hundred stripes, and let not compassion
towards them prevent you from executing the judgment of God, if ye
believe in God, and the last day.'

"And to the scourging was added the punishment of death, for behold,
the Moslem law is less lenient than the Holy Book, also of such a case
is it not written in the Koran. And Zuleika, my wife, was bound naked
to a pillar and scourged with a hundred stripes. And the city in which
had taken place the marriage, and in which both her father and my
father had great property being built upon flat ground, there was,
therefore, no height from which to throw her, neither well in which to
fling her without fear of polluting the water, for time, alas, is
making us softer towards misdeeds, so that such places of punishment
are disappearing quickly."

Hahmed the Arab stopped short as with a little rustling sound Jill
raised herself to her knees, her hair sweeping to the satin cushion,
her hands stretched before her face as though to blind her eyes to the
word-picture which the man was painting in a perfectly indifferent
voice.

"How awful! How awful!" she whispered. "Surely, surely you never let
them _kill_ her!"

For a moment the Arab sat silent, as he forced his mind to an
understanding of the Western outlook upon what to him was so simple a
matter.

"But she was unchaste, woman, therefore there was nothing else to do!"

And at the tone of finality in the gentle voice, Jill sat back on her
heels and said, "And then?" and listened without interrupting until the
tale was done.

"So," continued Hahmed, "she was taken screaming to a public spot and
there buried to her waist, and after that her mother had thrown the
first stone, was put to death by men and women who, following the
edicts of the Moslem law, meted out death by stoning to the unchaste.
And from that day I fled my country and my home. East and West I
travelled, passing many moons in England, hence it is that I can
converse with you in your own language.

"There are many good things in your country and there are some bad, the
greatest of the latter, to an Eastern mind, being the freedom of the
women, who, even in their youth, go half-naked to the festival, so that
all men, yea, even to the slaves who serve at table, may cast their eye
of desire upon wife, or wife to be, taking from the husband the
privilege of possessing all the beauty of the woman for himself. Also
did I see the women of the West go down to the sa