Evening star., 1933-05-22
CHAPTER XIV.
Tragic Daughter.

YHAT thrilling tale Fl 1Sa
NAf Beth Ell Ain had told Mar
wv garet, in her curious English,
W interspersed with French
phrases and Spanish and
Arab words, about the faithful slave
woman and her brother Hassan el
Miskeen, who had taken the child Jules
him over to his father, Pedro Maligni
Had they been less faithful or less
fortunate in their journey, she, Mar
garet, would not be sitting there in the
castle of Mekazzen at that moment
For Senior Pedro Maligni would not
have been able to hand the boy over to
his friends, Dr. and Mrs. Maykings, her
parents, to take home 10 England with
them.
What shastly lives these native wom-
en- led, even those Of the ruling classes.
Something of a. heroine this poor Lady
Fl Isa Beth el Ain. Fancy seeing ones
adored husband two or three times a
year, and ones adored child once In two
or three years-and that, after a sep
aration in which he had changed from
q child to youth.
How she had refrained from killing
this Zainub, who had killed her hap
piness? Doubtless her English descent
would have something to do with It.
That and fear of the terrible Add allah
Karin.
Does not the Koran say that women,
camels and cattle are Allahs gifts to
men?
And there were those two women
sitting side by side, in apparent Amity
and peace, with all that behind them;
sitting like two European sisters-in-law
at a garden party on the rectory lawn.
But after all, their mutual attitude
was but an exaggeration Of that OF Mrs.
Brown and Mrs. Jones when the former
says of the latter: Here comes that
appalling cat. How I do loathe the
woman" and, rising, kisses her fondly
upon the cheek.
Poor El Isa Beth eli Ain, tragic daugh-
ter of tragic mother, with her thin
lined face record of lifetime OF suf-
fering and sorrow. How pathetically
happy she was in this brief interlude
this rare experience, of having both her
husband and her son.
Margaret glanced at Senor Pedro
Maligni, fat, sallow And-1o, she must
be strictly Just II she couldn't be gener-
ous-not greasy. He didn't look greasy
at all, but he most certainly looked what
he was, distinctly cosmopolitan, not to
say cross-bred.
She must conquer this unreasonable
distrust Of Senor Pedro Maligni, and
accept his paternal kisses with
with =? Well, endeavor to "suffel
them gladly" or pretend to.
At the moment he was obviously more
self or his wife, who watched him 50
hungrily. much as Sara watched Jules
What q family circlel Did ever an
English girl drop straight into a
stranger one or, indeed, into a stranger
placer .
The Lady ri Isa Beth el Ain paced
the grim stone cell that was her oou-
doir like . Gagged tigress, as she had
done almost daily for more years than
she could count, more years than she
wished to remember.
In that gaunt room which, volun-
tarily, she had made her prison, she
had grown from girlhood to middle age
and, for a quarter Of century, had
wrestled with devils and fought with
beasts; the devils of murder. treachery
and vice; the beasts Of cruelty, saw
agery and hate.
With amazing courage she had fought
her half-brother for himself, fought to
save him from himself; had fought for
the life of her baby against Zainub, MS
wife: had fought against intrigue un-
ceasing, for the success OF her husband
For years, during the period oi
Zainubs insane jealousy, she had tast-
ed no food that faithful slave woman
had not cooked there in that room.
Life had been hard after the briei
, delirium of her marriage with Pedro
and the golden Joy Of motherhood
those glorious days before the coming
of the Lady ZAinub-when her baby
had filled her life. and she had been
mistress Of Mekazzen and the Kaid's
good angel. her baby, his plaything ano
his heir Pedro had come more often
then. before business in Europe and
Tangier had become so everincreasine
| and important.
Yes, those had been hard days, be-
| fore Zainub had aged and mellowed