“That is the hall of banquets?” she said, pointing to the raised colonnade.

“Ah, yes—­you are quick to learn!” he complimented.

“And could we walk through that into the courtyard?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“And this side is the haremlik,” she murmured, glancing up at the windows upon the third floor which she felt were those of that rose and white room.  Much of the rest of the wing, she saw, extending down to the high wall at right angles to it, was in a ruinous and dilapidated condition.  “What is there?” she asked.

“The rooms the Khedive Ismail left unfinished.  They are of no use.”

“And on the other side?” she persisted, pointing towards the wall that was the continuation of the men’s wing, which stopped at the colonnade.

“On the other side is the palace of another man, and on the other side of that, ending the road is a cimitere—­what you say, cemetery.”

“And back of that wall?” She nodded at the one behind the palms, running parallel to the banquet hall.

“Back of that a canal, Mademoiselle, and across are other palaces....  You study the geography, it appears?”

“Indeed I do!” She turned towards him, her face bright with eagerness.  Her light curls were blown about her forehead by a breeze, hot and dry, that seemed to mingle the odors of the desert with a piercing sweetness which it drew from the deep throats of the lilies swaying beside the path.  “And I think that is going to be the way out for me.”  Her quick nod was for the wall behind the palms.  “I want you to do me a great big favor, Captain Kerissen, that will make me your debtor for life!  You must help me break out of this quarantine this very night?”

Not the ghost of a fear of failure to persuade him lurked in those bright, dancing eyes.  Not the ghost of a fear of failure haunted those confident, smiling lips.

He sucked on his cigarette a moment, then slowly blew a thin ring of blue smoke.  He appeared interested in watching it.

“What is it—­this idea?” he murmured.

“Well, you may have a better one but mine is just to climb that wall, as soon as it gets dark.  If you just get a ladder, or a pile of chairs I am sure I can manage it—­and then I’ll be back at the hotel in an hour!”

He took out his cigarette and shook his head at her.  “You would drop, like the plum of Haydee, into the arms of the soldier who is guarding on the other side....  Shall I tell you the story of that plum?”

“A soldier guarding—­a native soldier?”

“Yes.”

“Then—­then please won’t you see if you can bribe him?” she shamelessly pleaded, anxiously clasping and unclasping her hands. “Please, Captain Kerissen, you must help me to run away to-night.  I can’t be shut up like this—­I can’t give up the Nile trip and besides—­Oh, I really must be back at that hotel to-night!...  If that soldier is sure no one else will see him I know you can persuade him to look away just a little minute while I slip down and run off!”