But he'll respect you, and won't be furious at
your resistance, and want to revenge himself on you in future, as he
will if you wait to be forced into consenting."
Victoria sprang up and walked away, covering her face with her hands.
Her sister watched her as if fascinated, and felt sick as she saw how
the girl shuddered. It was like watching a trapped bird bleeding to
death. But she too was in the trap, she reminded herself. Really, there
was no way out, except through Maieddine. She said this over and over in
her mind. There was no other way out. It was not that she was cruel or
selfish. She was thinking of her sister's good. There was no doubt of
that, she told herself: no doubt whatever.
XXXVII
Victoria felt as if all her blood were beating in her brain. She could
not think, and dimly she was glad that Saidee did not speak again. She
could not have borne more of those hatefully specious arguments.
For a moment she stood still, pressing her hands over her eyes, and
against her temples. Then, without turning, she walked almost blindly to
a window that opened upon Saidee's garden. The little court was a silver
cube of moonlight, so bright that everything white looked alive with a
strange, spiritual intelligence. The scent of the orange blossoms was
lusciously sweet. She shrank back, remembering the orange-court at the
Caid's house in Ouargla. It was there that Zorah had prophesied: "Never
wilt thou come this way again.
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