There!
does that please you?"
"Oh Saidee, I _am_ so happy!" cried the girl, flinging both arms round
her sister. "Then I did come at the right time, after all."
"The right time to keep me from happiness in this world, perhaps. That's
the way I feel about it sometimes. But I can't be sorry you're here,
Babe, as I was at first. You're too sweet--too like the child who used
to be my one comfort."
"I could almost die of happiness, when you say that!" Victoria answered,
with tears in her voice.
"What a baby you are! I'm sure you haven't much more than I have, to be
happy about. Cassim has promised Maieddine that you shall marry him,
whether you say 'yes' or 'no'. And it's horrible when an Arab girl won't
consent to marry the man to whom her people have promised her. I know
what they do. She----"
"Don't tell me about it. I'd hate to hear!" Victoria broke in, and
covered her ears with her hands. So Saidee said no more. But in black
hours of the night, when the girl could not sleep, dreadful imaginings
crept into her mind, and it was almost more than she could do to chase
them away by making her "good pictures." "I won't be afraid--I won't, I
won't!" she would repeat to herself. "I've called him, and my thoughts
are stronger than the carrier pigeons. They fly faster and farther. They
travel like the light, so they must have got to him long ago; and he
_said_ he'd come, no matter when or where.
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