She did not wish to hear more. What she had heard was more than enough.
Not that she really believed that M"Barka could see into the future; but because of the "dark man." Any fortune-teller might introduce a dark man into the picture of a fair girl"s destiny; but the allusions were so marked that Victoria"s vague unrestfulness became distress. She tried to encourage herself by thinking of Maeddine"s dignified att.i.tude, from the beginning of their acquaintance until now. And even now, he had changed only a little. He was too complimentary, that was all; and the difference in his manner might arise from knowing her more intimately.
Probably Lella M"Barka, like many elderly women of other and newer civilizations, was over-romantic; and the best thing was to prevent her from putting ridiculous ideas into Maeddine"s head. Such ideas would spoil the rest of the journey for both.
"Remember all I have told thee, when the time comes," M"Barka warned her.
"Yes--oh yes, I will remember."
"Now it is my turn. Read the sand for me," said Maeddine.
M"Barka made as if she would wrap the sand in its bag. "I can tell thy future better another time. Not now. It would not be wise. Besides, I have done enough. I am tired."
"Look but a little way along the future, then, and say what thou seest.
I feel that it will bring good fortune to touch the sand where the hand of Oureda has touched it."
Always now, he spoke of Victoria, or to her, as "Rose" (Oureda in Arabic); but as M"Barka gave her that name also, the girl could hardly object.
"I tell thee, instead it may bring thee evil."
"For good or evil, I will have the fortune now," Maeddine insisted.
"Be it upon thy head, oh cousin, not mine. Take thy handful of sand, and make thy wish."
Maeddine took it from the place Victoria had touched, and his wish was that, as the grains of sand mingled, so their destinies might mingle inseparably, his and hers.
M"Barka traced the three rows of mystic signs, and read her notebook, mumbling. But suddenly she let it drop into her lap, covering the signs with both thin hands.
"What ails thee?" Maeddine asked, frowning.
"I saw thee stand still and let an opportunity slip by."
"I shall not do that."
"The sand has said it. Shall I stop, or go on?"
"Go on."
"I see another chance to grasp thy wish. This time thou stretchest out thine hand. I see thee, in a great house--the house of one thou knowest, whose name I may not speak. Thou stretchest out thine hand. The chance is given thee----"
"What then?"
"Then--I cannot tell thee, what then. Thou must not ask. My eyes are clouded with sleep. Come Oureda, it is late. Let us go to our tent."
"No," said Maeddine. "Oureda may go, but not thou."
Victoria rose quickly and lightly from among the jackal skins and Touareg cushions which Maeddine had provided for her comfort. She bade him good night, and with all his old calm courtesy he kissed his hand after it had pressed hers. But there was a fire of anger or impatience in his eyes.
Fafann was in the tent, waiting to put her mistress to bed, and to help the Roumia if necessary. The mattresses which had come rolled up on the brown mule"s back, had been made into luxurious looking beds, covered with bright-coloured, Arab-woven blankets, beautiful embroidered sheets of linen, and cushions slipped into fine pillow-cases. Folding frames draped with new mosquito nettings had been arranged to protect the sleepers" hands and faces; and there was a folding table on which stood French gilt candlesticks and a gla.s.s basin and water-jug, ornamented with gilded flowers; just such a basin and jug as Victoria had seen in the curiosity-shop of Mademoiselle Soubise. There were folded towels, too, of silvery damask.
"What wonderful things we have!" the girl exclaimed. "I don"t see how we manage to carry them all. It is like a story of the "Arabian Nights,"
where one has but to rub a lamp, and a powerful djinn brings everything one wants."
"The Lord Maeddine is the powerful djinn who has brought all thou couldst possibly desire, without giving thee even the trouble to wish for things," said Fafann, showing her white teeth, and glancing sidelong at the Roumia. "These are not all. Many of these things thou hast seen already. Yet there are more." Eagerly she lifted from the ground, which was covered with rugs, a large green earthern jar. "It is full of rosewater to bathe thy face, for the water of the desert here is brackish, and harsh to the skin, because of saltpetre. The Sidi ordered enough rosewater to last till Ghardaia, in the M"Zab country. Then he will get thee more."
"But it is for us both--for Lella M"Barka more than for me," protested Victoria.
Fafann laughed. "My mistress no longer spends time in thinking of her skin. She prays much instead; and the Sidi has given her an amulet which touched the sacred Black Stone at Mecca. To her, that is worth all the rest; and it is worth this great journey, which she takes with so much pain. The rosewater, and the perfumes from Tunis, and the softening creams made in the tent of the Sidi"s mother, are all offered to thee."
"No, no," the girl persisted, "I am sure they are meant more for Lella M"Barka than for me. She is his cousin."
"Hast thou never noticed the caravans, when they have pa.s.sed us in the desert, how it is always the young and beautiful women who rest in the ba.s.sourahs, while the old ones trot after the camels?"
"I have noticed that, and it is very cruel."
"Why cruel, oh Roumia? They have had their day. And when a man has but one camel, he puts upon its back his treasure, the joy of his heart. A man must be a man, so say even the women. And the Sidi is a man, as well as a great lord. He is praised by all as a hunter, and for the straightness of his aim with a gun. He rides, thou seest, as if he were one with his horse, and as he gallops in the desert, so would he gallop to battle if need be, for he is brave as the Libyan lion, and strong as the heroes of old legends. Yet there is nothing too small for him to bend his mind upon, if it be for thy pleasure and comfort. Thou shouldst be proud, instead of denying that all the Sidi does is for thee. My mistress would tell thee so, and many women would be dying of envy, daughters of Aghas and even of Bach Aghas. But perhaps, as thou art a Roumia, thou hast different feelings."
"Perhaps," answered Victoria humbly, for she was crushed by Fafann"s fierce eloquence. And for a moment her heart was heavy; but she would not let herself feel a presentiment of trouble.
"What harm can happen to me?" she asked. "I haven"t been guided so far for nothing. Si Maeddine is an Arab, and his ways aren"t like the ways of men I"ve known, that"s all. My sister"s husband was his friend--a great friend, whom he loved. What he does is more for Ca.s.sim"s sake than mine."
Her cheeks were burning after the long day of sun, and because of her thoughts; yet she was not glad to bathe them with Si Maeddine"s fragrant offering of rosewater, some of which Fafann poured into the gla.s.s basin.
Not far away Maeddine was still sitting by the fire with M"Barka.
"Tell me now," he said. "What didst thou see?"
"Nothing clearly. Another time, cousin. Let me have my mind fresh. I am like a squeezed orange."
"Yet I must know, or I shall not sleep. Thou art hiding something."
"All was vague--confused. I saw as through a torn cloud. There was the great house. Thou wert there, a guest. Thou wert happy, thy desire granted, and then--by Allah, Maeddine, I could not see what happened; but the voice of the sand was like a storm in my ears, and the knowledge came to me suddenly that thou must not wait too long for thy wish--the wish made with the sand against thine heart."
"Thou couldst not see my wish. Thou art but a woman."
"I saw, because I am a woman, and I have the gift. Thou knowest I have the gift. Do not wait too long, or thou mayest wait for ever."
"What wouldst thou have me do?"
"It is not for me to advise. As thou saidst, I am but a woman.
Only--_act_! That is the message of the sand. And now, unless thou wouldst have my dead body finish the journey in the ba.s.sour, take me to my tent."
Maeddine took her to the tent. And he asked no more questions. But all night he thought of what M"Barka had said, and the message of the sand.
It was a dangerous message, yet the counsel was after his own heart.
x.x.x