“Then why does she send for me?”
“That is her business. It is not for any man to dispute the will of Khadija.”
Georgia pondered the matter for a moment. Her first impulse was to accept the invitation which had arrived thus opportunely, but its tone was so unpleasant that she began to suspect a trap. If her presence was really needed, Khadija could well afford to send her a more explicit message. It was evident that the matter was not one of life and death, or more would have been made of it, and Georgia had a lively recollection of the way in which she had been lured to the Palace at Kubbet-ul-Haj, to warn her against putting faith in mysterious messages. In any case, nothing could be lost, and the respect in which she was held would probably increase, if she declined to pay any attention to a summons worded as this one had been.
“I go nowhere unless the messenger tells me plainly why I am wanted,” she said, sharply.
“That is not a reply to satisfy Khadija,” returned the messenger.
“Then she must find satisfaction elsewhere,” said Georgia.
“Her power is greater than the doctor lady knows.”
“Thou art a fool,” said Rahah, contemptuously, her wrath aroused by the veiled threat. “My lady also has medicines. Is she likely to fear Khadija?” and she dropped the curtain as a sign that the interview was at an end.
The messenger departed baffled, but it was not without many misgivings that Georgia heard his retreating footsteps crossing the tiled floor. Had she acted foolishly in refusing so peremptorily the witch’s request? It was possible that the terms in which it was couched had been adopted merely in order to try her, and that she had lost once for all the opportunity of gaining an entrance to Bir-ul-Malikat. The thought troubled her a good deal, in spite of the persistence with which she assured herself that it was only prudent to act as she had done, and she wandered in and out of the various rooms, unable to settle to any occupation, pausing now and then on the terrace to look across the desert in case the messenger should be returning. Engrossed in watching for him, she failed to notice the approach of another traveller, and it was with some surprise that she received the news which Rahah hurried out to bring her.
“O my lady, another messenger! He says that he is Yakub, the son of Khadija, but he will not say why he is come.”