The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1912-04-04

sSueu. letNluS NC " SIdic uclpIeSSly ~
the seller Of scarfs.
".She is a heartless jade he uutter.
ed bitterly, turning the scarf in his
brown fingers.
els that the Princess Anem? 1 asked
bluntly.
HE shook his head. Nay, that is
my graceless daughter Leila. She was
promised this scarf for her marriage If
she chose wisely; but. alas, she is
breaking my heart and bringing my
gray hairs to the graves edge! He
forgot the bargaining instinct that usu.
ally overpowers all other sentiment in
the Egyptian bazaars and beat his head
against the low stone table.
81 am very sorry I murmured. Are
you quite sure your daughter has not
chosen wisely? Does she love?'
AYE, she loves the wrong man. even
as did the Princess Anem. who was
never Il greater coquette than my saucy
Leila. Leila believes she is in love
with Fedar, the water carrier, when
my neighbor here. Hashour, the silk
merchant. is impatiently waiting to
carry her off as his BRIDE
II peeped into the next bazaar and
was rewarded with a glimpse of the
desirable Hashour, an enormously fat
man as old as Leila's father and very
ugly Of feature. He was asleep and
snoring audibly.
"'You want her to marry that?' l al
most shrieked at him. and as l spoke
l was conscious that the white shadow
had returned to the shop. 1t paused
behind the seller of scarfs as if waiting
for his answer.
"The old man nodded. He is rich.'
he said briefly. She could have had
the scarf of the Princess Anem for a
gift if she had been obedient. But she
is saucy and will not wait upon her
stepmother as she should, and. W nrst
Of all, she swears she will marry the
water carrier or disgrace me by re
naming single. l am afflicted indeed
but madame has not chosen to buy the
rose scarf? 1t is the choicest Of my
stock His voice changed magically
to a bargaining whine.
"'You cannot want to sell it. You
better forgive your daughter. let her
marry Fedar and wear the rose scarf
l Numbered.
"He dashed the scarf impatiently
down. Never! If madame does not
buy it / will sell it to the next conner,
and 1 will 500 have a customer for
it, he ended craftily. and l lifted my
head and looked behind me to see a
r,soy,n nf A,,orioon y-nnoo,, onn,i,r
post haste toward the bazaar.
.'That was enough for NE. l paid
an absurd price for the scarf. James,
you shall never know. AS l tucked it
away with the other purchases l had
made l heard a long drawn sigh from
the white shadow as it vanished.
1T vas in the next street that a
touched my arm. a pair of dark
flashing eyes shone above the gauze
that yelled her face. and-well. any
girl with a pair of eyes like those
must have been exquisitely beautiful.
l knew at one that it was the en-
bodiment of the shadow that had
lurked behind the seller of scarfs, and
l guessed that it was his daughter
Leila, she who loved Fedar the water
carrier.
"She addressed me in a low, mu-
sicai voice, a mixture Of broken
French and fluent Arabic. She thank
ed me for the words l had spoken to
her father concerning her marriage.
She giggled with delight over my hor-
ror at the fairness of Hashour, the silk
merchant and her despised sutton.
Then she made an appeal. She want
ed to come with me as my maid and
travelling companion, only as far as
Alexandria, where her water carrier
had gone to work on the new wharfs
as a sort of foreman"
Mrs. Hanford stopped abruptly. The
great vessel was drawing neal to the
Egyptian city, lying like a jeweled
necklace along the blue Mediterranean.
In the roadstead the great anchors
ratified down into the moonlit water,
myriads of little boats surrounded the
ocean liner, and a steam tug hustled
from the shore. All was confusion
below IN the Neptune.
well" inquired Mr.. Hanford, break.
ing the silence that had fallen upon the
group.
LET us see if al. is we'll" murmured
his wife, and so the seven, half under
standing the real man they had
been listening to, followed her to the
ships rail.
AS they leaned over, watching a small
boat whose single oarsman was espe-
cially insistent in getting close to the
Neptune's landing stairs, Mrs. Hanford
uttered an exclamation of delight, and
they all turned to see such q vision of
beauty as is seldom %vouchsafed to
western eyes.
1t was Leila, daughter of the seller
Of scarfs. Her exquisite face was un-
yelled and shone a vision of rose and
ivory and melting onyx eyes from the
background of a long hooded black
cloak. Madame, it is farewellw she
half wept. holding out little white
hands to Mrs. Hanford.
Mrs. Hanford tossed the rose scarf
over the lovely head and then impul-
sively kissed the lips Of Leila. "Go to
thy Fedar, Leila, and be happy forever
After" she whiSnorod and with a ;ov