go home to England?"

"No." The word came sharply, abruptly.

"You promised, old girl."

"I never promised to accept the words of a dragoman against my own
knowledge of Michael, against my conscience. I have another promise to
keep, my promise of absolute trust."

"The dragoman can have no object in lying, and added to his report,
there is the fact that if Michael had not dallied for some reason or
another, he would have reached the hills long before this. He has
allowed the Government to anticipate him."

"Freddy, I believe in God, and He has told me that Michael is as true
to me as I am to him."

"Poor old girl!" Freddy said tenderly. "You're such a loyal old thing."

But Meg rounded on him; she was a truer Lampton than she ever
suspected. "Oh, don't 'poor' me, Freddy! I can't bear it. It sounds
as if I were half an imbecile, or as if Michael was a villain! I've
got my wits all right--and Egypt has given me super-wits. It has shown
me things beyond. If there is such a thing as conscience, then I
should be sinning against mine if I doubted my lover for one instant."

"But didn't you say that the Lampton pride would not be wanting when
you really discovered that Mike had taken Millicent with him?"

"And it won't be wanting, if either Mike or Millicent tell me with
their own lips that they have been together on this journey. I'll
start off home by the next boat."

"Oh, do be reasonable, Meg! You won't see either of them. If this
thing has happened, they'll keep out of the way. That's why they are
keeping silence."

"You are asking me to accept circumstantial evidence of what I call the
lowest order--dragomans' gossip. Well, I simply say I won't do it."

"What about the time he has taken to reach the hills?"

"I don't pretend to understand. Mike will explain when he gets a
chance. I only know that he wouldn't believe a word of the story if he
heard that I had been away with six good-looking men who admired me."

Freddy gave a mirthless laugh. "There is safety in numbers, Meg. If
he had the evidence you have, I wonder what he'd feel?"

"Just what I feel. I have seen Hadassah Ireton. Her husband will help
me. He knew Mike; they planned this journey together."

"I wish you'd leave things alone. I asked you to."

"I can't. Michael may be ill."

"It doesn't sound like it. Bad news travels quickly."

"Look here, Freddy," Margaret said, "you haven't the slightest idea of
what it f