XIX
Victoria did not wait in her room to be told that the carriage had come
to take her away. It was better, Si Maieddine had said, that only a few
people should know the exact manner of her going. A few minutes before
seven, therefore, she went down to the entrance-hall of the hotel, which
was not yet lighted. Her appearance was a signal for the Arab porter,
who was waiting, to run softly upstairs and return with her hand
luggage.
For some moments Victoria stood near the door, interesting herself in a
map of Algeria which hung on the wall. A clock began to strike as her
eyes wandered over the desert, and was on the last stroke of seven, when
a carriage drove up. It was drawn by two handsome brown mules with
leather and copper harness which matched the colour of their shining
coats, and was driven by a heavy, smooth-faced Negro in a white turban
and an embroidered cafetan of dark blue. The carriage windows were
shuttered, and as the black coachman pulled up his mules, he looked
neither to the right nor to the left. It was the hotel porter who opened
the door, and as Victoria stepped in without delay, he thrust two
hand-bags after her, snapping the door sharply.
It was almost dark inside the carriage, but she could see a white
figure, which in the dimness had neither face nor definite shape; and
there was a perfume as of aromatic amulets grown warm on a human body.
"Pardon, lady, I am Hsina, the servant of Lella M'Barka Bent Djellab,
sent to wait upon thee," spoke a soft and guttural voice, in Arabic.
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