ld you, instead of keeping the whole thing secret as I made up my
mind to do at first. Nothing's changed. I can't save you from Maieddine,
but--there's one difference. I _would_ save you if I could. Just at
first, I was so anxious for you to be out of the way of my
happiness--the chance of it--that the only thing I longed for was that
you should be gone."

Victoria choked back a sob that rose in her throat, but Saidee felt,
rather than heard it, as she lay with her burning head on the girl's
arm.

"I don't feel like that now," she said. "I peeped in and saw you
praying--perhaps for me--and you looked just as you used, when you were
a little girl. Then, when I came in, and you were asleep, I--I couldn't
stand it. I broke down. I love you, dear little Babe. The ice is gone
out of my heart. You've melted it. I'm a woman again; but just because
I'm a woman, I won't give up my other love to please you or any one. I
tell you that, honestly."

Victoria made no reply for a moment, though Saidee waited defiantly,
expecting a protest or an argument. Then, at last, the girl said: "Will
you tell me something about this man?"

Saidee was surprised to receive encouragement. It was a joy to speak of
the subject that occupied all her thoughts, and wonderful to have a
confidante.

"He's a captain in the Chasseurs d'Afrique," she said. "But he's not
with his regiment. He's an expert in making desert wells, and draining
marshes. That's the business which has brought him to the far South,
now. He's living at Oued Tolga--the town, I mean; not the Zaouia. A well
had to be sunk in the village, and he was superintending. I watched him
from my roof, though it was too far off to see his face. I don't know
exactly what made me do it--I suppose it was Fate, for Cassim says we
all have our fate hung round our necks--but when I went to the Moorish
bath, between here and the village, I let my veil blow away from my face
as I passed close to him and his party of workers. No one else saw,
except he. It was only for a second or two, but we looked straight into
each other's eyes; and there was something in his that seemed to draw my
soul out of me. It was as if, in that instant, I told him with a look
the whole tragedy of my life. And his soul sprang to mine. There was
never anything like it. You can't imagine what I felt, Babe."

"Yes. I--think I can," Victoria whispered, but Saidee hardly heard, so
deeply was she absorbed in the one sweet memory