s were over, and that by and by, like the prince and princess in the
fairy stories, she and Stephen would be married and "live happily ever
after." In these magic moments of rapture, while his face and figure
grew more clear to her eyes, it seemed to the girl that love and
happiness were one, and that all obstacles had fallen down in the path
of her lover, like the walls of Jericho that crumbled at the blast of
the trumpet.

When she had looked through the glass until she could distinctly see
Stephen, and an Arab who rode at a short distance behind him, she called
her sister.

Saidee came up to the roof, almost at once, for there was a thrill of
excitement in Victoria's voice that roused her curiosity.

She thought of Captain Sabine, and wondered if he were riding toward the
Zaouia. He had come, before his first encounter with her, to pay his
respects to the marabout. That was long ago now, yet there might be a
reason, connected with her, for a second visit. But the moment she saw
Victoria's face, even before she took the glasses the girl held out, she
guessed that, though there was news, it was not of Captain Sabine.

"You might have been to heaven and back since I saw you; you're so
radiant!" she said.

"I have been to heaven. But I haven't come back. I'm there now,"
Victoria answered. "Look--and tell me what you see."

Saidee put the glasses to her eyes. "I see a man in European clothes,"
she said. "I can see that he's young. I should think he's a gentleman,
and good looking----"

"Oh, he is!" broke in Victoria, childishly.

"Do you know him?"

"I've been praying and longing for him to find me, and save us. He's an
Englishman. His name is Stephen Knight. He promised to come if I called,
and I have. Oh, _how_ I've called, day and night, night and day!"

"You never told me."

"I waited. Somehow I--couldn't speak of him, even to you."

"I've told _you_ everything."

"But I had nothing to tell, really--nothing I could have put into words.
And you might only have laughed if I'd said 'There's a man I know in
Algiers who hasn't any idea where I am, but I think he'll come here, and
take us both away.'"

"Are you engaged to each other?" Saidee asked, curiously, even
enviously.

"Oh no! But--but----"

"But what? Do you mean you will be--if you ever get away from this
place?"

"I hope so," the girl answered bravely, with a deep blush. "He has never
asked me. We haven't known each other long--a very little