"I jumped out of bed and said:

"'Where is she?'

"'She does not dare to come in! There she is, under the tree.'

"And stretching out his arm, he pointed out to me, through the window, a
whitish spot at the foot of an olive tree.

"I got up immediately, and went out to where she was. As I approached
what looked like a mere bundle of linen thrown against the gnarled trunk
of the tree, I recognized the large, dark eyes, the tattooed stars, and
the long, regular features of that semi-wild girl who had so captivated
my senses. As I advanced towards her, I felt inclined to strike her, to
make her suffer pain, and to have my revenge, and so I called out to her
from a little distance:

"'Where have you been?'

"She did not reply, but remained motionless and inert, as if she were
scarcely alive, resigned to my violence, and ready to receive my blows.
I was standing up, close to her, looking in stupefaction at the rags with
which she was covered, at those bits of silk and muslin, covered with
dust, torn and dirty, and I repeated, raising my hand, as if she had been
a dog:

"'Where have you come from?'

"'From yonder,' she said, in a whisper.

"'Where is that?'

"'From the tribe.'

"'What tribe?'

"'Mine.'

"'Why did you go away?'

"When she saw that I was not going to beat her, she grew rather bolder,
and said in a low voice: "'I was obliged to do it.... I was forced to go,
I could not stop in the house any longer.'

"I saw tears in her eyes, and immediately felt softened. I leaned over
her, and when I turned round to sit down, I noticed Mohammed, who was
watching us at a distance, and I went on, very gently:

"'Come, tell me why you ran away?'

"Then she told me, that for a long time in her Nomad's heart she had felt
the irresistible desire to return to the tents, to lie, to run, to roll
on the sand; to wander about the plains with the flocks, to feel nothing
over her head, between the yellow stars in the sky and the blue stars in
her face, except the thin, threadbare, patched stuff, through which she
could see spots of fire in the sky, when she awoke during the night.

"She made me understand all that in such simple and powerful words, that
I felt quite sure that she was not lying, and pitied her, and I asked
her:

"'Why did you not tell me that you wished to go away for a time?'

"'Because you would not have allowed me...'

"'If you had promised to come back, I should have consented.'

"'You