dealt with; this left her tingling with a feeling of impotence, as if a
net were gradually closing round her in whose entangling meshes her
vaunted liberty was not only threatened, but which seemed destined even
to stifle her very existence. She pulled her racing thoughts up with a
jerk. She must not think if she was going to keep any hold over herself
at all. She gave him an answer indifferently and turned her back on
him. When she looked again he was gone, and she heaved a sigh of
relief. She had chafed under his watchful eyes until the feeling of
restraint had grown unbearable.

She breathed more freely now that he was gone, flinging up her head and
jerking her shoulders back with an angry determination to conquer the
fear that made her ashamed. Natural curiosity had been struggling with
her other emotions, and she gave way to it now to try and turn the
channel of her thoughts from the fixed direction in which they tended,
and wandered round the big room. The night before she had taken in
nothing of her surroundings, her eyes had been held only by the man who
had dominated everything. Here, also, were the same luxurious
appointments as in the sleeping-room. She had knowledge enough to
appreciate that the rugs and hangings were exquisite, the former were
Persian and the latter of a thick black material, heavily embroidered
in silver. The main feature of the room was a big black divan heaped
with huge cushions covered with dull black silk. Beside the divan,
spread over the Persian rugs, were two unusually large black bearskins,
the mounted heads converging. At one end of the tent was a small
doorway, a little portable writing-table. There were one or two Moorish
stools heaped with a motley collection of ivories and gold and silver
cigarette cases and knick-knacks, and against the partition that
separated the two rooms stood a quaintly carved old wooden chest.
Though the furniture was scanty and made the tent seem even more