He looked at her with steady, serene eyes, “You won’t need a dragoman for a fortnight,” he remarked. “He may as well make himself useful to the Bindanes.”
With that he went back to his ablutions, and when, half an hour later, Mustafa made his appearance, Daniel immediately sent him off on his long journey, telling him to convey his compliments to Mr. and Mrs. Bindane and to say that her Ladyship was in the best of health, and would come back to them on the thirteenth day from now.
This done, he called Hussein to him and spoke to him somewhat after this manner: “Her Excellency,” he said, “desires to go back to her friends, but I believe I shall be carrying out the wishes of her father by obliging her to remain here. You will therefore take her camel and mine into the village, so that she cannot get at them; and you will notify me at once if she leaves the house. Otherwise you are to treat her with the deference due to her high rank; and I think it will be best to make no mention of what I have told you to your friends.”
Hussein bowed, and at once went off to find a suitable stable for the camels.
When luncheon was announced a couple of hours later Muriel came into the living-room, carrying herself with dignity.
“Am I obliged to eat my meals with you?” she asked.
“It will be more convenient,” he replied.
“I shall probably be sick,” she muttered.
“You’ll get used to it,” he answered; and therewith they sat down at the table.
The meal was eaten in a distressing silence, broken only by Daniel’s polite profferring of salt, pepper, and the like, and by his pressing but vain invitations to her to eat a little more of this or that dish. When at length they rose from the table, he advised her to go to her room to rest. “You must be very tired,” he said, “after getting up so early, and all that excitement.”