noiselessly left the room during the music. She was followed by a
bewitching little girl of about ten with another tray, who remained
to serve while the old woman shuffled slowly away. Arlee was struck
by the informality of the service; the servants appeared to be
underfoot like rugs; they came and went at will, unregarded.

The tea was most disappointingly ordinary, for the pat of butter
bore the rose stamp of the English dairy and the bread was English
bake, but the sweetmeats were deliciously novel, resembling nothing
Arlee had seen in the shops, and new, too, was the sip of syrup
which completed the refreshment.

Her hostess had said but little during the repast, remaining silent,
with an air of polite attention, her eyes fixed upon her caller with
a gaze the girl found bafflingly inscrutable. Now as the girl rose
to go, the Turkish woman suddenly revived her manners of hostess and
suggested a glimpse of some of the other rooms of the palace. "Our
seclusion interests you--yes?" she said, with a half-sad,
half-bitter smile on her scarlet lips, and Arlee was conscious of a
sense of apologetic intrusion battling with her lively curiosity as
she followed her down the long chamber and through a curtained
doorway to the right of the throne-like chair, into a large and
empty anteroom, where the sunlight streaming through the lightly
screened window on the wall at the right reminded Arlee that it was
yet glowing afternoon.

She lingered by the window an instant, looking down into the court
which she had glimpsed from the vestibule. Across the court she saw
a row of windows which, being unbarred, she guessed to be on the
men's side of the house, and to the left the court was ended by a