he had a few more piastres than I--and maybe a
little more diplomacy--a man who would kill me if he could but find the
excuse, the moral breeder of camels, the fanatic son of Solomon, Hahmed
the great, Hahmed the most noble--_pah_!"

For one brief second Jill's eyes scanned the sensual face in front, but
seeing nothing more subtle than an intense hatred therein for the
absent man, shrugged her shoulders and then flung up her hand sharply
as the man's hand suddenly fastened on her wrist.

"Let go my hand at once," she said as indifferently as though she were
asking for a glass of water, but she wrenched herself free and fled
behind a divan almost hidden in a bower of growing tropical plants as
the man let go at her command to suddenly grip her about the waist.

"I shall scream the place down, and bite, and kick, and scratch, if you
touch me again."

For one moment they looked at each other across the pile of silken
cushions, the dark shining leaves of the plants throwing up the girl's
wonderful colouring, the white petals of a flower falling like snow
about her as she stood waiting for the next move in the exceedingly
dangerous game in which she was taking part.

The silence was absolutely deathly until the oriental broke it, smiling
the while as he might on a rebellious child.

"If you make a noise you will bring women and servants, and perhaps my
friends, packing to the door from the most distant corners of the
house. They do not know that you are here as I brought you in by a
secret door and private way, also no one is allowed to place foot in my
own quarter of the house without my permission, with the exception of
the guardian of the big door itself, but their curiosity would outweigh
their prudence if they heard cries, for their delight is unbounded when
trouble reigns between their friend or master and a _woman_. If you
bite and kick and scratch I shall have you overpowered and bound to
_your_ great sorrow, and _their_ greater delight. It has been written
that you shall be one of those whom I honour with my favour, why then
try to fight against that which is ordained?"

Jill answered never a word, contenting herself with keeping a watch on
the man's movements, though to the very innermost part of her she
longed to fling herself upon him to mutilate or to kill.

"We will have coffee, O! very lovely daughter of the North, and
consider this little matter settled even before we were born. Does my
suggestio