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"Will you like me better if I didn't?" he inquired. "I shan't like you at all if you did." "Then I didn't hear a word.... Besides," he basely uttered, "you were entirely in the right!" "I should think I was!" said Arlee Beecher very indignantly. "The very notion ! Captain Kerissen is a very nice young man. He is going to get me an invitation to the Khedive's ball." "Is that a very crumby affair?"
He threw himself upon the fire, dragging down the hangings, beating on the cushions, but the corner was ablaze. Overhead the flames seized cracklingly on the dry wood and darted little red tongues over the dry surface and a scarlet snake ran out over the carved ceiling. In utter wildness Arlee had carried the last candle to the open hamper and the garments there caught instant fire.
"Well you are pretty enough," she said coolly. "Hamdi has always the good taste. But do you think you will keep my room from me h'm?" "I do not want your room," said Arlee with passionate intensity. "I do not want to stay here. I want only to go away. Oh, there must be a way. Please help me please." She choked and broke down, the tears hot in her eyes.
This afternoon I will see you and report the result of our protests to the authorities. Until then, be tranquil, and accommodate yourself here. A tacit apology, thought Arlee, pondering the dull letter a moment, then dropping it to touch the roses with light fingers. The young man's wits had evidently returned with the sun.
The car stopped and Arlee stepped out before a great house of ancient stone which rose sharply from the street. A high, pointed doorway, elaborately carved, was before her, arching over a dark wooden door heavily studded with nails. Overhead jutted the little balconies of mashrubiyeh.
"They were men," he said with pride, his eyes kindling, "men who lived as kings dare not live to-day!" The subject of those old days and those old ancestors of his was evidently dear to the young modern, and he launched into an animated sketch of those times, trying to picture for Arlee something of the glowing pageant of the past.
"My sister will do everything " "Of course I can't stay here," broke in Arlee in her clear, positive young tones. "I must get back to the Evershams and we are going up the Nile to-morrow morning. Can you get a message to that doctor at once? And have someone go and telephone from the next house to the consul and ambassador and I'll write them notes, too." Her voice broke suddenly.
Arlee stared down into the great empty hall with an involuntary quickening of the breath. How desolate it was, but how beautiful in its desolation! What strange revels had taken place there to the notes of wild music, what girls had danced, what voices had shouted, what moods had been indulged!
Voices sounded below; footsteps hurried; a door slammed. Then feet upon the stairs, and a hand at the door. Arlee struggled to her feet in sudden terror; the candle was out and the room was in darkness. Outside a gale was blowing. The door opened, but the figure which hurried in was not the one her fright anticipated. It was the old woman again, bustling with haste.
I would come back by train," Arlee declared eagerly, "rather than miss that wonderful ball!" She thought how astonished a certain red-headed young Englishman would be to see her at that ball, and how fortunate she was compared to his haughty and disappointed friend, the Lady Claire, and the chill of her resentment against the Captain's intrusion vanished like snow in the warmth of her gratitude.
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