Part 31 (1/2)

She laughed. ”Oh, I knew he was a man a bonne fortunes. He had many girls; but in love all women are like the Orientals, is it not?-and I was content to have my day, like the new one in the harim of the Egyptian pasha here....”

Daniel suddenly clenched the fingers of his hand which rested upon the table. Muriel's words came into his mind: ”You can put me in your harim if you want to.” They rang in his ears again, and his heart seemed to stand still in fear.

The murmur of Lizette's voice continued, and he listened in terror now as she told of her second love.

”Then one night,” she was saying, ”we walked together on the road by the sea, the Chemin de la Corniche, you know; and the beautiful stars were in the sky, and there were little lights across the water on the islands of Ratonneau and Pomegne. And I was so tired, and I sat down on the rocks by the sea, and we were all alone....”

Daniel stopped her with a sudden movement of his hand. ”I know, I know,”

he said. ”Don't tell me!”

”O, I soon forgot my love,” she laughed, thinking that the intensity with which he spoke denoted his concern for her sorrows. ”A few months, a few weeks, perhaps, and it was finish. Then some one else, and some one else, and some one else....”

He rose from the table, sick at heart. ”I must be going,” he said. ”If you will accept my offer, write to me at the Residency, and I'll send you the money for you to go to your brother.”

She looked at his troubled face with a question in her eyes. ”I think you not like me,” she sighed. ”I think you have the disgust.”

He shook his head. ”No,” he answered, ”I think you were not much different from other women at first.”

”And afterwards?”

”I suppose one's feelings soon get blunted,” he replied; ”and you had need of money.”

She a.s.sumed an expression, an att.i.tude, not far removed from dignity.

”Thank you for being-how you say? _fair_ to me,” she said.

He paid his bill, and walked out of the cafe into the blaze of the afternoon sun; but between him and its brilliance the shadow of doubt had descended. ”I am not the first of Muriel's lovers,” he groaned in his heart. ”How do I know that I am the last?”

He walked through the city, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, by reason of the clamour in his mind; but as he came down to the river, he raised his eyes and stared out into the west, where the sun was descending towards the far-off hills of the wilderness.

He stood stock still, and his lips moved. ”Oh, peace of mind!” he was whispering. ”Will you never come down to me here in the valley? Must I go up into the desert to find you once more?”

CHAPTER XX-PRIVATE INTERESTS

When Benifett Bindane found himself writing ”February 1st” upon his letters, he suddenly became the victim of a violent fit of energy. Time was pa.s.sing, and not much progress had been made with his great scheme for the floating of the Egyptian Oases Development Company. By nature he was indolent, and he had thoroughly enjoyed his three months basking in the Egyptian sun. It was always a great pleasure to him to sit in the warmest corner of a veranda, to glance at the _Financial News_, and then to stare in front of him with an empty countenance and a mind full of wonderful commercial schemes.

He had the habit of thinking in millions; and his brain, in many ways so deficient, was capable of visualizing an extraordinarily prolonged repet.i.tion of the figure ”o” at the end of any sum in pounds sterling.

He had quickly made himself master of all the available information in regard to the territory in question, but there were a great many points on which he desired enlightenment before he made his projected grand tour through the Oases at the end of this month. He wished to go there fully primed, so that he should not fail to take note of all those matters on which personal observation might prove to be of value; but now the calendar had awakened him to the fact of the days' rapid pa.s.sage, and he was obliged to make a serious effort to put some stiffening into the loose fabric of his bones and brain.

In the secret council-chamber of his mind he had decided that Daniel Lane was the one man really essential to the project, and it was his main object now to enlist his services. He wondered what was the lowest high salary that would tempt him; and he thought out many very fantastic schemes for getting him away from the Residency. Lady Muriel was the real obstacle; for Kate had kept him informed as to the progress of her friend's love affair, and he realized that as matters now stood there would be the utmost difficulty in persuading Daniel to abandon his present post. Steps, however, in the desired direction ought to be taken; and at any rate there would be no harm in ascertaining the possibilities of the matter.

He therefore telephoned to Lord Blair asking for an immediate interview; and as the clock struck noon he was being ushered into the Great Man's presence.

Lord Blair received him in a very businesslike manner. A large map of the Oases was spread upon the writing-table, entirely covering the chronic litter of papers heaped thereon, and, indeed, covering the greater part of his lords.h.i.+p himself as he sat in his desk-chair; while upon a side-table there were numerous chorographic memoranda, and a variety of type-written reports made upon the subject the last few years.

Lord Blair opened the proceedings by describing to his visitor the arrangements which had already been made for the forthcoming tour.

”The camels and camping-equipment are bespoken,” he said; ”perhaps you would like to see the list of articles to be supplied.”

He lifted the map, and dived his head under it in search of the doc.u.ment, while Benifett Bindane stared vacantly at the folds of the large sheet which rose and fell, like pantomime waves, as Lord Blair moved about under it.