Evening star., 1923-01-09
CHAPTER XIX.

CHAPTER AlA-
There was a new slave In the sui
tan's harem, a dazed girl who looked
as IL she moved In dreams. She was
not reclining on a lounge or cush-
ions, as the other girls around the
fountain were. She half sat, half
knelt upon her cushions, her slim
bare legs beneath her. her hands
lying listlessly on her knee. staring
straight ahead as IL in a trance
Since that episode on the tennis
court Pansy felt as IL she were Nv
in which Raoui lie Breton and the
Sultan Casim Ammeh had got mixed.
The sultan wanted to marry ner'
And she had refused.
Them
Then, infuriated with the sense Of
her own helplessness and his COM
plete power, she had struck him.
She could see him now, with the
blood oozing on his lips, his race
white with rage, his eyes naming,
looking as Il he could KIN rhen he ,bere
would have been an end OF II All: asIS Sns
would have done with him. herseII.
her own folly, and the hatred that
ragged like a fre within her.
But he had not touched her.
White with passion he had 1ust
stood and looked al her. And she had
looked back. waiting for the end that
had not come.
Instead, three women had come.
And abe had been taken out OF ms
presence. Through the big salon ana
along dim passages, past silk-clau'
ieweled guards, and into little room
with an ottoman and cushions anG
tiny window, all fretteo IKE Aace' 4'ii
possible to get out OF.
hn
her. They were three to one. II was
useless to struggle: dignity seemeo
ali that was left to her.
There was not much OF that even
when the women had done Wi,n nsr S,
They put her into a white SILK SIP
that reached only TO her knees ano
with nothing more than a strap OF
nearis on either shoulder. They Woulo
have heaped more pearls upon net
string upon string about ner neSh.
tore them of, so angriiy that the
slender threads snapped and they tell
like frozen tears upon the marble
floor, as her amber beads had fallen
that night in his villa! -,
What a minor thing LuSilIe Le
mesurier was now! Forgivable when
she had learnt his race and religion.
Not like this gigantic deception. A
deception that had forced her into
saying she loved the Sultan Casim
Ammeh-the man who had tortured
her father.
Leaving the women groveling after
the scattered pearls Pansy had rushed
from the room, her only desire TO
seek some way of escape.
She had gone in her short slip and
short curls. looking like some lovely.
rebeliious child.
Her steps had taken her into a big
room like hall. where a crowd OF
women were gathered; half dozen
of them girls dressed in a similar
style to herself
Then Pansy's strength went from
her suddenly.
She realized where she was In
the sultan's harem! And she knew
there would be no escape.
Sara had come to her. and had LED
her toward a pile of cushions set by
And the woman had said sharp words
to the assembly. who had risen as II
to crowd around her-WordS that had
kept them at bay.
When she was seated they had
stayed looking at her, most OF them
with curiosity and friendliness. But
there was one face that Pansy. for all
her numbness. saw was hostile; the
face OF q beautiful. golden.skinned
girl.
There was one girl, too, who was
more than specially friendly, who
said to her in a soft, cooling voice:
where do you come from, sister.
for your skin is whittier than miner"
Pansy did not answer Leonora's
question. She was wondering her
self where she came from. From
another world. II seemed
1t was incredible that she. Pangy
Langham, could be a slave in sui
tan's harem, garbed as these other
eIY vnNPedfhIM that
that afternoon she had been playing
tennis with Raoul LIE Breton, as she
might have played with any man in
her own place in England.
What ages ago u was! Yet per
beautiful dream that had vanished.
There was no Raoul LIE Breton. No
big, masterfui man whom she had
had to love, in spite of everything.
There was only this barbaric sultan
she refused to marry him. had sent
her to this strange room. His harem!
And she was his slave! She, Pansy
Langham, who had never obeyed any
will except her own.
Her hands clenched.
How she hated himi He was so
supremely master.
ANY moment he might come to pick
whichever OF his slaves he fancied-
And-he might pick her.
The ignominy OF it, Just to be q
mans chattel. And, hitherto. all men
had been her abject and willing
slaves.
Needless alike OF Leonora's cooling
advances and Rayma's dark scowls,
PanSy sat down.
The shadows gathered. The lamps
were lit. Then dinner time came. A
conglomeration~ Of sweets and fruit
and -dainties set out on silver trays,
with only a spoon to eat with.
Again Leonora's voice broke into
Pansy's broodings.
Come, won't you eat, my sister"
closer.
But Pansy felt as II she could never
eat bite again.
" Rayma ate nothing either.
With angry eyes, she studied the,
newcomer