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Show incautious and inclined to and credulity. But he never doubted his wife. He loved her, but even if he had not, the mere fact that she was his wife would probably have preserved her from any suspicion on his part. Yet he had lived in the London world from time to time and knew what went on sometimes there. He had heard certain husbands laughed at, or sneered at in the clubs, and had seen them welcomed immediately afterwards by the laughers and the sneerers with open hands and hearts. He had known charming women to do things that were not charming-to use no stronger phrase. What had been the matter with Kitty that morning? The landlady came back with a lamp which she set down on the table. But now Sir Claude felt restless, as if he could not return to his chair. 86 " I wonder where Achmed is," he said. "In the village, m'sieu. Ah, Achmed- he is another of them!" "Achmed?'' "But yes, m'sieu. The things he has done, the things he will do for a few francs! You would not believe them if I told you." " Is he-is Achmed a friend of this Spahi?" " Of Benchaalal ? A friend I would not say. Benchaalal is proud. And since he has been in Paris-ah, he does not speak with every one, not he!" "But he knows Achmed ?" "And how should he not know him, f;;//:f m'sieu? Why- " / ' ';' But Sir Claude interrupted the good woman abruptly. "Tell me," he said. "Are you sure that Ben-what is it?" "Benchaalal, m'sieu." |
