He rose, and stood with his head slightly
bent until she had gone out, remaining in the dining-room until the
landlord returned to say that he was expected by Mademoiselle.
"Remember," Si Maieddine said in Arabic to the fat man, "everybody is to
be discreet, now and later. I shall see that all are rewarded for
obedience."
"Thou art considerate, even of the humblest," replied the half-breed,
using the word "thou," as all Arabs use it. "Thy presence is an honour
for my house, and all in it is thine."
Si Maieddine--who had never been in the Hotel de la Kasbah before, and
would not have considered it worthy of his patronage if he had not had
an object in coming--allowed himself to be shown the door of Madame
Constant's salon. On the threshold, the landlord retired, and the young
man was hardly surprised to find, on entering, that Madame was not in
the room.
Victoria was there alone; but free from self-consciousness as she always
was, she received Si Maieddine without embarrassment. She saw no reason
to distrust him, just because he was an Arab.
Now, how glad she was that she had learned Arabic! She began to speak
diffidently at first, stammering and halting a little, because, though
she could read the language well after nine years of constant study,
only once had she spoken with an Arab;--a man in New York from whom she
had had a few lessons. Having learned what she could of the accent from
phrase-books, her way had been to talk to herself aloud.
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