ball--And to dance with a man! To tell him who I am--Oh, yes, I am
much ashamed. I am as bold as a Christian!" she tossed at him
suddenly, between mockery and malice.

Still his wonder and his trouble found no words and the shadow on
his face was reflected swiftly in her own.

"I beg you to believe, monsieur, that never before--never have I
done such a thing. My greatest fault was to be out in the garden
after sunset--when all Moslem women should be within. But my nurse
was indulgent."

Almost pleadingly she looked up at the young man. "Believe this of
me, monsieur. I would not have you think of me lightly. But to-night
something possessed me. I had heard of the masque, and I remembered
the balls of the Embassy where I danced when I was so young and so I
slipped away--there was a garden key that I had stolen, long ago,
and kept for another thing.... I did not mean to dance. Only to look
on at the world again."

"Oh, my good Lord," said Jack Ryder.

And then suddenly he asked, "Are you--do you--whom do you live
with?"

And when she answered in surprise, "But with whom but my father--he
is Tewfick Pasha," he drew a long breath.

"I thought you'd tell me next you were married," he said limply.