"Ishmael?"
"Yes. Last night my father said ... but I hate to mention it."
"Tell me, dear, tell me."
"He said, 'You couldn't marry a man who had disobeyed and been degraded.'"
"Meaning that if I refused to obey orders, you and I perhaps ... by arrangement between your father and mine, maybe——"
"That is what I understood him to mean, dear, and therefore I came to see you."
He flushed crimson for a moment and then began to laugh.
"No, no! I'll never believe that of them. It would be monstrous—impossible!"
But the questioning look in Helena's eyes remained, and he tried to reassure her. So many things might happen to remove the difficulty altogether. The Ulema might take the order of the Government as a protest against the visit of Ishmael Ameer, and send him instructions not to come to Cairo.
"He's here already, dear," said Helena.