Thou shalt yet have a thousand feddans of well-watered land and slaves to wait upon thee.

Get thee to the house of Haleel.

There shall the blow fall on the head of Achmet, the blow which was mine to strike, but that Allah stayed my hand that I might do thee and thy Pasha good, and to give the soul-slayer and the body-slayer into the hands of Kaid, upon whom be everlasting peace!" Her voice dropped low.

"Thou saidst but now that I had beauty.

Is there yet any beauty in my face ?" She lowered her yashmak and looked at him with burning eyes.
"Thou art altogether beautiful," he answered, "but there is a strangeness to thy beauty like none I have seen; as if upon the face of an angel there fell a mist--nay, I have not words to make it plain to thee." With a great sigh, and yet with the tenseness gone from her eyes, she slowly drew the veil up again till only her eyes were visible.