"Keep it," she said softly. "Keep it."

"I will keep it to replace that which has gone from me. I will restore
it to its shape, I will take from it the golden setting of the ring. I
will wear it upon my breast." And, bending, he gently raised the
yashmak in both hands and pressed his forehead to the few inches which
had rested above her crimson mouth.




CHAPTER IX

"_Love is one and the same in the original, but
there are a thousand copies of it, and, it may
be, all differing from one another_."

LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.


Ben Kelham, disguised as Rameses the Great, laid a hand upon the girl's
shoulder as, passing to the left of the tent, she walked slowly towards
the door leading to the grounds, whilst sounds of wrath came from the
serried ranks of those who wished to pry into the future.

The fortune-teller had sent word that there would be no more reading of
horoscopes or hands that evening, and had absented himself therewith
through a back entrance.

"You _have_ been a long time," said Ben Kelham. He looked magnificent