nd to recognize him,
and the two women in their white veils were like all native women of
wealth and breeding in Algiers. Hsina was crying, and Fafann, who
expected to go with her mistress, was insufferably important. Victoria
felt that she was living in a fairy story, and the wearing of the veil
excited and amused her. She was happy, and looked forward to the journey
itself as well as to the journey's end.

There were few people in the railway station, and Victoria saw no
European travellers. Maieddine had taken the tickets already, but he did
not tell her the name of the place to which they were going by rail. She
would have liked to ask, but as neither Si Maieddine nor Lella M'Barka
encouraged questions, she reminded herself that she could easily read
the names of the stations as they passed.

Soon the train came in, and Maieddine put them into a first-class
compartment, which was labelled "reserved," though all other Arabs were
going second or third. Fafann arranged cushions and haicks for Lella
M'Barka; and at six o'clock a feeble, sulky-sounding trumpet blew,
signalling the train to move out of the station.

Victoria was not sleepy, though she had lain awake thinking excitedly
all night; but Lella M'Barka bade her rest, as the day would be tiring.
No one talked, and presently Fafann began to snore. The girl's eyes met
Si Maieddine's, and they smiled at each other. This made him seem to her
more like an ordinary human being than he had seemed before.

After a while, she dropped into a doze, and was surprised when she waked
up, to find that it was nearly nine o'clock. Fafann had roused her by
moving about, collecting bundles. Soon they would be "there." And as the
train slowed down, Victoria saw that "there" was Bouira.

This place was the destination of a number of Arab travellers, but the
instant they were out of the train, these passengers appeared to melt
away unobtrusively. Only one carriage was waiting, and that was for Si
Maieddine and his party.

It was a very different carriage from Lella M'Barka's, in Algiers; a
vehicle for the country, Victoria thought it not unlike old-fashioned
chaises in which farmers' families sometimes drove to Potterston, to
church. It had side and back curtains of canvas, which were fastened
down, and an Arab driver stood by the heads of two strong black mules.

"This carriage belongs to a friend of mine, a Caid," Maieddine explained
to Victoria. "He has lent it to me, with