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So this, he thought rapidly, was the foreign girl in Kerissen's house, and Arlee, bless her little golden head, was safe where she planned, in Alexandria. A warm glow of happiness enveloped him at that. "Now tell me all about it," he demanded again. "You are running away from Kerissen?" "Oh, yes," she cried eagerly. "You must not let him catch us. We are safe yes?"
Several groups of veiled women on foot proceeded to the cemetery and back again. The one-eyed man sauntered by in vain. In the heat of the afternoon the wide door suddenly opened and Captain Kerissen himself appeared on his black horse.
Kerissen seemed to think that went very well, too, for his flashing teeth acknowledged his pleasure in her aptness; then his smile faded and she felt him studying her over his cigarette, studying her averted gaze, the bright color in her cheeks, the curves of her lips, and he was puzzled and perturbed by the sweet, baffling beauty of her. A wild elation began to swell his heart.
It is romantic. Your window overlooks that desert you were so anxious to see. The sunsets " "Captain Kerissen, I must say that you use a very strange way to keep me your guest!" "I might respond that any way was justifiable so that it kept you a guest.... But you wrong me. Did I not bring you safely out from that quarantine, as you besought me?" His smile was mockery itself.
"Captain Kerissen," she cried, and there was a ring of gaiety in her voice, "do I understand that you are proposing to me?" Very formally he bowed, a bow that hid the astonishment and the cynical humor which zigzagged across his handsome face. "I am doing myself that honor," he most suavely returned, and eyed her with an astonished curiosity that checked his passion.
The one-eyed man then recollected that he had noticed a Turkish officer and an American girl returning together to the hotel upon that Wednesday afternoon. He had stared, because truly it was amazing, even for American madness and also the young girl was beautiful. "A wild gazelle," was his word for her. The man was Captain Kerissen.
A strained emotion quivered through the false assurance of his tone. She stood very straight and tense before him, a childishly small figure there in the dusk, the blowing candles making strange play of light and shadow over her. Steadily she answered, "And I am very glad to see you, Captain Kerissen." "And I am glad that you are glad."
She had just a glimpse of an inner court between the high arches opposite, and then her attention was claimed by Captain Kerissen, who sprang forward with a flash of welcome in his eyes that was like a leap of palpable light. "You are come!" he said, in a voice which was that of a man almost incredulous of his good fortune.
"There is so much I do not see that I do not feel like shaking hands," gave back Arlee. "Captain Kerissen, this is too strange a situation to be maintained. You must end it." "It is a very delightful situation," he returned blandly, looking about with dancing eyes. "To be again your host, even in so poor a place as this old house of the Sheik and the place has its possibilities, Mademoiselle.
"Captain Kerissen," she called, and he took a step nearer to her, his face alert with sympathy, "Captain Kerissen, that is a native soldier! He is at the bottom of the stairs with a bayonet and he will not let me pass. He doesn't know a word I say. Please come and tell him." "Miss Beecher, it is useless for me to tell him anything," said the young Turk with a ring of quiet conviction.
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