nd someone to direct us, when I
bumped into this brigand-chief who didn't understand my talk. I'm
American, and I'm here on a big Government proposition. I hate to
trouble you, but if you'd send a man to show us how to strike the city
I'd be very much in your debt.'

Her eyes never left my face. 'Will you come into the car?' she said in
English. 'At the house I will give you a servant to direct you.'

She drew in the skirts of her fur cloak to make room for me, and in my
muddy boots and sopping clothes I took the seat she pointed out. She
said a word in Turkish to Sandy, switched off the light, and the car
moved on.

Women had never come much my way, and I knew about as much of their
ways as I knew about the Chinese language. All my life I had lived
with men only, and rather a rough crowd at that. When I made my pile
and came home I looked to see a little society, but I had first the
business of the Black Stone on my hands, and then the war, so my
education languished. I had never been in a motor-car with a lady
before, and I felt like a fish on a dry sandbank. The soft cushions
and the subtle scents filled me with acute uneasiness. I wasn't
thinking now about Sandy's grave words, or about Blenkiron's warning,
or about my job and the part this woman must play in it. I was
thinking only that I felt mortally shy. The darkness made it worse. I
was sure that my companion was looking at me all the time and laughing
at me for a clown.

The car stopped and a tall servant opened the door. The lady was over
the threshold before I was at the step. I followed her heavily, the
wet squelching from my field-boots. At that moment I noticed that she
was very tall.

She led me through a long corridor to a room where two pillars held
lamps in the shape of torches. The place was dark but for their glow,
and it was as warm as a hothouse from invisible stoves. I felt soft
carpets underfoot, and on the walls hung some tapestry or rug of an
amazingly intricate geometrical pattern, but with every strand as rich
as jewels. There, between the pillars, she turned and faced me. Her
furs were thrown back, and the black mantilla had slipped down to her
shoulders.

'I have heard of you,' she said. 'You are called Richard Hanau, the
American. Why have you come to this land?'

'To have a share in the campaign,' I said. 'I'm an engineer, and I
thought I could help out with some business like Mesopotamia.'

'You are on Ger