“I take it,” Lord Blair explained, “that he was referring to your mental, not your physical attitude.”
“Oh, quite so,” replied Muriel; and she burst out laughing, but her laughter was very close to tears.
Lord Blair patted her cheek. “Ah, Muriel,” he said, his manner again becoming serious, “you mustn’t lose Daniel. I would rather that he were your husband than any man living.”
“But I don’t think he wants to be my husband, or anybody’s husband,” she replied.
“He is deeply in love with you,” her father told her.
“That’s another matter,” said she; and Lord Blair glanced at her in perplexity.
He was not altogether sorry that events had taken their present course; for it seemed to him that this temporary disunion would have a salutary effect on his daughter’s character. He could see clearly the faults of which Daniel complained; and he could not help thinking that this forceful show of disgust on her lover’s part would be instrumental in arousing her to the more serious things of life. It would be a lesson to her which would serve to fit her to be the wife of a man of genuine sincerity.
Moreover, in the case of Daniel, his sudden return to El Hamrân, with his heart left behind him here at the Residency, would probably dispel, once and for all, that haunting dream of his desert paradise which otherwise would always cause him to be restless in Cairo. This time, if he were made of flesh and blood, he would find the desert intolerable, and in a few weeks he would probably be lured back to civilization by the call of his manhood.
That Daniel should marry Muriel, and take up his permanent position at the Residency, was his most ardent hope; and as the present events had occurred he had fitted them each into place in his growing plan of action.
In brief, his scheme was as follows. At the end of the month he himself would have to go up to the Sudan on his annual tour of inspection; and about the same time the Bindanes would be going to the Oases. He had expected to take his daughter with him to the Sudan, but, instead, he would send her with the Bindanes, and thus she would be in a position to effect a reconciliation with Daniel on his own ground, so to speak. Hardy Muriel on camel-back in the desert would be more likely to win him than dainty Muriel in the ballroom; and Lord Blair, priding himself on his strategy, had almost come to believe that his sending Daniel off to El Hamrân had been a definite move in his game, made with the object of bringing about this romantic meeting in the desert.