But even so Paul did not move.
“Wait,” he said.
He raised his head to listen. The night was still as a tomb. A cry even from the most distant corner of the city, it seemed to him, must carry to this open square of darkness above them. He had time. “Yes, wait,” he repeated, and he went apart into the shadowy patio. Never had he been set to face so tragic a dilemma. He knew Si El Hadj Arrifa too well to doubt him. Nor indeed had he any real doubt as to the choice which he himself would make. The choice was in truth made, had been made from the moment he was sure that torture and massacre threatened those who remained in Fez as much as those who marched to Rabat. But he stood in that shadowy court of marble and tiles, gazing with a great sorrow upon many lovely cherished things which he was now forever to forego, his own hopes and ambitions, a little circle of good friends, honour and good report, a career of active service and study well-applied, and at the end of it all a name cleansed of its stain, and—even now the picture rose before his mind—a dreamlike high garden fragrant with roses, from which one looked out over moonlit country to the misty barrier of the Downs. It was such a farewell as he had never thought to make and when he turned back into the room his face was twisted as with a physical pain and anguish lay deep in his brooding eyes.
He took the envelope from his breast.
“I shall trust you with more than my life,” he said.
“Your Excellency has honoured me with his friendship. I am his servant in all things.”
“I have been for three nights writing this letter. I had it in my mind to open it here and read it to you. But the bad news you have given me points to another way. It may be that there will be no need to use it. I give it into your hands and I beg you to keep it sealed as it is, until you are certain of my death. If I am alive I shall find a means to let you know. If I am dead, I pray you to do all that I have written here.”
Si El Hadj Arrifa took the letter and bowed his forehead upon it, as though it carried the very Sultan’s seal.
“With God’s will, I will do as you direct.”
Paul took his friend by the hand, and looked him in the eyes.