to me. And it does me so much
good after all I've gone through and been blamed for!"

"Who's dared to blame you for anything?"

"I asked you to tell me about yourself. When you have done that I'll
tell you things that have happened here, things concerning Manoeel
Valdez and Ourieda--poor darling Ourieda, whom I ought to be thinking of
every instant! And so I am, only I can't help being happy to get
away--with you."

There was sweet pain in hearing those last words, and the emphasis the
caressing girl-voice gave. Max hurried through a vague list of such
events as seemed fit for Sanda's ears. They were not many, since he did
not count his fights among the mentionable ones. He told her, with more
detail, about his acquaintance with Valdez, whose face she had remarked
at the railway station at Sidi-bel-Abbes; and then claimed her promise.
She must tell him, if she would (with a sudden drop from the happy way
of Max Doran with women to the humbler way of Max St. George,
Legionnaire), what she had gone through in the Agha's house.

She began by asking a question. "Didn't you think it queer that no one
but a servant came out to see me off?"

"I did a little, but I put it down to Arab manners."

"It was because I left in disgrace. Oh! no one was ever rude! They were
polite always. It was like being stuffed with too much honey. And I
don't mean Ourieda, of course. Ourieda's a darling. I'd do anything for
her. I've proved that! Did my father give you any idea why he had to
send for me in a hurry, though he has to leave me alone--or rather in
charge of people I don't know--at Bel-Abbes? He must have told you
something, as he asked such a sacrifice."

"He needn't have told me anything at all. But he took me into his
confidence--it was like him--far enough to say the Agha was offended
somehow, and you were anxious to leave."

"I should think the Agha _was_ offended! I tried to help Ourieda to
escape, even though she hadn't heard from her Manoeel. She had lots of
jewels, and thought she might get to France. We failed in our attempt,
and after that we were never alone together, though they--her father and
aunt--didn't want me to go till she was married. The idea at first
was--when I arrived, I mean--that my visit shouldn't end till father
came back. They meant me to stop on with Ourieda, as she and her husband
would live at her old home at Djazerta. The last plot wasn't mine. It
was got up by an old nurse they'd sent away, a