Ashy pale under her bronze skin, Embarka obeyed without protest, throwing one look at her beloved mistress as she followed Lella Mabrouka to her fate. Her great, dilated eyes said: "Good-bye forever, oh, thou whom I love, and for whom I have given myself without regret."
When they were left alone the girls fell into each other's arms as if for protection against some terrible fate coming swiftly to destroy them. Though the September dawn had in it the warmth of summer, they shivered as they clung together.
"It is all over!" Ourïeda said. "Allah is against me."
"What will happen?" asked Sanda, a horror of the unknown upon her.
"Nothing to thee. Do not be afraid."
"I'm not afraid for myself. I am thinking of you."
"For me this is the end."
"You don't mean—surely your father will not——"
"He will not take my life. He will take from me his love. And I shall be watched every instant till I have been given to Tahar. I shall not even have a chance to kill myself—unless I do it now."
"Ourïeda! No—there's hope still. Who can tell——"