his, and clasping them tightly he
bent forward, trying to scan the changes in her hesitating look,
while his words poured forth in a stream of praise and promise. She
would live like a little princess. His love and his wealth were at
her feet. Other women were eager for him, but he was hers alone. She
would adore Egypt, the Egypt that he would reveal to her, and when
she wearied they would go to the Continent and live always as she
desired. Only she must be kind to him, be kind and sweet and lift
her eyes and tell him that she would make him happy. She must not
keep him waiting. He was not a man with whom one amused oneself.

"And I am not a girl whom one commands!" she gave back with a flash
of spirit and a childish toss of her head. "I like you, Monsieur, at
least I did like you before you hurt my fingers so horribly"--the
tight grasp on her hands relaxed and she drew them swiftly away,
rubbing them in mock ruefulness--"and I could like you better and
better--perhaps"--her blue eyes flashed a look into his--"if you
were _very_ nice and polite and give me time to catch my breath! You
are such a _hurrying_ sort of person!" Her whimsical little smile
enchanted him, even while he chafed at such delay.

"I am mad about you," he said in a low tone.

"And only me?" she laughed, her dimples showing.

So, teasing and luring, she held him off, and her heart beat
exultantly as she saw that she had given him the thought of marriage
for that of conquest, the dream of a perfect idyll for that of an
enforced submission.... It was a desperate play, but she played it
valiantly, and her fearfulness and the spell of her beauty sweetened
the role of beseeching suitor for him, and gave a glamour to this
pretty garden dalliance.... The memory of time came to him at last
with a start, and frowningly he stared at the watch he drew out to
consult.

"I must hurry away--to another part of the palace," he amended
swiftly, "where I have an engagement.... I shall not be at liberty
till to-night--rather late. I will send word to you, then----"

She shook her head at him. "To-morrow," she substituted gaily. "Let
us have luncheon to-morrow under the trees again like this.

"To-morrow is too far away----"

"No, it is just right for me. And if you really want to please
me----"

"But does it please you to make me miserable----?"

"You can't be very miserable when you have a luncheon engagement,"
she insisted. "_I'm_ not!"

He shrugged. "