tches of the
world; and will not a vision of stark terror blot out the sun at the
commonplace hour of noon, and may not the body, squatting on the market
pavement, find it a place of rest, even as unto a seat in paradise
through the spirit's communion?

The soul's wireless, mental telepathy, the sympathetic chord, and so
on, and so on, good honest words to describe that which no one
understands, and which caused the girl sitting on a prosaic bed in a
prosaic hotel to smile suddenly as she sat so very still.

For her soul had wandered until she stood with her feet in the sand,
looking in at a wide-open door through which a beam of violet-orange
light struck across the night.

Two men sat motionless within, until one slowly turned his head and
looked through the door straight into her eyes.

For one long moment, with unutterable longing he gazed, and then the
vision faded just as Jill, saying softly, "Beloved! I come," stretched
out her arms, and with a sudden shiver awoke to her surroundings.

PART III

THE FRUIT

CHAPTER L

"Doubtless my beloved sleeps!" thought Hahmed the Arab, as he looked at
the watch on his wrist to find it pointing to midnight, and clapped his
hands for fresh coffee, then lit another cigarette whilst his guest
who, like himself, sat cross-legged on cushions on the floor, inhaled
contentedly from a _shibuk_[1] in a house of rest on the outer edge of
a distant oasis.

Weary to death was he of the uninterrupted flow of words which
unceasingly streamed from the mouth of the cross-bred man, who was
gleefully rubbing the hands of his soul over what he imagined to be the
clinching of a remarkable bargain with the Camel King, whereas if he
had but known it, his host had merely put a little difficulty in the
way so as to lengthen the deal, and thereby kill a few moments of the
dreary hours of the dreary time he had passed since had left the woman
he loved alone to learn the last words of her lesson.

Turning he called sharply to the servile proprietor of the house, which
for the first time was honoured by the presence of its redoubtable
landlord.

Salaaming until his tarboosh reached the level of his knees, the
inwardly shaking Achmed stood before his two guests.

"Hast thou naught wherewith to entertain thy guests, O! Achmed, or must
they perchance pass the hours in counting the flies which flit about
the none too clean lamps? Thinkest thou that this house is solely a
roof to