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Noura had smuggled him into the Zaouïa, and she herself had trained him by giving him food that he liked, though his home was at Oued Tolga, the town. The birds from the mosque had waited for their second supply, for the same programme had been carried out many times before, and they had learned to expect it.
"The surprise of my coming gave you a shock. Now you must rest and get over it, so you can be strong for to-morrow. Then we'll make up our minds about everything." "There's only one way to make up our minds," Saidee insisted, dully. Victoria did not protest. She kissed her sister good-night, and gently refused help from Noura.
She could not bear the idea that her thoughts and life were open to the criticism of those young, blue eyes, which the years since childhood had not clouded. Nevertheless, when Noura had undressed her, and she was alone, she saw Victoria's eyes looking at her sweetly, sadly, with yearning, yet with no reproach.
"Oh Lella Saïda, there is a message, of which I hardly dare to speak," whispered Noura to her mistress, when she brought supper for the two sisters, the night when the way to the roof had been closed up. "Tell me what it is, and do not be foolish," Saidee said sharply. Her nerves were keyed to the breaking point, and she had no patience left.
Her nerves were rasped by an intolerable irritation as she looked at the girl, and felt that her thoughts were being read. She had a hideous feeling, almost an impression, that her face had been lifted off like a mask, and that the workings of her brain were open to her sister's eyes, like the exposed mechanism of a clock. "Noura has brought some food for you," she went on hastily.
She isn't jealous of me, because I've no children, not even a girl, and because for that reason Cassim could repudiate me if he chose. She little knows how desperately I wish he would. She believes Noura says that he keeps me here only because I have no people to go to, and he's too kind-hearted to turn me out alone in the world, when my youth's past.
She and Noura had been born in the quarter of the freed Negroes, in the village across the river, and knew nothing of any world beyond; yet all the wiliness and wisdom of female things, since Eve woman, cat and snake glittered under their slanting eyelids.
"Oh, Saidee, how can I?" "Because I ask it," Saidee answered, the girl's opposition deciding her doubts. "She can't eat you." "It isn't that I'm afraid " "I know! It's because of your loyalty to me. But if I send you, Babe, you needn't mind. It will be for my sake." "Hadda is waiting for an answer," Noura hinted. "My sister will go. Is the woman ready to take her?" "I will find out, lady."
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