A chill ran through the courtier's strong, corpulent body, and he gazed
with mingled sympathy and dread at the blooming human flower associated
thus early in plans fraught with danger.

His master had hitherto only hinted at the secret, and it would still be
possible for him to keep his own fate separate from his. Should he do
so, an old age free from care lay before him; but, if he joined the
prince and his plan succeeded, how high he might rise! Terribly
momentous was the choice confronting him, the father of many children,
and beads of perspiration stood on his brow as, incapable of any coherent
thought, he led Ephraim to Kasana's tent, and then hastened to his
master.

Silence reigned within the light structure, which was composed of poles
and gay heavy stuffs, tenanted by the beautiful widow.

With a throbbing heart Ephraim approached the entrance, and when he at
last summoned courage and drew aside the curtain fastened firmly to the
earth, which the wind puffed out like a sail, he beheld a dark room, from
which a similar one opened on the right and left. The one on the left
was as dark as the central one; but a flickering light stole through
numerous chinks of the one on the right. The tent was one of those with
a flat roof, divided into three apartments, which he had often seen, and
the woman who irresistibly attracted him was doubtless in the lighted
one.

To avoid exposing himself to fresh suspicion, he must conquer his timid
delay, and he had already stooped and loosed the loop which fastened the
curtain to the hook in the floor, when the door of the lighted room
opened and a woman's figure entered the dark central chamber.