of her mouth, leapt with the
love which had blossomed a hundredfold under the torrent of jealousy,
wrath, and mastery which he had poured forth upon her during the last
hour.

"Behold! art thou weak," she said sweetly in his own tongue, "having
not the strength to kill that which offends thee. 'Thou shalt not know
this man, or any other man,'" she mocked, quoting his words, "and yet
canst thou not break me to thy will! Of a truth, I have no further use
for thee in thy weakness!"

But Hahmed's control had only been slightly cracked, so that he merely
pointed to the curtain which divided Jill's quarters from the rest of
the house.

"Go!" he said simply, "go to thy apartment, wherein thou shalt stay
until thou seest good to come to me in obedience and love. Thou shalt
_not_ go forth except to the gardens; neither shall thy friends visit
thee, neither shalt thou climb to the roof; and thou _shalt_ obey
me--many, aye, many a woman were dead for far less than this thy
disobedience--but thou--thou art too beautiful to kill, except with
love--go!"

And Jill went, with beautiful head held high, heart throbbing from
love, and blood pounding in her ears from downright rage.

"I will not obey you! I shall do exactly as I wish!" she proclaimed,
with the curtain in her hand. In which she was mistaken, for the
simple fact that love held her fast.

And the curtain swinging to hide her from the Arab, as she stood for
one moment holding out her arms toward him; and for the same reason she
did not see him pick up her torn, scented veil, to thrust it between
his inner silken vest and his sorely perturbed heart.

CHAPTER XLIII

Night with her blessed wind had come at last, which means coolness for
a space beneath the stars, and oblivion for a while in sleep for those
who have untroubled heart and good digestion. There was just one black
patch in all that silvery stretch of sand, upon which the moon shone, a
patch that came neither from rock or tree or cloud, and which moved
occasionally in fitful jerks, until it raised itself and collapsed
again, and spread itself in a still stranger shape as from underneath
garments which had the form of arms and legs and disjointed feet which
fell apart, there crawled a man.

A man, though the face was cracked in great seams from brow to chin,
whilst the black tongue protruded from the split mouth drawn back from
the even teeth until the great bloated face seemed to laugh in derisi