In
the guest-house were one or two Arab ladies, he admitted, who had come
to be cured of maladies by virtue of his power; but no one else. His
denial showed me that he was in the plot to hide Miss Ray. That was one
thing I wanted to know; so I saw that the best thing for her, would be
for me to pretend to be satisfied. If it hadn't been for what happened
before I got to the Zaouia gates, I should almost have been taken in by
him, perhaps, he had such an air of noble, impeccable sincerity. But
just as I dipped down into a kind of hollow, on the Zaouia side of the
river, something was thrown from somewhere. Unluckily I couldn't be sure
where. I'd been looking up at the roofs behind the walls, but I must
have had my eyes on the wrong one, if this thing fell from a roof, as I
believe it did. It was a little bundle, done up in a handkerchief, and I
saw it only as it touched the ground, about a dozen yards in front. Then
I hurried on, you may be sure, hoping it was meant for me, to grab the
thing before any one else could appear and lay hands on it."
"Well?"
"Luckily I'd outridden the guide. I made him think afterward that I'd
jumped off my horse to pick up the whip, which I dropped for a blind, in
case of spying eyes. Tied up in the silk handkerchief--an Arab-looking
handkerchief--was a string of amber beads. Do you remember the beads
Miss Ray bought of Miss Soubise, and wore to your house?"
"I remember she had a handsome string of old prayer-beads.
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