“I rode out and met a friend.”
“A friend?” he said, as if startled.
“Yes, from Beni-Mora—Count Anteoni. He has been here to pay me a visit.”
She pulled forward a basket-chair for him. He sank into it heavily.
“Count Anteoni here!” he said slowly. “What is he doing here?”
“He is with the marabout at Beni-Hassan. And, Boris, he has become a Mohammedan.”
He lifted his head with a jerk and stared at her in silence.
“You are surprised?”
“A Mohammedan—Count Anteoni?”
“Yes. Do you know, when he told me I felt almost as if I had been expecting it.”