l.

They talked, instead, disjointedly upon things which, though they
interested them mightily, were not near their hearts as is the Hill to
the Harrovian. They had both come to a decision, which, however, left
them in nowise comforted.

Ben Kelham decided as he walked about the tent that not a word about
the anonymous letter or the courtesan should pass his lips. How could
he ever have thought of mentioning the matter, even if it had been only
as a safeguard for the future in finding out the best way in which to
silence the woman's lying tongue? Besides, if Carden, he thought, had
met Damaris or the duchess, he would most surely have said so--which
only showed that he knew nothing whatsoever about the Oriental.

Hugh Carden Ali had come to his decision even as he had realised that
honour bade him give up the girl whom he had held so close to his heart
in his one hour reft from life; on the pretext of want of
accommodation, with promise to meet in Cairo or elsewhere as soon as
possible, he would send Ben Kelham back upon the track to Luxor, and by
a circuitous route would take the girl at dawn to a spot from whence
she could ride to Kulla, and get from there by boat to Denderah or back
to Luxor.

None save the _sayis_ knew she had come to the tents this night, and he
was faithful and as dumb as a dog. Besides--the Oriental had shrugged
his shoulders--if he should prove to be otherwise, what easier than to
silence him for all eternity?

And if a life barren of love stretched as bleak and limitless as the
desert before him, what then? Life was short, and if children of mixed
races were to suffer the hell he must suffer through honour, well,
surely praise should be offered to Allah in that he would never see his
man-child upon the breast of woman.

"Kismet!"

He whispered the Oriental's supreme submission to the inevitable and
caught his breath, then lit another cigarette.

Ben Kelham placed his hand upon the chequered curtain, which swung back
at his touch.

"Is this where you sleep, Carden? I never thought you had another room
behind."

"It is the room in which I make my ablutions prescribed by Mohammed the
Prophet of Allah who is God, at the hour of prayer."

The words, which were in truth a prayer for the safe keeping of the
woman be loved and had renounced, rang sonorously through the tent,
causing Ben Kelham to turn and look at the Oriental, who had risen to
his feet as he prayed.

The two fine