"Madame will see," he answered. "Madame will see. But the
Englishman----"
"Yes?"
"The Englishman was ravished. 'This,' he said to me, 'this, Batouch, is
a little Paradise!' And there was no moon then. To-night there will be a
moon."
"Paradise!" exclaimed Androvsky.
He sprang upon his horse and pulled up the reins. Domini said no more.
They had started late. It was night when they reached Ain-la-Hammam. As
they drew near Domini looked before her eagerly through the pale gloom
that hung over the sand. She saw no village, only a very small grove of
palms and near it the outline of a bordj. The place was set in a cup of
the Sahara. All around it rose low hummocks of sand. On two or three of
them were isolated clumps of palms. Here the eyes roamed over no vast
distances. There was little suggestion of space. She drew up her horse
on one of the hummocks and gazed down. She heard doves murmuring in
their soft voices among the trees. The tents were pitched near the
bordj.
"What does Madame think?" asked Batouch. "Does Madame agree with the
Englishman?"
"It is a strange little place," she answered.
Pages:
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872