to hear it, or not
to heed it, this voice in the depths of a man, telling him that in the
speaking of truth there is strength, and that out of weakness no good
ever came yet, nor ever will come till the end of all things.

But the telling of certain truths seems too cruel; and how can one be
cruel to a man returning to life with almost hesitating steps?

Perhaps something would happen to decide the matter, something--some
outside event. What it might be Isaacson could not say to himself.
Indeed, it was almost childish to hope for anything. He knew that. And
yet, unreasonably, he hoped.

And the event did happen, and on that day.

Late in the afternoon a telegram arrived for Nigel. Ibrahim brought it
out to the terrace where the two men were together, and Nigel opened it
with an eagerness he did not try to disguise.

"It's from her," he said. "She starts to-night, and will be here
to-morrow morning early. She's in such a hurry to be back that she's
only staying the one night in Cairo."

He looked across to Isaacson, who seemed startled.

"Is there anything the matter with you?" he asked.

"No. Why?"

"You don't look quite yourself."

"I feel perfectly well."

"Oh!"

Almost directly Isaacson made an excuse and got away. His decision was
made. There was no more combat within him. But his heart was heavy, was
sick, and he felt an acute and frightful nervousness, such as he could
imagine being experienced by a man under sentence of death, who is not
told on what day the sentence will be carried out. Apprehension fell
over him like an icy rain in the sultry air.

He walked mechanically to the bank of the Nile.

To-day the water was like a sheet of glass, dimpled here and there by
the wayward currents, and, because of some peculiar atmospheric effect,
perhaps, the river looked narrower than usual, the farther bank less far
off. Never before had Isaacson been so forcibly struck by the magical
clearness of Egypt. Even in the midst of his misery, a misery which
physically affected him, he stood still to marvel and to admire.

How near everything looked! How startlingly every detail of things stood
out in this exquisite evening!

Presently his eyes went to the _Loulia_. She, too, looked strangely
near, strangely distinct. He watched her, only because of that at first,
but presently because he began to notice an unusual bustle on board. Men
were moving rapidly about both on the lower and on the upper deck, were