"Why dost thou say 'never shall'?" the girl broke in upon him suddenly.
The blood mounted to his face. He had made a second mistake, and she was very quick to catch him up.
"It was but a figure of speech," he corrected himself.
"Thou dost not mean that she's shut up, and no man allowed to see her?"
"I know nothing. Thou wilt find out all for thyself. But thou wert anxious to go to her, at no matter what cost, and I feared to dishearten thee, to break thy courage, while I was still a stranger, and could not justify myself in thine eyes. Now, wilt thou forgive me an evasion, which was to save thee anxiety, if I say frankly that, travel as we may, we cannot reach our journey's end for many days yet?"
"I must forgive thee," said Victoria, with a sigh. "Yet I do not like evasions. They are unworthy."
"I am sorry," Maïeddine returned, so humbly that he disarmed her. "It would be terrible to offend thee."
"There can be no question of offence," she consoled him. "I am very, very grateful for all thou hast done for me. I often lie awake in the night, wondering how I can repay thee everything."
"When we come to the end of the journey, I will tell thee of a thing thou canst do, for my happiness," Maïeddine said in a low voice, as if half to himself.
"Wilt thou tell me now to what place we are going? I should like to know, and I should like to hear thee describe it."