shes, Hamza
pushed off the felucca, springing into it as he did so, and rowed away
on the dark water.

"Hamza!" she called.

"Hamza! Hamza!" she shrieked.

The boat went on steadily, quickly, and disappeared.

* * * * *

Nearly an hour later there appeared at the edge of the garden of the
Villa Androud a woman walking unsteadily, with a sort of frantic
slowness. She made her way across the garden and drew near to the
terrace, beyond which light shone out from the drawing-room through the
tall window space. Close to the terrace she stood still, and she looked
into the room.

She saw Nigel sitting crouched upon a sofa, with his elbows on his knees
and his face in his hands. He was alone, and was sitting quite still.

She stood for some time staring in at him. Then at last, as if making up
her mind to something, she moved, and slowly she stepped upon the
terrace.

Just as she did this, the door of the drawing-room opened and Ibrahim
came in, looking breathless and scared. Behind him came Meyer Isaacson.

The woman stood still on the terrace.

Ibrahim remained by the door. Nigel never moved. Meyer Isaacson came
quickly forward into the room as if he were going to Nigel. But when he
was in the middle of the room, something seemed to startle him. He
stopped abruptly, looked questioningly towards the window, then came out
to the terrace. On the threshold he stopped again. He had seen the
woman. He looked for a moment at her, and she at him. Then he came
forward, put out his hands quickly, unlatched the wooden shutters, which
were set back against the house wall, and pulled them inward towards
him. They met with a clang, blotting out the room from the woman's eyes.

Then she waited no longer. She made her way to the gate of the garden,
passed out to the deserted track beyond, and disappeared into the
darkness, going blindly towards the distant hills that keep the Arabian
desert.

THE END

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bella Donna, by Robert Hichens

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