"Oh! my Henri, what you have suffered," she exclaimed; "and to think that you should have lost all memory even of me! But, at least, you were spared the pain of wanting me."
"Ah! but think of the years of love that I have lost; for had I known, this wasted period would not have been. If necessary, I would have searched the whole world through for you. But my search would not have been prolonged, for love would have winged my feet, and brought me quickly to my goal."
"You can turn a pretty compliment. Tell me now, how like you me in this costume; you have never yet seen me, but in Eastern dress. Does my Parisian gown become me, with all these pretty chiffons?"
"You are ravishing, ma chérie; bewitching as you looked in Arab garb, your charms are even enhanced in European habit. You look a gay Parisian from head to foot."
Undoubtedly she did. No one, viewing her, would have guessed that in her veins there ran a drop of Arab blood, for she was fairer even than most Spanish women.
She laughed merrily at the compliment, for, in many things, she was pleased as easily as is a child, and was as open in displaying her delight.
"But now," resumed St. Just, "I am longing to hear about yourself; how it is I find you here, and what you have been doing in the interval."
"Ah! but it would take all night to tell you everything," was her reply. "By degrees you shall know all. Rest content on this occasion with the chief incidents. You know you left me at the "Tomb of the Kings" to take that treasure on to Cairo. Oh! that horrid treasure! But for that, I should not have lost you. Well, I waited for month after month for the message from you that was to tell me where I was to meet you; and, each day, I became more sad and lonely. Ah! my Henri, how I did miss you. When no news came, my anxiety became almost insupportable, for I feared that some misfortune had befallen you; and I—I was helpless to assist you, for I knew not what it was, or where you were.
"At last, three months after you had left me, one of the men who had formed your escort came into the camp alone. He could scarcely walk, but swayed about, like a drunken man, from side to side. He was unarmed and had scarcely a rag about him, and he looked as though he had not tasted food for many days. Altogether he was in a pitiable condition. At first, he was too weak to speak; he staggered into the encampment, and then his strength gave out, and he fell at full length to the ground. When he had been sufficiently restored with food and drink, he was brought to me, and then—then, my husband, I heard the dreadful news; the very worst that could have happened had befallen me." Even now she shuddered at its recitation; there was no make-believe about it, and St. Just's heart leaped with joy and sympathy at the thought of how she must have loved him.
"He told me," she went on, "of the attack on you at Thebes, and how he had seen you fall; also that Yusuf who was in the attacking party, had been slain by Mahmoud. May Allah bless the boy for that good deed! Henri, there must have been treachery somewhere, though I know not how it came about."