"_Aleykoum es-Salaam_!" he replied as gently, which is the sacrament of
lips.

There was the fortune-teller's regulation small table, with a chart of
the stars and a silver tray covered in sand upon it; on either side was
a chair; but it was upon a cushion on the floor that Damaris seated
herself, with her back against the canvas drapery of the wall,
motioning the Arab to a cushion near her, whilst her eyes swept the
loose cotton tunic, the _kaleelyah_ or head-kerchief, which almost
completely hid the face, the great white mantle and the sandals upon
the naked feet.

Oh! the game of make-believe they played, those two with the
jewel-hilted, razor-edged dagger of love between them.

There fell a silence.

And then the fortune-teller spoke in his own tongue, and too absorbed
were they in the game of make-believe to notice that he made use of
neither sand nor stars nor the lines upon her hands, which were clasped
above her heart, as he read her future in her eyes.

"Two paths lie before thee, O woman, and both stretch, through the
kingdom of love.

"The one to thy right hand has been marked out upon the Field of
Content by feet bound in the sandals of custom and convention. There
is shade upon this path, for, behold, the scorching sun of passion may
not penetrate the leaves of the trees of tranquillity; the storm breaks