ne yellow car, the handsome Arab who had been on the boat looked at
her with chastened curiosity as he passed. He must have seen that she
was with the Englishman who had talked to her on board the _Charles
Quex_, and that now there was another man, who seemed to be the owner of
the large automobile. The Arab had a servant with him, who had travelled
second class on the boat, a man much darker than himself, plainly
dressed, with a smaller turban bound by cheaper cord; but he was very
clean, and as dignified as his master. Stephen scarcely noticed the two
figures. The fine-looking Arab had ceased to be of importance since he
had left the ship, and would see no more of Victoria Ray.

The chauffeur who drove Nevill's car was an Algerian who looked as if he
might have a dash of dark blood in his veins. Beside him sat the Kabyle
servant, who, in his picturesque embroidered clothes, with his jaunty
fez, appeared amusingly out of place in the smart automobile, which
struck the last note of modernity. The chauffeur had a reckless, daring
face, with the smile of a mischievous boy; but he steered with caution
and skill through the crowded streets where open trams rushed by, filled
to overflowing with white-veiled Arab women of the lower classes, and
French girls in large hats, who sat crushed together on the same seats.
Arabs walked in the middle of the street, and disdained to quicken their
steps for motor cars and carriages. Tiny children with charming brown
faces and eyes like wells of light, darted out from the pavement, almost
in front of the motor, smiling and begging, absolutely, fearless and
engagingly impudent. It was all intensely interesting to Stephen, who
was, however, conscious enough of his past to be glad that he was able
to take so keen an interest. He had the sensation of a man who has been
partially paralyzed, and is delighted to find that he can feel a pinch.

The Hotel de la Kasbah, which Victoria frankly admitted she had chosen
because of its low prices, was, as its name indicated, close to the
mounting of the town, near the corner of a tortuous Arab street, narrow
and shadowy despite its thick coat of whitewash. The house was kept by
an extremely fat Algerian, married to a woman who called herself
Spanish, but was more than half Moorish; and the proprietor himself
being of mixed blood, all the servants except an Algerian maid or two,
were Kabyles or Arabs. They were cheap and easy to manage, since master
and