The consent of the latter, as well as of her father,
must be asked before strangers could hope to speak with her.
Nevertheless, the Roumis were welcome to enter the yard and watch the
entertainment while Mouni's brother consulted with those most concerned
in this business.
The boy stood aside, inviting them to pass through the gate, and the
Englishmen availed themselves of his courtesy, waiting just inside until
the red-bearded man came forward. He and his son consulted together, and
then a dark young man in a white burnous was called to join the
conclave. He was a handsome fellow, with a haughtily intelligent face,
and an air of breeding superior to the others.
"This is my sister's husband. He too speaks Arabic, but my father not so
much." The boy introduced his brother-in-law. "Messaud-ben-Arzen is the
son of our Caid," (he spoke proudly). "Will you tell him and my father
what your business is with Mouni?"
Nevill broke into more explanations, and evidently they were
satisfactory, for, while the dancing and the powder play were stopped,
and the squatting ranks of guests stared silently, the two Roumis were
conducted into the house.
It was larger than most of the houses in the village, but apart from the
stable of the animals through which the visitors passed, there was but
one room, long and narrow, lighted by two small windows. The darkest
corner was the bedroom, which had a platform of stone on which rugs were
spread, and there was a lower mound of dried mud, roughly curtained off
from the rest with two or three red and blue foutahs suspended on ropes
made of twisted alfa, or dried grass.
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