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Hichens, Robert Smythe, 1864-1950

"The Garden of Allah"


She felt that she must do something, go somewhere that night. She could
not remain quiet.
Batouch drew himself up and threw out his broad chest. His air gave
place to importance, and, as he leaned against the white pillar of the
arcade, folded his ample burnous round him, and glanced up at the sky he
saw, in fancy, a five-franc piece glittering in the chariot of the moon.
The priest did not come to dinner that night, but Androvsky was already
at his table when Domini came into the _salle-a-manger_. He got up from
his seat and bowed formally, but did not speak. Remembering his outburst
of the morning she realised the suspicion which her second interview
with the priest had probably created in his mind, and now she was not
free from a feeling of discomfort that almost resembled guilt. For now
she had been led to discuss Androvsky with Father Roubier, and had it
not been almost an apology when she said, "I know he is not evil"? Once
or twice during dinner, when her eyes met Androvsky's for a moment, she
imagined that he must know why she had been at the priest's house, that
anger was steadily increasing in him.


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