you; and if--"

David hastened to put the matter right. "No, no; thee must be the
judge!" He smiled sceptically. "In any case, thee has done a good deed
in a great way, and it will do thee no harm in the end. In one way the
investment will pay a long interest, as long as the history of Egypt
runs. Ah, see, the houses of Assouan, the palms, the river, the masts of
the dahabiehs!"

Lacey quickened his camel's steps, and stretched out a hand to the
inviting distance. "'My, it's great," he said, and his eyes were
blinking with tears. Presently he pointed. "There's a woman riding to
meet us, Saa dat. Golly, can't she ride! She means to be in it--to
salute the returning brave."

He did not glance at David. If he had done so, he would have seen that
David's face had taken on a strange look, just such a look as it wore
that night in the monastery when he saw Hylda in a vision and heard her
say: "Speak, speak to me!"

There had shot into David's mind the conviction that the woman riding
towards them was Hylda. Hylda, the first to welcome him back, Hylda--
Lady Eglington! Suddenly his face appeared to tighten and grow thin.
It was all joy and torture at once. He had fought this fight out with
himself--had he not done so? Had he not closed his heart to all but duty
and Egypt? Yet there she was riding out of the old life, out of Hamley,
and England, and all that had happened in Cairo, to meet him. Nearer and
nearer she came. He could not see the face, but yet he knew. He
quickened his camel and drew ahead of Lacey. Lacey did not understand,
he did not recognise Hylda as yet; but he knew by instinct the Saadat's