a_, of _epsilon_ and of _mu_. If Morhange were with
us, he would tell you many charming erudite things about it. But,
alas! Morhange does not deign to come among us any more. We never see
Morhange.'

"My fever for information found a little more favorable reception from
Rosita, the old Negress manicure. Never have I had my nails polished
so often as during those days of waiting! Now--after six years--she
must be dead. I shall not wrong her memory by recording that she was
very partial to the bottle. The poor old soul was defenseless against
those that I brought her and that I emptied with her, through
politeness.

"Unlike the other slaves, who are brought from the South toward Turkey
by the merchants of Rhat, she was born in Constantinople and had been
brought into Africa by her master when he became _kaimakam_ of
Rhadames.... But don't let me complicate this already wandering
history by the incantations of this manicure.

"'Antinea,' she said to me, 'is the daughter of
El-Hadj-Ahmed-ben-Guemama, Sultan of Ahaggar, and Sheik of the great
and noble tribe of Kel-Rhela. She was born in the year twelve hundred
and eighty-one of the Hegira. She has never wished to marry any one.
Her wish has been respected for the will of women is sovereign in this
Ahaggar where she rules to-day. She is a cousin of Sidi-el-Senoussi,
and, if she speaks the word, Christian blood will flow from Djerid to
Touat, and from Tchad to Senegal. If she had wished it, she might have
lived beautiful and respected in the land of the Christians. But she
prefers to have them come to her.'

"'Cegheir-ben-Cheikh,' I said, 'do you know him? He is entirely
devoted to her?'

"'Nobody here knows Cegheir-ben-Cheikh very well, because he is
continually traveling. It is true that he is entirely devoted to
Antinea. Cegheir-ben-Cheikh is a Senoussi, and Antinea is the cousin
of the chief of the Senoussi. Besides, he owes his life to her. He is
one of the men who assassinated the great Kebir Flatters. On account
of that, Ikenoukhen, _amenokol_ of the Adzjer Tuareg, fearing French
reprisals, wanted to deliver Cegheir-ben-Cheikh to them. When the
whole Sahara turned against him, he found asylum with Antinea.
Cegheir-ben-Cheikh will never forget it, for he is brave and observes
the law of the Prophet. To thank her, he led to Antinea, who was then
twenty years old, three French officers of the first troops of
occupation in Tunis. They are the ones who are numbered,