"Answer me, Butheita. Their coming does not gladden me, and the thought of leaving you makes me sad. If you fancy I have found it dull here, you are in error. My heart is only too much occupied. Butheita, sweetest of maidens, speak to me! Speak to me, gazelle!"
"See, sarechsme—father waves his hand!" cried she. "He already sees us standing here; his eye is as keen as an eagle's. He sees us! Come, let us step back for a moment, I have something to say to you. —To be sure I might have told you where we were," she continued, blushing, as she stepped behind the curtain. "I might as well have told you at the door, for father could not have heard it, although he could see us."
"Speak, Butheita, what did you wish to say? Speak!"
"I have forgotten, sarechsme. But I believe I wished to thank you for saying you had not found it dull here. It seems to me that only a moment has passed since I saw you yesterday, and yet it is an eternity. Yesterday lies far behind me, and today seems entirely different. The sun seems to be another, and I myself another, too. You see I am a very silly child."
"And why do you falter? Why do I see tears in your eyes, Butheita?"
"Because I'm a foolish child! A strange feeling comes over me," said she, sadly. "You will now go; the man who is coming with father will take you away from us, and I shall never see you again."
"Then give me, O Butheita, give me one of the roses that blossom on your lips."
"That blossom on my lips?" said she, surprised, as she passed her little brown hand across her mouth. "A rose on my lips ? What does that mean, stranger?"
He bowed down over her. She felt his warm breath on her brown cheek.
"Give me a rose! Let me pluck a kiss from your lips!"