Edouard left, promising to deliver her message. But he came the next day, saying the Sultan had refused to grant her an interview.
"I wonder why he won't see me," she said drearily.
Edouard wondered also.
That evening he dined with his friend and patron, not in a gorgeous Eastern apartment like Pansy's, but in one that was decidedly Western in its fittings and appointments. And the Sultan was attired as Pansy had seen him several times in Grand Canary, in black dress-suit, white pleated shirt and the black pearl studs.
Dinner was over before Edouard approached the subject of the girl-prisoner.
"If I were you I'd see Miss Barclay," he said. "This suspense won't do her any good. She frets all day about her father."
"It's not in my plans to see her just yet," the Sultan replied.
Edouard glanced at him.
Then he did what for him was a bold thing, fat and comfortable and fond of his easy berth as he was. He challenged his royal master concerning his intentions towards the captive girl.
"What are your plans with regard to Miss Barclay?" he ventured. "She's not one of the sort who can be bought with a string of pearls or a diamond bracelet."