CHAPTER V.

"_Oh, yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill_."

TENNYSON.


After the fight in the bazaar, the ducal party stayed for another
fortnight in Cairo, during which time Damaris saw as much of the place
and its surroundings as she could in fourteen days and a few hours out
of each of the fourteen nights; whilst her godmother played bridge or
poker, paid and received visits, took her to dances and parties, and
busied her fingers in the tangled threads Fate had tossed into her lap.

It was an understood thing that the girl should be ready to conduct the
old aristocrat to the dining-room at the dinner-hour and give her the
evening; other than that her time was her own, though, owing to her
innate courtesy and her love for her godmother, she never once absented
herself without having obtained permission.

"You are a positive tonic, child, in these perplexing days," remarked
her grace, when the girl had concluded the recital of the fight in the
bazaar. "Only, do remember to come straight to me if ever you get into
a real scrape."

And that night, the old lady, who had lost heavily at poker, fairly