scords of music,
even to the hundredth part of a tone.

If a woman like Hadassah had doubted Michael, or given a moment's
thought to the gossip of the dragoman, Margaret's faith might have been
troubled. But as matters stood at present, she knew that she herself
had a finer understanding of Michael than Freddy possessed, in spite of
his years, as compared to her own months of friendship. She tried to
strengthen herself against the invasion of unhappy thoughts by thinking
over in her mind all the various objects of beauty she had seen in the
Iretons' house. The picture of the cool courtyard, with the
dark-leaved lebbek-tree reaching up to the romantic balcony, brought a
smile to her lips. It was such an ideal setting for an Eastern Romeo
and Juliet. Busy as she knew the Iretons' life to be, their mediaeval
home suggested the repose and the charm and the romance of Love in
Idleness!

CHAPTER XV

To assure herself of her complete confidence in the arguments which she
had used to Freddy and of her own heart's happiness, as a thing widely
apart from her anxiety, Margaret dressed herself in her most becoming
frock that same evening for her first appearance at the hotel _table
d'hote_. She sat at a little table by herself, in the enormous
dining-room. The season was far advanced; the tourists in Egypt had
all returned to Cairo, there to disperse to their various countries.

There were many fair and attractive women in the room, of widely varied
types--Americans, Austrians and English: that was how they took their
place in the scale of beauty in Margaret's opinion. Amongst them all
there was perhaps no one who was more commented upon and admired than
herself. Sitting by herself, for one thing, provoked curiosity, while
for another her claim to good looks had the high quality of
distinguished individuality; in an assembly of well-dressed women of
the world, Margaret, like Hadassah, could never be overlooked.

She had been out of the world of fashion and frivolity for so long that
the gay scene interested her and made it easy for her to temporarily
put aside her troubles. She had lived in the Valley, studying the
lives and customs of lost civilizations until they had become a part of
her own life. Now she found it amusing to be back again amongst the
men and women of to-day, people who were, as she reminded herself, in
their own little way creating history. They were as typical of the
world's evolution in