"Nothing."
"But I heard you speak."
"It must have been the sailors singing. I was looking up at the stars. How wonderful they are!"
As she spoke, she moved very slightly, letting her cloak fall open so that her long throat was exposed.
"And how beautifully warm it is!"
He looked at her throat, and sighed, seemed to hesitate, and then bent suddenly down as if he were going to kiss it.
"Al-lah!"
Almost fiercely the nasal voice of the singing boatman who gave out the solo part of the song of the Nile came over the garden from the river, and the throbbing of the daraboukkeh sounded loudly in their ears. Nigel lifted his head without kissing her.
"Those boatmen are close to the garden!" he said.
Mrs. Armine wrapped her cloak suddenly round her.