By this time he is on the
way."
So she looked for Stephen, searching the desert; and at last, one
afternoon long before sunset, she saw a man riding toward the Zaouia
from the direction of the city, far away. She could not see his face,
but he seemed to be tall and slim; and his clothes were European.
"Thank God!" she said to herself. For she did not doubt that it was
Stephen Knight.
Soon she would call Saidee; but she must have a little time to herself,
for silent rejoicing, before she tried to explain. There was no great
hurry. He was far off, still.
She kept her eyes to Maieddine's glasses, and felt it a strange thing
that they should have come to her from him. It was almost as if he gave
her to Stephen, against his will. She was so happy that she seemed to
hear the world singing. "I knew--I knew, through it all!" she told
herself, with a sob of joy in her throat. "It had to come right." And
she thought that she could hear a voice saying: "It is love that has
brought him. He loves you, as much as you love him."
To her mind, especially in this mood, it was not extraordinary that each
should love the other after so short an acquaintance. She was even ready
to believe of herself that, unconsciously, she had fallen in love with
Stephen the first time she met him on the Channel boat. He had
interested her. She had remembered his face, and had been sorry to think
that she would never see it again.
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