“Is all well with you?”

“All is well!”

And a smile irradiated the fair face with such a light as to suggest that the eyes must have opened,—but no!—they were fast shut.

El-Râmi resumed his strange interrogation.

“Lilith! What do you see?”

There was a moment’s pause,—then came the slow response—

“Many things,—things beautiful and wonderful. But you are not among them. I hear your voice and I obey it, but I cannot see you—I have never seen you.”

El-Râmi sighed, and pressed more closely the soft small hand within his own.

“Where have you been?”

“Where my pleasure led me”—came the answer in a sleepy yet joyous tone—“My pleasure and—your will.”