to be--the victim of the plot."
She smiled scornfully. "I trust you may yet be the victim of your own
conduct."

"In more ways than one, maybe. Don't you think, now that the tables are
turned, that you might have mercy on 'a prisoner and a captive'?"

She looked at him inquiringly, then glanced towards the shore where
Dicky stood talking with Foulik Pasha. Her eyes came back slowly and
again asked a question. All at once intelligence flashed into them.

"You wished to see Kingsley Bey a prisoner; you have your wish," he said
smiling.

"Whose prisoner?" she asked, still coldly. "The Khedive's."

A flash of triumph crossed her face. Her heart beat hard. Had it come at
last, the edict to put down slavery? Had the Khedive determined to put
an end to the work of Kingsley Bey in his desert-city-and to Kingsley
Bey himself?... Her heart stopped beating now. She glanced towards Dicky
Donovan, and her pulses ran more evenly again. Would the Khedive have
taken such a step unless under pressure? And who in Egypt could have,
would have, persuaded him, save Dicky Donovan? Yet Dicky was here with
his friend Kingsley Bey. The mystery troubled her, and the trouble got
into her eyes.

"You are going to Cairo?" she said, glancing towards the boat.

"It would seem so."

"And Donovan Pasha goes too?"

"I hope so. I am not sure."

"But he must go," she said a little sharply.

"Yes?"

"He--you must have somebody, and he has great power."

"That might or might not be to my benefit. After all, what does it
matter?"--He saw that she was perturbed, and he pressed his advantage.

She saw, however, and retreated. "We reap as we sow," she said, and made
as if to go inside the house. "You have had the game, you must pay for
the candles out of your earnings."

"I don't mind paying what's fair. I don't want other people to pay."

She turned angrily on him, he could not tell why. "You don't want others
to pay! As if you could do anything that doesn't affect others. Did you
learn that selfishness at Skaw Fell, or was it born with you? You are of
those who think they earn all their own success and happiness, and then,
when they earn defeat and despair, are surprised that others suffer. As
if our penalties were only paid by ourselves! Egotism, vanity! So long
as you have your dance, it matters little to you who pays for the tune."

"I am sorry." He was bewildered; he had not expected this.

"Does a man stoop to do in a foreign land w