t his hand and loyalty. And, being
honourable, he would have kept his promise, and I, who have
passed through the harem of Al-je-bal, might yet have become the
lady D'Arcy, and so lived out my life and nursed his babes. Nay,
Sir Godwin; when you love me--not before; and you will never love
me--until I am dead."

Snatching a bloom of the lilies into her hand, the hand that he
had kissed, Masouda pressed it convulsively against her breast,
till the red juice ran from the crushed flower and stained her
like a wound. Then she glided away, and was lost in the storm and
the darkness.

Chapter Twenty: The Luck of the Star of Hassan

An hour later the captain Abdullah might have been seen walking
carelessly towards the tent where the brethren slept. Also, had
there been any who cared to watch, something else might have been
seen in that low moonlight, for now the storm and the heavy rain
which followed it had passed. Namely, the fat shape of the eunuch
Mesrour, slipping after him wrapped in a dark camel-hair cloak,
such as was commonly worn by camp followers, and taking shelter
cunningly behind every rock and shrub and rise of the ground.
Hidden among some picketed dromedaries, he saw Abdullah enter the
tent of the brethren, then, waiting till a cloud crossed the
moon, Mesrour ran to it unseen, and throwing himself down on its
shadowed side, lay there like a drunken man, and listened with
all his ears. But the thick canvas was heavy with wet, nor would
the ropes and the trench that was dug around permit him, who did
not love to lie in the water, to place his head against it. Also,
those within spoke low, and he could only hear single words, such
as "garden," "the star," "princess."

So important did these seem to him, however, that at length
Mesrour crept under the cords, and although he shuddered at its
cold, drew his body into the trench of water, and with the sharp
point of his knife cut a little slit in the taut canvas. To this
he set his eye, only to find that it served him nothing, for
there was no light in the tent. Still, men were there who talked
in the darkness.

"Good," said a voice--it was that of one of the brethren, but
which he could not tell, for even to those who knew them best
they seemed to be the same. "Good; then it is settled. To-morrow,
at the hour arranged, you bring the princess to the place agreed
upon, disguised as you have said. In payment for this service I
hand you the Luck of Hassan w