nd, glancing with a naive regret at the good things
upon the table, his half-finished coffee, the biscuits, the white box of
bon-bons--said:

"Madame, I must be off. I've a good way to go, and it's getting late. If
you will allow me--"

He went to the tent door and called, in a powerful voice:

"Belgassem! Belgassem!"

He paused, then called again:

"Belgassem!"

A light travelled over the sand from the farther tents of the servants.
Then the priest turned round to Domini and shook her by the hand.

"Good-night, Madame."

"I'm very sorry," she said, not trying to detain him. "You must come
again. My husband is evidently ill, and--"

"You must go to him. Of course. Of course. This sun is a blessing.
Still, it brings fever sometimes, especially to strangers. We
sand-rascals--eh, Madame!" he laughed, but the laugh had lost its
sonorous ring--"we can stand it. It's our friend. But for travellers
sometimes it's a little bit too much. But now, mind, I'm a bit of a
doctor, and if to-morrow your husband is no better I might--anyhow"--he
looked again longingly at the bon-bons and the cigars--"if you'll allow
me I'll call to know how he is."

"Thank you, Monsieur."

"Not at all, Madame, not at all! I can set him right in a minute, if
it's anything to do with the sun, in a minute. Ah, here's Belgassem!"

The soldier stood like a statue without, bearing the lantern. The priest
hesitated. He was holding the burnt-out cigar in his hand, and now
he glanced at it and then at the cigar-box. A plaintive expression
overspread his bronzed and bearded face. It became almost piteous.
Quickly Domini wait to the table, took two cigars from the box and came
back.

"You must have a cigar to smoke on the way."

"Really, Madame, you are too good, but--well, I rarely refuse a fine
cigar, and these--upon my word--are--"

He struck a match on his broad-toed boot. His demeanour was becoming
cheerful again. Domini gave the other cigar to the soldier.

"Good-night, Madame. A demain then, a demain! I trust your husband may
be able to rest. A demain! A demain!"

The light moved away over the dunes and dropped down towards the city.
Then Domini hurried across the sand to the sleeping-tent. As she went
she was acutely aware of the many distant noises that rose up in the
night to the pale crescent of the young moon, the pulsing of the tomtoms
in the city, the faint screaming of the pipes that sounded almost like
human beings in distres