"While I was with the lady, I never went outside the great courtyard. It
is not strange that now, after all these years, I cannot tell you more
clearly where the house was. But it was a great white house, on a hill,
and round it was a high wall, with towers that overlooked the country
beneath. And in those towers, which were on either side the big, wide
gate, were little windows through which men could spy, or even shoot if
they chose."
"Did you never hear the name of any town that was near?" Stephen went
on.
"I do not think there was a town near; yet there was a village not far
off to the south. I saw it from the hill-top, both as I went in at the
gate with my cousin, and when, months later, I was sent away with her.
We did not pass through it, because our road was to and from the north;
and I do not even know the name of the village. But there was a cemetery
outside it, where some of the master's ancestors and relations were
buried. I heard my lady speak of it one day, when she cried because she
feared to die and be laid there without ever again seeing her own
country and her own people. Oh, and once I heard Yamina talk with
another servant about an oasis called Bou-Saada. It was not near, yet I
think it could be reached by diligence in a long day."
"Good!" broke in Nevill. "There's our first real clue! Bou-Saada I know
well. When people who come and visit me want a glimpse of the desert in
a hurry, Bou-Saada is where I take them.
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