"That's exactly Saidee's colouring," repeated Victoria. "Her lips were
the reddest I ever saw, and I used to say diamonds had got caught behind
her eyes. Do you wonder I worshipped her--that I just _couldn't_ let her
go out of my life forever?"
"No, I don't wonder. She's very lovely," Stephen agreed. The coquetry in
the eyes was pathetic to him, knowing the beautiful Saidee's history.
"She was eighteen then. She's twenty-eight now. Saidee twenty-eight! I
can hardly realize it. But I'm sure she hasn't changed, unless to grow
prettier. I used always to think she would." Victoria took back the
portrait, and gazed at it. Stephen was sorry for the child. He thought
it more than likely that Saidee had changed for the worse, physically
and spiritually, even mentally, if Mademoiselle Soubise were right in
her surmises. He was glad she had not said to Victoria what she had said
to him, about Saidee having to live the life of other harem women.
"I bought a string of amber beads at that curiosity-shop yesterday," the
girl went on, "because there's a light in them like what used to be in
Saidee's eyes. Every night, when I've said my prayers and am ready to go
to sleep, I see her in that golden silence I told you about, looking
towards the west--that is, towards me, too, you know; with the sun
setting and streaming right into her eyes, making that jewelled kind of
light gleam in them, which comes and goes in those amber beads.
Pages:
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151