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 that! What I really want you to tell me now is the meaning of a word. Our courier is away to-night, or I'd ask him."

"What word?"

"I've heard it before, and I think it's Arabic; I'll show it to you in a moment, in writing—Papa's writing! This is the end of my tactful approach to the subject I'm to question you about. If you think I've led up to it properly, will you tell me where your fascinating friend is dining to-night?"

He was surprised. "I think she's at another hotel with the two old French ladies who were with her on the steamer."

"Do you?" Olivia said; and she seemed skeptical. "Did she tell you so—or did her son?"

"No. I had a note from her saying she wouldn't be joining him and me at table. She didn't say where she was going; but I have good reason to believe that she went to wherever those Frenchwomen are staying. She must have gone there very soon after we saw her come into the hotel with your father, before dinner."

Olivia shook her head. "She and Papa didn't come into the hotel."

"What?"