at Mrs. Armine, who had
stopped beside a table and was looking about the room; a
white-and-yellow room, gaily but rather sparsely furnished, that
harmonized well with the fair beauty which moved the black man's soul.

He thought her very wonderful. The pallor of her face, the delicate
lustre of her hair, quite overcame his temperament, and when she caught
sight of him and smiled, and observed the contrast between the snowy
white of his turban, his scarlet girdle and babouches, and the black
lustre of his skin, with eyes that frankly admired, he compared her
secretly to the little moon that lights up the Eastern night. He went
softly to fetch the coffee, while she stepped out on to the terrace.

At first she stood quite still, and stared at the bit of garden which
revealed itself in the darkness; at the dry earth, the untrimmed,
wild-looking rose-bushes, and the little mimosa-trees, vague almost as
pretty shadows. A thin, dark-brown dog, with pale yellow eyes, slunk in
from the night and stood near her, trembling and furtively watching
her. She had not seen it yet, for now she was gazing up at the sky,
which was peopled with myriads of stars, those piercingly bright stars
which look down from African skies. The brown dog trembled and blinked,
keeping his yellow eyes upon her, looked self-consciously down sideways,
then looked at her again.

From the hidden river there came a distant song of boatmen, one of those
vehement and yet sad songs of the Nile that the Nubian waterman loves.

"Sh--sh--sh!"

Mrs. Armine had caught sight of the dog. She hissed at him angrily, and
made a threatening gesture with her hands, which sent him slinking back
to the darkness.

"What is it, Ruby?" called out a strong voice from above.

She started.

"Oh, are you there, Nigel?"

"Yes. What's the matter?"

"It was only a dreadful-looking dog. What are you doing up there?"

"I was looking at the stars. Aren't they wonderful to-night?"

There was in his voice a sound of warm yet almost childlike enthusiasm,
with which she was becoming very familiar.

"Yes, marvellous. Oh, there's the dog again! Sh--sh--sh!"

"I'll come down and drive it away."

In a moment he was with her.

"Where is the little beast?"

"It's gone again. I frightened it. Oh, you've brought me a cloak, you
thoughtful person."

She turned for him to put it round her, and as he began to do so, as he
touched her arms and shoulders, his eyes shone and his brown