“What chance?” she asked, with a faint return of her old scorn. “The chance of life with you?”
“No,” he answered firmly. “If you will trust me, I swear that I will seek to undo the evil I have done. Listen. At dawn my galeasse sets out upon a raid. I will convey you secretly aboard and find a way to land you in some Christian country—Italy or France—whence you may make your way home again.”
“But meanwhile,” she reminded him, “I shall have become your wife.”
He smiled wistfully. “Do you still fear a trap? Can naught convince you of my sincerity? A Muslim marriage is not binding upon a Christian, and I shall account it no marriage. It will be no more than a pretence to shelter you until we are away.”
“How can I trust your word in that?”
“How?” He paused, baffled; but only for a moment. “You have the dagger,” he answered pregnantly.
She stood considering, her eyes upon the weapon’s lividly gleaming blade. “And this marriage?” she asked. “How is it to take place?”
He explained to her then that by the Muslim law all that was required was a declaration made before a kadi, or his superior, and in the presence of witnesses. He was still at his explanation when from below there came a sound of voices, the tramp of feet, and the flash of torches.
“Here is Asad returning in force,” he cried, and his voice trembled. “Do you consent?”
“But the kadi?” she inquired, and by the question he knew that she was won to his way of saving her.