After dinner I retired to the same out-of-the-way corner of the garden in which I had been found the night before, on the side farthest away from the hotel and the music, to await developments. It probably was not long, but it seemed hours, before the same three women came up the short flight of steps running down to the street. The one who was doing duty as a letter carrier, and who bore the imaginative name of Ialla, was the last to appear. On reaching the level of the garden her eyes roamed quickly around until they turned toward where I was sitting. Seeing me, she drew her veil across her face, as though she resented being classed with the unregenerate fellahin, and wished to show more discrimination in her love affairs than they could boast, and accompanied her companions in their ostensible bargaining tour among the guests. To one who paid them even casual attention they must have appeared as timid traders, so lacking were they in the customary insistence, and it was with small profits and no great loss of time that they found their way around to me. As on the night before, it was left to Ialla to barter with me. I again took both of her hands in mine, to examine her jewelry, of which she wore a wealth that, like her looks, belied her dress, and as I did so I slipped into one of them the tightly folded note which I had been gripping for an hour or more. Her jewels were much richer than those she had worn the previous evening and as I studied their barbaric beauty I softly pressed her childish hands, as the only means of conveying something of the impression she had made on me, for I did not know the extent to which the other women were in our secret or could be trusted. Her only response was one quick glance, which I interpreted as a mixture of pleasure, surprise, and interrogation; the one distinctly pleasant thing about it was that it contained nothing of indignation or hostility. Save for that electric flash her wonderful eyes looked modestly downward and her whole attitude was one of perfect propriety, which more than ever convinced me that she was not what she pretended to be. Finally she drew her hands away, hurriedly but gently, and with an impatient gesture, as though she had made up her mind that I had no idea of making a purchase, led her companions out of the garden.