Page:A child of the Orient (IA childoforient00vakarich).pdf/257

 I was swallowing hard, and told them that I was lost, and wished them to take me to the police station and send for Arif Pasha, my husband. I addressed myself to the man who appeared to be the officer of the small band, and spoke very low, in order that he might not detect any hesitancy in my Turkish.

He saluted in military fashion, divided his few men into two groups, and between them escorted me to the police-station. There a consultation took place between him and his superior, and the latter asked me where I had been, and how I had happened to lose my party.

I smiled sweetly at him. "I shall tell that to my husband, and he will tell you, if he thinks best."

This was so admirable a wifely sentiment that it left my inquisitor bereft of questions.

"It is a long way to your house," he remarked. "It may take some hours for your husband to come here."

"That does not matter, if you will only send for him."

He took me to a large room and locked me inside. I had no means of knowing whether he would send for Arif Pasha or not, but I argued to myself that the name was too big for a policeman to trifle with. It remained to be seen whether the pasha would come at the summons, or would first go into his haremlik to find out whether one