At first Victoria had not known that her sister had any special reason
for liking to feed the doves, but she was an observant, though not a
sophisticated girl; and when she had lived with Saidee for a few days,
she saw birds of a different colour among the doves. It was to those
birds, she could not help noticing, that Saidee devoted herself. The
first that appeared, arrived suddenly, while Victoria looked in another
direction. But when the girl saw one alight, she guessed it had come
from a distance. It fluttered down heavily on the roof, as if tired, and
Saidee hid it from Victoria by spreading out her skirt as she scattered
its food.
Then it was easy to understand how Saidee and Captain Sabine had
managed to exchange letters; but she could not bear to let her sister
know by word or even look that she suspected the secret. If Saidee
wished to hide something from her she had a right to hide it. Only--it
was very sad.
For days neither of the sisters spoke of the pigeons, though they came
often, and the girl could not tell what plans might be in the making,
unknown to her. She feared that, if she had not come to Oued Tolga, by
this time Saidee would have gone away, or tried to go away, with Captain
Sabine; and though, since the night of her arrival, when Saidee had
opened her heart, they had been on terms of closest affection, there was
a dreadful doubt in Victoria's mind that the confidences were half
repented.
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