ing her
thoughts, "for I am not worthy of thy notice. Were I to cross thy
threshold, were I to lay my hand upon thee, as surely should I pollute
thee. There is that within me which cries aloud, urging me to lead thy
feet upon the burning desert sands; and, again, there is that within me
which would fain force thee, for thy happiness, upon the path running
through the Field of Content. Yet, behold, art thou all safe with me."

"Could I help you? If you were to tell me your trouble, perhaps it
would be easier?"

"The moment is not yet, woman, but, being a teller of tales, even as I
am a teller of fortunes, one day will I sit at thy feet and, for the
passing of an hour, will tell thee the story of the Hawk of Egypt."

"You have made this hour pass so pleasantly that I should--should like
to--to give you something so as--as to show you how pleased I am. But
I have nothing with me, nothing."

She put out her hands and turned them down.

The man looked down at her for a moment with blazing eyes.

"Give me--as a reward--Allah--give me----" They stood quite still as
the torrent surged, about them. "Give me the ring from off thy
finger," he added, gently.

The girl held out her hand.

"Take it, though it seems a poor reward for all you have promised me."

"Nay, give it thou to me."

She slipped it off and held it out, showing a bruise across the back of
her hand.

"Allah!" whispered the man, "that I should mark thee thus--and yet, in
love--in love!"

He took the ring, of which the dull-gold setting held an emerald in the
form of a scarab with heartshaped base.

The fortune-teller turned it over in the palm of his hand, then held it
out.

"Nay, this I cannot take. I thought it was a ring from the bazaar to
go with thy dress of fantasy. Behold, it is an amulet of the heart,
of--nay, I cannot tell thus quickly of what dynasty--with words of
power engraved upon it which read thus:

"'_My heart, my mother; my heart, my mother. My heart whereby I came
into being_.'"

The girl listened entranced, touching the ring with finger-tips which
felt as snow-flakes upon the man's hand.

"What is an amulet of the heart?"

"In the days of Ancient Egypt, when the heart had been taken from the
dead body for purposes of preservation, an amulet, a scarab, sometimes
heart-shaped, was placed within the body to ensure it life and movement
in the new life."

They both stood looking down upon the jewel, the girl's finge