ria,
and she understood that this reserve arose from delicacy. Her heart
began to beat, and she felt that the way to her sister might be opening
at last. The fact that she did feel this, made her tell herself that it
must be true. Instinct was not given for nothing!

She thought, too, of Stephen Knight. He would be glad to-morrow, when
meeting her at luncheon in his friend's house, to hear good news.
Already she had been to see Jeanne Soubise, in the curiosity-shop, and
had bought a string of amber prayer-beads. She had got an introduction
to the Governor from the American Consul, whom she had visited before
unpacking, lest the consular office should be closed for the day; and
she had obtained an appointment at the palace for the next morning; but
all that was not much to tell Mr. Knight. It seemed to her that even in
a few hours she ought to have accomplished more. Now, however, the key
of the door which opened into the golden silence might be waiting for
her hand.

In three or four minutes the landlord came back, and begged to show her
his wife's _petit salon_. This time as she passed the Arab she bowed,
and gave him a grateful smile. He rose, and stood with his head slightly
bent until she had gone out, remaining in the dining-room until the
landlord returned to say that he was expected by Mademoiselle.

"Remember," Si Maieddine said in Arabic to the fat man, "everybody is to
be discreet, now and later. I shall see that all are rewarded for
obedience."

"Thou art considerate, even of the humblest," replied the half-breed,
using the word "thou," as all Arabs use it. "Thy presence is an honour
for my house, and all in it is thine."

Si Maieddine--who had never been in the Hotel de la Kasbah before, and
would not have considered it worthy of his patronage if he had not had
an object in coming--allowed himself to be shown the door of Madame
Constant's salon. On the threshold, the landlord retired, and the young
man was hardly surprised to find, on entering, that Madame was not in
the room.

Victoria was there alone; but free from self-consciousness as she always
was, she received Si Maieddine without embarrassment. She saw no reason
to distrust him, just because he was an Arab.

Now, how glad she was that she had learned Arabic! She began to speak
diffidently at first, stammering and halting a little, because, though
she could read the language well after nine years of constant study,
only once had she spoken wi