d, with its tiny lake around it, was absent in
England. The old Arab house was closed. But the head gardener, a
Frenchman, who had spent a long life in Algeria, remembered Charmian,
and begged her to wander wherever she pleased. She took Claude to the
edge of the lake, and drew him down beside her on a white seat.

And presently she said:

"Claudie, it was here I first knew I should marry you."

Claude, who had been looking in silence at the water, the palm, and the
curving shores covered with bamboos, flowering shrubs, and trees, turned
on the seat and looked at her.

"Knew that you would marry me!" he said.

Something in his eyes almost startled her.

"I mean I felt as if Fate meant to unite us."

He still gazed at her with the strange expression in his eyes, an
expression which made her feel almost uneasy.

"Something here"--she almost faltered, called on her will, and
continued--"something here seemed to tell me that I should come here
some day with you. Wasn't it strange?"

"Well, yes, I suppose it was," he answered.

She thought his voice sounded insincere.

"I almost wonder," he added, "that you did not suggest our coming here
for our honeymoon."

"I thought of it. I wanted to."

"Then why didn't you?"

"I felt as if the right time had not come, as if I had to wait."

"And now the right time has come?"

"Yes, now it has come."

She tried to speak with energy. But her voice sounded doubtful. That
curious look in his eyes had filled her with an unwonted indecision, had
troubled her spirit.

The old gardener, who had white whiskers and narrow blue eyes, came down
the path under the curving pergola, carrying a bunch of white and red
roses in his earthy hand.

He presented it to Charmian with a bow. A young Arab, who helped in the
garden, showed for a moment among the shrubs on the hillside. Claude saw
him, followed him with the eyes of one strange in Africa till he was
hidden, watched for his reappearance. Charmian got up. The gardener
spoke in a hoarse voice, telling her something about water-plants and
blue lilies, of which there were some in the garden, and of which he
seemed very proud. She glanced at Claude, then walked a few steps with
the old man and began to talk with him.

It seemed to her that Claude had fallen into a dream.

That day, when Charmian rejoined Claude, she said:

"Old Robert has spoken to me of a villa."

"Old Robert!"

"The gardener. We are intimate friends. He