Her dress was of the most exquisite Indian muslin that Hamilton could obtain, heavily and wonderfully embroidered in gold, and peacocks’ eyes of vivid deep blue and green; her feet were bare, for Hamilton, in his revolt from English ways, had kept up Oriental traditions as far as possible in the clothing of his new mistress, and weighty anklets of solid gold gleamed beneath the border of her skirt.  Round the perfect column of her neck, full and stately as the red deer’s, were twisted great strings of pearls, throwing their pale irridescent greenish hue onto the velvet skin.  Above the splendour of her dress rose the regal and lovely face, its delicate carving and the marvel of its dark, flashing, enquiring eyes vividly striking in the clear mellow light of the room.

Mrs. Hamilton, dressed in a plain, grey alpaca dress, rather hot and dusty after her long drive, sat on one of the low divans awaiting her.  As Saidie entered, the glory of her youth and beauty struck upon the seated woman like a heavy blow, under which she started to her feet and stood for a second, involuntarily shrinking.

“Salaam, be seated,” murmured Saidie, indicating a fauteuil near the one on which she sank herself.

Mrs. Hamilton came forward, her hands closing and unclosing spasmodically in their grey silk gloves, and sat down again, her eyes riveted on the other’s face.

“Do you know who I am?” she said at last in a stifled voice.

Saidie smiled faintly; one of those liquid, lingering smiles that made Hamilton’s heaven.

“Yes, I know; you are Mem Sahib Hamilton, the first, the old wife.”.

Saidie, according to her own Eastern ideas, was in the position of a superior receiving an unfortunate inferior.  She was the latest acquired—­the darling, the reigning queen—­confronted with the poor cast-off, old, unattractive first wife; and being of a nature equally noble as the type of her beauty, she felt it incumbent on her, in such a situation, to treat the unfortunate with every consideration, gentleness, and tenderness.

The British matron’s views of the relative positions of first and subsequent wives differs, however, from Saidie’s, and Mrs. Hamilton’s face grew purple as she heard Saidie’s answer, and some faint comprehension of Saidie’s view was borne in upon her.

“Where is my husband?” she demanded fiercely.

“The Sahib is in the city to-day,” returned Saidie calmly.  How odious they were, these Englishwomen, with their short skirts and big boots, and red, hot faces, with great black straw houses over them, and their curt manners, and the impertinent way they spoke of their lords!

“When will he be back?” pursued the other, sharply.

Saidie glanced towards the clock.

“In a few hours; perhaps more.  He returns at sunset.”

“And what do you do all day, shut up by yourself?” questioned her visitor, with a sort of contemptuous surprise.