"'Yes, for you.'
"'To enable me to support Ramadan?'
"'Oh! Don't be so unkind! I will bring you some every day.'
"Oh! the terrible month that I spent! A sugared, insipidly sweet month; a month that nearly drove me mad; a month of spoiling and of temptation, of anger and of vain efforts against an invincible resistance, but at last the three days of Beiram came, which I celebrated in my own fashion, and Ramadan was forgotten.
"The summer went on, and it was very hot, and in the first days of autumn, Allouma appeared to me to be pre-occupied and absent-minded, and, seemingly, taking no interest in anything, and, at last, when I sent for her one evening, she was not to be found in her room. I thought that she was roaming about the house, and I gave orders to look for her. She had not come in, however, and so I opened my window, and called out:—
"'Mohammed,' and the voice of the man, who was lying in his tent, replied:—
"'Yes, mo'ssieuia.'
"'Do you know where Allouma is?'
"'No, mo'ssieuia ... it is not possible ... is Allouma lost?'
"A few moments later, my Arab came into my room, so agitated that he could not master his feelings, and I said: