at he and his
companions were just poor peaceable people, that if I had given him too
much money, I should take it back, and all the while he dragged away
from me. But I held him fast. I said, 'Harry Feversham, that won't do,'
and upon that he gave in and spoke in English, whispering it. 'Let me
go, Jack, let me go.' There was the crowd about us. It was evident that
Harry had some reason for secrecy; it might have been shame, for all I
knew, shame at his downfall. I said, 'Come up to my quarters in Halfa as
soon as you are free,' and I let him go. All that night I waited for him
on the verandah, but he did not come. In the morning I had to start
across the desert. I almost spoke of him to a friend who came to see me
start, to Calder, in fact--you know of him--the man who sent you the
telegram," said Durrance, with a laugh.

"Yes, I remember," Ethne answered.

It was the second slip she had made that night. The receipt of Calder's
telegram was just one of the things which Durrance was not to know. But
again she was unaware that she had made a slip at all. She did not even
consider how Durrance had come to know or guess that the telegram had
ever been despatched.

"At the very last moment," Durrance resumed, "when my camel had risen
from the ground, I stooped down to speak to him, to tell him to see to
Feversham. But I did not. You see I knew nothing about his allowance. I
merely thought that he had fallen rather low. It did not seem fair to
him that another should know of it. So I rode on and kept silence."

Ethne nodded her head. She could not but approve, however poignant her
regret for the lost news.

"So you never saw Mr. Feversham again?"

"I was away nine weeks. I came back blind," he answered simply, and the
very simplicity of his words went to Ethne's heart. He was apologising
for his blindness, which had hindered him from inquiring. She began to
wake to the comprehension that it was really Durrance who was speaking
to her, but he continued to speak, and what he said drove her quite out
of all caution.

"I went at once to Cairo, and Calder came with me. There I told him of
Harry Feversham, and how I had seen him at Tewfikieh. I asked Calder
when he got back to Halfa to make inquiries, to find and help Harry
Feversham if he could; I asked him, too, to let me know the result. I
received a letter from Calder a week ago, and I am troubled by it, very
much troubled."

"What did he say?" Ethne asked apprehens