He made no further explanation, nor did the girl require one.
"If he had made this sacrifice earlier, he would have been kind," she said quietly, "for I am a very sorrowful woman."
"That I know, Lapai," said the Arab gently.
"That you do not know," she corrected. "I had sorrow because I loved a man and destroyed him, because I love my people and they hate me, and now because I love you, Ussuf, with a love which is greater than any."
He looked at her; there was a strange pity in his eyes, and his thin, brown hands went out till they reached to her shoulders.
"All things are with the gods," he said. "Now, I cannot love you, Lapai, although I am full of pity for you, for you are not of my race, and there are other reasons. But because you are a woman, and because of certain teachings which I received in my youth, I will take you out of this city, and, if needs be, die for you."
He watched her as she walked slowly down towards where the people of the Akarti waited for her, drawn by morbid curiosity, since the king's intention was no secret. Then he shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
At nine o'clock, when the virgin guards and the old king went to find her for the killing, she had gone.
So also had Ussuf and his six Arabi. The king's lokali beat furiously, summoning all the country to deliver into his hands the woman and the man.
* * * * *