iles of betel-nut palms shut from view the yellow turrets of the
palace, stood the palm-thatched bungalow in which Anak grew, in a
few short years, from childhood to womanhood. The hot, sandy soil all
about was covered with the flaxen burs of the betel, and the little
sunlight that found its way down through the green and yellow fronds
drew rambling checks on the steaming earth, that reminded Anak of
the plaid on the silken sarong that Noa's father had given her the
day she was betrothed to his son.

Up the bamboo ladder and into the little door,--so low that even Anak,
with her scant twelve years, was forced to stoop,--she would dart when
she espied Noa coming sedately down the long aisle of palms that led
away to the fungus-covered canal that separated her little world from
the life of the capital city.

There was coquetry in every glance, as she watched him, from behind
the carved bars of her low window, drop contentedly down on the bench
beneath a scarred old cocoanut that stood directly before the door. She
thought almost angrily that he ought to have searched a little for her:
she would have repaid him with her arms about his neck.

From the cool darkness of the bungalow came the regular click of her
mother's loom. She could see the worker's head surrounded by a faint
halo of broken twilight. Her mind filled in the details that were
hidden by the green shadows--the drawn, stooping figure, the scant
black hair, the swollen gums, the syrah-stained teeth, and sunken
neck. She impulsively ran her soft brown fingers over her own warm,
plump face, through the luxuriant tresses of her heavy hair, and then
gazed out at the recumbent figure on the bench, waiting patiently
for her coming.

"Soon my teeth, which the American lady that was visiting his
Excellency said were so strong and beautiful, will be filed and
blackened, and I will be weaving sarongs for Noa."

She shuddered, she knew not why, and went slowly across the elastic
bamboo strips of the floor and down the ladder.

Noa watched the trim little figure with its single covering of cotton,
the straight, graceful body, and perfectly poised head and delicate
neck, the bare feet and ankles, the sweet, comely face with its fresh
young lips, free from the red stains of the syrah leaf, and its big
brown eyes that looked from beneath heavy silken lashes. He smiled,
but did not stir as she came to him. He was proud of her after
the manner of his kind. Her beauty app