The dragoman, slightly downcast by the lack of enthusiasm on the part of his audience, took in a huge quantity of the absolutely stifling air and started afresh. "Oh! _mais, Madame_, ze strange zing is zat wiz all 'is rich, all 'is camel, all 'is 'ouse--ah! I forgot zat is 'is Ismailiah 'ouse," pointing a long, brown finger to a huge pink edifice, standing like a huge pink birthday cake under the blazing sun on the edge of the town--"'e 'as no woman--no not an one--not wife--not lady--zere is tales of one wife long ago over zere," pointing vaguely in the direction he imagined South Arabia might be, "but feared, we say and ask nozing--no! ze great Hahmed live alone--not zere------" Once more pointing contemptuously to the pink abode. "Zat but a business 'ouse--ze most beautiful place in one oasis! Ze Flat Oasis! Ah Madame! _comme c'est 'belle_--I who 'ave been on camel business can tell, ze 'ouse, ze shade, ze water--but no lady, no children, no son, no one--'e go and sleep and live all by self alone--_triste_, Madame, because 'e is ze great, ze just, but go always alone in ze night to 'is oasis _bien aimee_ and------" And here the uplifting of an angry guttural voice caused him to turn and run hurriedly towards a figure vehemently signalling with a huge fawn-coloured sun-shade lined with green. And as he ran the soul of the desert, born of the sun, palms, ennui, flies, the sand, and Allah knows what besides, suddenly sat up in Jill's eyes and laughed, and as she laughed the words "Go always alone in ze night to 'is oasis _bien aimee_" rang in the girl's ears, as a strange and startling idea flashed across her mind. For and against the idea ranged her thoughts; upheld one moment by the insistent clamouring of her whole soul for freedom; combated the next by the inherited deference to convention planted by long dead generations in the mind soil of almost every British subject. Why should she not break away and strike out on her own, if only for a few hours? But would she not be running into positive physical danger if she did so? Still it would only be for a few hours--a swift ride into the desert--a glimpse of a desert home--a break anyhow in the deadly, soul-stifling monotony of her daily round. Yes! but what did she know of the man outside the eulogies of the dragoman, who for all she knew might be leagued with him in nefarious schemes. And yet, no one cared if she lived or died in soul or body. Marry she would not for years, and years, though of a truth that prospect would become more and more remote as youth vanished and the waters of her wealth remained at low tide. But the most irresistible argument in favour of the mad idea was that so far she had not had one single real adventure. "Allah!" she whispered, clasping her hands involuntarily. "Where is my path? Show me the way out!" And even as she unclasped her hands, she heard a faint tinkle of coins in the well-worn little bag hanging from her wrist.