Only when the desert was finally left behind,
divided from them by the great wall of rock, did she look up and speak
to Androvsky.
"We met here, Boris," she said.
"Yes," he answered, "at the gate of the desert. I shall never be here
again."
Soon the night fell around them.
* * * * *
In the evening of the following day they reached Tunis, and drove to the
Hotel d'Orient, where they had written to engage rooms for one night.
They had expected that the city would be almost deserted by its European
inhabitants now the summer had set in, but when they drove up to the
door of the hotel the proprietor came out to inform them that, owing
to the arrival of a ship full of American tourists who, personally
conducted, were "viewing" Tunis after an excursion to the East and
to the Holy Land, he had been unable to keep for them a private
sitting-room. With many apologies he explained that all the
sitting-rooms in the house had been turned into bedrooms, but only for
one night. On the morrow the personally-conducted ones would depart and
Madame and Monsieur could have a charming salon. They listened silently
to his explanations and apologies, standing in the narrow entrance
hall, which was blocked up with piles of luggage.
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