Page:Marion Crawford - Khaled.djvu/94

 'This is a strange woman,' said Khaled. 'Why do you wish to die? You shall go to Riad and be the Sultan's wife.'

'No, no!' she cried. 'Kill me! Not him, not him!'

'Of whom do you speak?'

'Him!' she answered, again pointing to the prisoner. 'Is he not the Sultan?'

Khaled laughed aloud, for he saw that she had supposed she was to be taken to Riad to be made the wife of the Sultan of Shammar. Indeed, the other women had told her so, to anger her.

'Not this man,' he said, endeavouring to make her understand. 'There is another Sultan at Riad. The Sultan of Shammar is one, the Sultan of Nejed another.'

'You?' she asked, suddenly springing up. 'With you?'

The moon was bright and Khaled saw that her eyes gleamed like stars and her face grew warm, and when she took his hands her own were cold.

'No, not I,' he answered. 'I am not the Sultan.'

But her face became grey in the moonlight, and she covered her head with her veil and went slowly back to her tent.

'This woman loves me,' Khaled thought. 'And as I have not talked much with her, it must be because I am strong and have conquered the people among whom