"Blessings be upon thee!"
"And upon thee blessings," Victoria responded in the Arab fashion which
she had learned while many miles of land and sea lay between her and the
country of Islam. "I was told to expect thee."
"Eihoua!" cried the woman, "The little pink rose has the gift of
tongues!" As she grew accustomed to the twilight, Victoria made out a
black face, and white teeth framed in a large smile. A pair of dark eyes
glittered with delight as the Roumia answered in Arabic, although Arabic
was not the language of the negress's own people. She chattered as she
helped Victoria into a plain white gandourah. The white hat and hat-pins
amused her, and when she had arranged the voluminous haick in spite of
the joltings of the carriage, she examined these European curiosities
with interest. Whenever she moved, the warm perfume of amulets grew
stronger, overpowering the faint mustiness of the cushions and
upholstery.
"Never have I held such things in my hands!" Hsina gurgled. "Yet often
have I wished that I might touch them, when driving with my mistress and
peeping at the passers by, and the strange finery of foreign women in
the French bazaars."
Victoria listened politely, answering if necessary; yet her interest was
concentrated in peering through the slits in the wooden shutter of the
nearest window. She did not know Algiers well enough to recognize
landmarks; but after driving for what seemed like fifteen or twenty
minutes through streets where lights began to turn the twilight blue,
she caught a glint of the sea.
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