Domini fancied his voice echoing along
the sands till the worshippers of Allah and of his Prophet heard it like
a clarion in Tombouctou.
When she reached the great hotel the sun was just beginning to set. She
drew Count Anteoni's card from her glove and rang the bell. After a
long interval a magnificent man, with the features of an Arab but a skin
almost as black as a negro, opened the door.
"Can I go up the tower to see the sunset?" she asked, giving him the
card.
The man bowed low, escorted her through a long hall full of furniture
shrouded in coverings, up a staircase, along a corridor with numbered
rooms, up a second staircase and out upon a flat-terraced roof, from
which the tower soared high above the houses and palms of Beni-Mora, a
landmark visible half-a-day's journey out in the desert. A narrow spiral
stair inside the tower gained the summit.
"I'll go up alone," Domini said. "I shall stay some time and I would
rather not keep you."
She put some money into the Arab's hand. He looked pleased, yet doubtful
too for a moment. Then he seemed to banish his hesitation and, with a
deprecating smile, said something which she could not understand.
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