"
"I, too, will pray, dear cousin. Be brave, and remember, the journey is
to be taken, in easy stages. All the comforts I am preparing are for
thee, as well as for this white rose whose beauty has stolen the heart
out of my breast."
"It is true. Thou art kind, or I would not love thee even as I should
have loved a son, had one been given me," said the haggard woman,
meekly. "Does _she_ know that there will be three weeks or more of
travelling?"
"No. I told her vaguely that she could hardly hope to see her sister in
less than a fortnight. I feared that, at first hearing, the thought of
such distances, separating her from what she has known of life, might
cause her to hesitate. But she will be willing to sacrifice herself and
travel less rapidly than she hoped, when she sees that thou art weak and
ailing. She has a heart with room in it for the welfare of others."
"Most women have. It is expected of us." Lella M'Barka sighed again,
faintly. "But she is all that thou describedst to me, of beauty and
sweetness. When she has been converted to the True Faith, as thy wife,
nothing will be lacking to make her perfect."
Hsina appeared at the door. "Thy guest, O Lella M'Barka, is having her
coffee, and is eating bread with it," she announced. "In a few minutes
she will be ready. Shall I fetch her down while the gracious lord
honours the house with his presence, or----"
"My guest is a Roumia, and it is not forbidden that she show her face to
men," answered Hsina's mistress.
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