Page:Marion Crawford - Khaled.djvu/176

 took the keys of the treasure chambers from under his pillow. Is it not so?'

'They did so, Abdullah.'

'And they immediately went and took the gold and gave it to the guards? But I have forgotten, for it is a matter of little importance, being but a tale.'

'That is what they did,' answered Almasta.

'But surely this is a fable. How could the woman know the way to the treasure chambers and find it in the dark? For you said also that these secret places were underground and therefore a great way from the harem.'

'I did not say that, Abdullah, for the secret places underground are those in Riad, which I described to you before I began the other story.'

'This may be true, for I am very forgetful. But I daresay that the treasures in the city you described were also hidden in similar places.'

'Since you speak of this, I remember that it was so. The glorious light of your intelligence penetrates the darkness of my memory and makes it clear. The places were exactly similar.'

'How then could the woman, who only knew the harem, find her way in the dark, and lead her husband, to a part of the palace which she had never visited? This is a hard thing.'

'It was not hard for her. She had seen Ismaïl