“I saw your friend this afternoon talking there with one whom it is especially unsafe to be seen with in Beni-Koujtlar.’
“‘With whom?’
“‘A dancer called Àlgia.’
“‘Talking, monsieur! Marnier knows no Arabic.’
“The aumônier pursed his lips in his black beard.
“‘The conversation appeared to be carried on by signs,’ he responded. ‘That did not make it less but more dangerous.’
“I’m afraid I was rude, and whistled softly.
“‘Monsieur l’Aumônier,’ I said, ‘you must forgive me, but this air is certainly the very devil.’
“He smiled, not without irony.
“‘I became aware of that myself, monsieur, when first I came to live in Beni-Kouidar. But I am a priest, and—well, monsieur, I was given the strength to say: “Get thee behind me, Satan.”’