f all nations when their
passions control their actions--he was amazed at his own false impression
of Effendi Amory's character and mind. He had never for one moment
contemplated such a contretemps; he would never have imagined that he
could be false to Effendi Lampton's sister. The meeting, however, lent a
double interest to their journey.

"The Effendi has been fortunate in meeting his friend," he said
respectfully. Michael had turned to address him.

"Yes," Michael said. "We have been fortunate." He saw no other way of
settling the question. For the present he must quietly accept the
inevitable. Millicent had insisted that she had a perfect right to
follow him, even if he refused to allow her to join his party.

"We will go on, Effendi? The _Sitt_ will accompany us?" Abdul's voice
was expressionless, deferential.

"For to-day, at least," Michael said, "the _Sitt_ will travel with us."
He knew that equivocation was useless.

Abdul searched his master's eyes. There was no love in them, no passion
for the woman he had taken all this trouble and secrecy to meet.
Englishmen were strange beings. Time would prove which way the wind of
desire blew. Was it from the woman to the man or from the man to the
woman? Had Michael the qualities of Orientals for dissembling his
feelings? It was rare amongst Europeans.

The cavalcade moved on. A fresh element had been introduced into it.
The at-all-times low talk of the natives soon became more obscene than it
is possible for Western minds to imagine. Its influence affected the
sublime silence of the desert. God no longer shadowed the distance.

Michael knew the native mind. He had heard the workmen at the excavation
camp, and even the girls and women in the desert villages, discussing
subjects freely and openly which to the Western mind are impossible. He
had heard children and boys using language and ejaculations which would
disgrace the lips of the most degraded Western.

Before Millicent's appearance his men had no doubt talked together in a
way which would have shocked a stranger to the East if he could have
understood what they were saying, but there had been an absence of any
special topic; their talk had been impersonal. Now their interests were
awakened, their lowest instincts were on the alert, their passion for
intrigue whetted. Suggestion, like perseverance, can work miracles.
With Millicent riding by his side and with the whole company of serva