ised her hand again to her lips. It was of a gleaming
ivory colour, and the long tapered fingers were laden with singular
jewellery--exquisite enamel work, which he knew to be Ancient
Egyptian, but which did not seem out of place in this dream adventure.

"I was afraid to make any unnecessary disturbance," she replied.
"Please do not delay, but come at once."

Dr. Cairn adjusted his dressing-gown, and followed the veiled
messenger along the balcony. For a dream city, Port Said appeared
remarkably substantial, as it spread out at his feet, its dingy
buildings whitened by the moonlight. But his progress was dreamlike,
for he seemed to glide past many windows, around the corner of the
building, and, without having consciously exerted any physical effort,
found his hands grasped by warm jewelled fingers, found himself guided
into some darkened room, and then, possessed by that doubting which
sometimes comes in dreams, found himself hesitating. The moonlight did
not penetrate to the apartment in which he stood, and the darkness
about him was impenetrable.

But the clinging fingers did not release their hold, and vaguely aware
that he was acting in a manner which might readily be misconstrued, he
nevertheless allowed his unseen guide to lead him forward.

Stairs were descended in phantom silence--many stairs. The coolness of
the air suggested that they were outside the hotel. But the darkness
remained complete. Along what seemed to be a stone-paved passage they
advanced mysteriously, and by this time Dr. Cairn was wholly resigned
to the strangeness of his dream.

Then, although the place lay in blackest shadow, he saw that they were
in the open air, for the starry sky swept above them.

It was a narrow street--at points, the buildings almost met
above--wherein, he now found himself. In reality, had he been in
possession of his usual faculties, awake, he would have asked himself
how this veiled woman had gained admittance to the hotel, and why she
had secretly led him out from it. But the dreamer's mental lethargy
possessed him, and, with the blind faith of a child, he followed on,
until he now began vaguely to consider the personality of his guide.

She seemed to be of no more than average height, but she carried
herself with unusual grace, and her progress was marked by a certain
hauteur. At the point where a narrow lane crossed that which they were
traversing the veiled figure was silhouetted for a moment against the