main terrace above them, the heads of
the throng passed and repassed.

"Nihla," he said, "for all thees scorn and abuse of me, you know, in
the false heart of you, why it ees so if I have seek you."

"You dealer in lies! You would have sold me to d'Eblis! You thought
you _had_ sold me! You were paid for it, too!"

"An' still!" He looked at her furtively.

"What do you mean? You conspired with d'Eblis to ruin me, soul and
body! You involved me in your treacherous propaganda in Paris. Through
you I am an exile. If I go back to my own country, I shall go to a
shameful death. You have blackened my honour in my country's eyes. But
that was not enough. No! You thought me sufficiently broken, degraded,
terrified to listen to any proposition from you. You sent your agents
to me with offers of money if I would betray my country. Finding I
would not, you whined and threatened. Then, like the Eurasian dog you
are, you tried to bargain. You were eager to offer me anything if I
would keep quiet and not interfere----"

"Nihla!"

"What?" she said, contemptuously.

"In spite of thees--of all you say--I have love you!"

"Liar!" she retorted wrathfully. "Do you dare say that to me, whom you
have already tried to murder?"

"I say it. Yas. Eef it has not been so then you were dead long time."

"You--you are trying to tell me that you spared me!" she demanded
scornfully.

"It ees so. Alexandre--d'Eblis, you know?--long time since he would
have safety for us all--thees way. Non! Je ne pourrais pas vouz tuer,
moi! It ees not in my heart, Nihla.... Because I have love you long
time--ver' long time."

"Because you have _feared_ me long time, ver' long time!" she mocked
him. "That is why, Ferez--because you are afraid; because you are only
a jackal. And jackals never kill. No!"

"You say thees-a to me, Nihla?"

"Yes, I say it. You're a coward! And I'll tell you something more. I
am going to make a complete statement to the French Government. I
shall relate everything I know about d'Eblis, Bolo Effendi, a certain
bureaucrat, an Italian politician, a Swiss banker, old Von-der-Goltz
Pasha, Heimholz, Von-der-Hohe Pasha, and you, my Ferez--and you,
also!

[Illustration: HE CAME TOWARD HER STEALTHILY]

"Do you know what France will do to d'Eblis and his scou