. I could not now use the precaution in her case, which it
had somehow seemed natural to adopt with Eive, of marking the paper
returned for erasure. On her part, Eunane thrust into my hand the
whole bundle as they were, and I was forced myself to erase, by an
electro-chemical process which leaves no trace of writing, the words
of that selected. The absence of any mark on the second paper served
sufficiently to distinguish the two when, of course without stating
from whom I received them, I placed, them in Davilo's hands.

When we were ready to leave the peristyle for the carriage, I observed
that Eunane alone was still unveiled, while the others wore their
cloaks of down and the thick veils, without which no lady may present
herself to the public eye.

"'Thieving time is woman's crime,'" I said, quoting a domestic
proverb. "In another household you would; be left behind."

"Of course," she replied, such summary discipline seeming to her as
appropriate as to an European child. "I don't like always to deserve
the vine and receive the nuts."

"You must take which _I_ like," I retorted, laughing. Satisfied or
silenced, she hastened to dress, and enjoyed with unalloyed delight
the unusual pleasure of inspecting dresses and jewellery, and making
more purchases in a day than she had expected to be able to do in two
years. But she and her companions acted with more consideration than
ladies permitted to visit the shops of Europe show for their masculine
escort. Eive alone, on this as on other occasions, availed herself
thoroughly of those privileges of childhood which I had always
extended to her.

So quick are the proceedings and so excellent the arrangements of
Martial commerce, even where ladies are concerned, that a couple of
hours saw us on our way homeward, after having passed through the
apartments of half the merchants in Altasfe. Purposely for my own
pleasure, as well as for that of my companions, I took a circuitous
route homeward, and in so doing came within sight of a principal
feminine Nursery or girls' school. Recognising it, Eunane spoke with
some eagerness--

"Ah! I spent nine years there, and not always unhappily."

Eveena, who sat beside me, pressed my hand, with an intention easily
understood.

"And you would like to see it again?" I inquired in compliance with
her silent hint.

"Not to go back," said Eunane. "But I should like to pay it a visit,
if it were possible."

"Can we?" I asked Eveena.