by the Moors who were in
Granada?"

"I've told him about all I care most for in Tlemcen," returned Nevill,
with that boyish demureness he affected sometimes. "But I'm not a
competent cicerone. If you want Knight to do justice to the wonders of
this place, you'll have to be our guide. We've got room for several
large-sized chaperons in the car. Do come. Don't say you won't! I feel
as if I couldn't stand it."

His tone was so desperate that Josette laughed some of her brightness
back again. "Then I suppose I mustn't refuse. And I should like
going--after school hours. Madame de Vaux, who is the bride of a French
officer, will join us, I think, for she and I are friends, and besides,
she has had no chance to see things yet. She has been busy settling in
her quarters--and I have helped her a little."

"When can you start?" asked Nevill, enraptured at the prospect of a few
happy hours snatched from fate.

"Not till five."

His face fell. "But that's cruel!"

"It would be cruel to my children to desert them sooner. Don't forget I
am malema--malema before all. And there will be time for seeing nearly
everything. We can go to Sidi Bou-Medine, afterwards to the ruins of
Mansourah by sunset. Meanwhile, show your friend the things near by,
without me; the old town, with its different quarters for the Jews, the
Arabs, and the Negroes. He will like the leather-workers and the bakers,
and the weavers of haicks. And you will not need me for the Grande
Mosquee, or for the Mosquee of Aboul Hassan, where Monsieur Knight will
see the most beautiful mihrab in all the world. When he has looked at
that, he cannot be sorry he has come to Tlemcen; and if he has regrets,
Sidi Bou-Medine will take them away."

"Has Sidi Bou-Medine the power to cure all sorrows?" Stephen asked,
smiling.

"Indeed, yes. Why, Sidi Bou-Medine himself is one of the greatest
marabouts. You have but to take a pinch of earth from his tomb, and make
a wish upon it. Only one wish, but it is sure to be granted, whatever it
may be, if you keep the packet of earth afterwards, and wear it near
your heart."

"What a shame you never told me that before. The time I've wasted!"
exclaimed Nevill. "But I'll make up for it now. Thank Heaven I'm
superstitious."

They had forgotten Stephen, and laughing into each other's eyes, were
perfectly happy for the moment. Stephen was glad, yet he felt vaguely
resentful that they could forget the girl for whose sake the journey to