r, it
would be best to wait until anxiety for Nevill had passed, before
talking of their own affairs.

At Azzouz, where they passed a night full of suffering for Nevill, they
had news of the marabout's death. It came by telegraph to the operator,
just before the party was ready to start on; yet Saidee was sure that
Sabine had caused it to be sent just at that time. He had been obliged
to march back with his men--the penalty of commanding the force for
which he had asked; but a letter would surely come to Touggourt, and
Saidee could imagine all that it would say. She had no regrets for Ben
Halim, and said frankly to Victoria that it was difficult not to be
indecently glad of her freedom. At last she had waked up from a black
dream of horror, and now that it was over, it hardly seemed real. "I
shall forget," she said. "I shall put my whole soul to forgetting
everything that's happened to me in the last ten years, and every one
I've known in the south--except one. But to have met him and to have him
love me, I'd live it all over again--all."

She kept Victoria with her continually, and in the physical weakness and
nervous excitement which followed the strain she had gone through, she
seemed to have forgotten her interest in Victoria's affairs. She did not
know that her sister and Stephen had talked of love, for at Toudja after
the fight began she had thought of nothing but the danger they shared.

Altogether, everything combined to delay explanations between Stephen
and Victoria. He tried to regret this, yet could not be as sorry as he
was repentant. It was not quite heaven, but it was almost paradise to
have her near him, though they had a chance for only a few words
occasionally, within earshot of Saidee, or De Vigne, or the twins, who
watched over Nevill like two well-trained nurses. She loved him, since a
word from her meant more than vows from other women. Nothing had
happened yet to disturb her love, so these few days belonged to Stephen.
He could not feel that he had stolen them. At Touggourt he would find a
time and place to speak, and then it would be over forever. But one joy
he had, which never could have come to him, if it had not been for the
peril at Toudja. They knew each other's hearts. Nothing could change
that. One day, no doubt, she would learn to care for some other man, but
perhaps never quite in the same way she had cared for him, because
Stephen was sure that this was her first love. And though she