“I hope I shall endure as well as you, Monsieur,” he said. “I go to Beni-Hassan to visit Sidi El Hadj Aissa, one of the mightiest marabouts in the Sahara. In your Church,” he added, turning again to Domini, “he would be a powerful Cardinal.”
She noticed the “your.” Evidently the Count was not a professing Catholic. Doubtless, like many modern Italians, he was a free-thinker in matters of religion.
“I am afraid I have never heard of him,” she said. “In which direction does Beni-Hassan lie?”
“To go there one takes the caravan route that the natives call the route to Tombouctou.”
An eager look came into her face.
“My road!” she said.
“Yours?”
“The one I shall travel on. You remember, Monsieur Androvsky?”
“Yes, Madame.”
“Let me into your secret,” said the Count, laughingly, yet with interest too.