ion and a quick glance at his
companion, who did not rise from the divan, and who answered the look
with a grunt which, doubtless, meant consent.

There were no seats in the place, save the rug-covered divan, which
filled one side from corner to corner. The floor was covered with
rugs, and the walls were hung with the same, except where, a little at
one side in the rear wall, was a narrow door, painted almost black,
and having a ponderous and strange-looking latch.

The wall draperies, to me, looked simply a well-blended pattern in
dull blue and other soft tints; just such as one might see in the
shops anywhere. But the ladies were of a different opinion, and they
at once began a close and exclamatory inspection of each, extolling
their colour, their texture, their quaint designs, their rarity and
costliness.

They had viewed the rugs upon the rear walls, Lossing seeming not far
behind them in the matter of admiration, and had passed to the side
wall opposite the divan, and quite out of sight from the street, there
being no windows on that side, in fact on no side of the rug-hung
room, which was lighted solely by the door, that, standing wide open,
served as a further screen for those behind it.

Mrs. Camp, having faithfully tried to admire the rugs for courtesy's
sake, had failed utterly; and to the evident surprise of the silent
Egyptian, who still sat in his place, had coolly seated herself upon
the end of the divan nearest the street, our host, meantime, standing
near the middle of the room, alert, and evidently somewhat curious.

After a brief glance at the second row of rugs, I had crossed the
small room and seated myself near Mrs. Camp, and a moment later a big
determined-looking woman--American or English, if one might judge from
her face and dress, the latter being full mourning and in the height
of fashion--entered.

She neither spoke nor looked about her, but went, with the tread of a
tragedy queen, toward that narrow dark door in the rear wall. In an
instant, before the startled Cairene could prevent her, she had her
hand upon the door, and had jerked it half open; but before she could
enter, the tall Oriental had reached her side, and somehow instantly
the door was closed, and the woman staring at it and him as he stood
before it.

He bent toward her, and uttered some word, respectful it seemed, but
decisive, and she, with a baffled and angry look, turned slowly and
went out.

But she took my ben