hoped for it.

She put her head down on her arms again; her thoughts had been very
sweet; with closed eyes they might come back again. How absurd it was
to think of such material things as the silver paper round the imported
cake, and to remember that Freddy had said he was sick of tinned
apricot jam!

These domestic thoughts had taken but a second. She was going back to
her vision and to the happiness it had given her.

And so it came to pass that just as Michael had found solace for heart
and mind in the dancing of the daffodils which he had visualized in the
eastern desert, so Meg's bruised heart lost its sense of fear in her
visualizing of the world's first reformer.

* * * * * *

When Freddy returned to the sitting-room, refreshed and invigorated, he
woke his sister by his noisy entrance. He was extremely angry with
himself, and showed his sorrow very tenderly.

Meg looked at him with half-awakened senses. Where was she? What was
she doing? What hour of the day was it?

"Never mind, Freddy, I've slept long enough." She smiled, and looked
as though the thoughts from which she drew her happiness were far away.

Freddy put his two hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"Were your dreams very nice, old girl? You look as if you'd been
playing on the Elysian plain, or had been re-born!"

Meg pulled-her brother's face down to the level of her own and
whispered, "Heavenly, Freddy, heavenly!"

CHAPTER X

"Does my master feel refreshed?"

It was Abdul who spoke, as he wakened Michael after his midday siesta
on the day which had brought them within sight of the Promised Land.

It had been a morning of intense heat; the desert held not one breath
of air. The spell of Egypt, which is its light, had vanished; the vast
emptiness was as colourless as Scotland in an east wind. Piled up on
his camel, Michael had ridden under a raised shelter, such as is used
by caravan travellers on long journeys. It was made of bamboos, bent
into half-hoops and covered with a light canvas. Abdul had been afraid
of exposing his master, in his uncertain state of health, to the full
force of the desert sun. Michael had been very grateful, for during
the last two days it had made him feel sick and his head had ached
perpetually.

"A touch of the sun," was Abdul's expressive description of his
condition. He knew the symptoms only too well, and fortunately he also
knew how to