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Show ....,;.. verne was on the veranda waiting ~i~f!if for her h us b and . The w1'ck e r t ea- ~:; table was beside her. She looked f ~::::.-• across the court between the Judas- .... trees to the dusty road, and listened ·~.for the sound of mules' tripping feet. But she did not hear them. The time passed on. Crumpet was later than usual. At last she was tired of waiting and called over the balustrade to the Arab below to bring up tea. Just as it was being brought there came along the road an Arab boy with a piece of paper in his hand. He turned in through the gateway, looked up to Lady Wyverne, and held up the paper. "Is it for me?" she asked. He nodded. She beckoned to him to come, and in a moment he was beside her and had given her the note. It was from Sir Claude. '' DARLlNG OLD GIRL,- D' you mind very much if I do no,t, come back to-night? I've got two sheep this morning, and Achmed says if I stay out and sleep atsome p1ace near a salt mountain with the devil's own name- I can be certain of potting some gazelle at sundown. Back to-morrow without fail, and ready to move on to Beni-what you may call it. Love, "CRUMPET." Lady Wyverne gave the boy a coin and sat down alone to tea. "Why did Providence give me a fool for a husband?" That was her thought. As she sipped her tea she seemed to see the Spahi's brown feet resting on the warm stones by the river. They \ clung to the stones as sensitively as hands could have clung. She imagined them padding softly over the desert sands. ~ And a woman's feet trod beside ~"-.them. |