_mem-sahib_ have it otherwise? Would she call that loved one back? Would
she not rather thank the God of spirits for His great mercy--and so go
her way rejoicing?"

Again the utterance was too full of tenderness to give her pain. It sank
deep into Stella's heart, stilling for a space the anguish. She looked
at the strange, draped figure beside her that spoke those husky words of
comfort with a dawning sense of reverence. She had a curious feeling as
of one being guided through a holy place.

"You--comfort me, Hanani," she said after a moment. "I don't think I am
really grieving for the _baba_ yet. That will come after. I know
that--as you say--he is at peace, and I would not call him back.
But--Hanani--that is not all. It is not even the half or the beginning
of my trouble. The loss of my _baba_ I can bear--I could bear--bravely.
But the loss of--of--" Words failed her unexpectedly. She bowed her head
again upon her arms and wept the bitter tears of despair.

Hanani the _ayah_ sat very still by her side, her brown, bony hands
tightly gripped about her knees, her veiled head bent slightly forward
as though she watched for someone in the dimness of the broken archway.

At last very, very slowly she spoke.

"_Mem-sahib_, even in the desert the sun rises. There is always comfort
for those who go forward--even though they mourn."

"Not for me," sobbed Stella. "Not for those--who part--in
bitterness--and never--meet again!"

"Never, _mem-sahib?_" Hanani yet gazed straight before her. Suddenly she
made a movement as if to rise, but checked herself as one reminded by
exertion of physical infirmity. "The _mem-sahib_ weeps for her lord,"
she said. "How shall Hanani comfort her? Yet never is a cruel word. May
it not be that he will--even now--return?"

"He is dead," whispered Stella.

"Not so, _mem-sahib_." Very gently Hanani corrected her. "The captain
_sahib_ lives."

"He--lives?" Stella started upright with the words. In the gloom her
eyes shone with a sudden feverish light; but it very swiftly died. "Ah,
don't torture me, Hanani!" she said. "You mean well, but--it doesn't
help."

"Hanani speaks the truth," protested the old _ayah_, and behind the
enveloping veil came an answering gleam as if she smiled. "My lord the
captain _sahib_ spoke with Hafiz this very night. Hafiz will tell the
_mem-sahib_."

But Stella shook her head in hopeless unbelief. "I don't trust Hafiz,"
she said wearily.

"Yet Hafiz would not l