“That evening, when I sent for her, I saw that she had a thoughtful look, which was not usual with her.

“‘Sit down there,’ I said, pointing to her place on the couch by my side.  As soon as she had sat down, I stooped to kiss her, but she drew her head away quickly, and, in great astonishment, I said to her: 

“‘Well, what is the matter?’

“‘It is the Ramadan,’ she said.

“I began to laugh, and said:  ’And the Marabout has forbidden you to allow yourself to be kissed during the Ramadan?’

“Oh, yes; I am an Arab woman, and you are a Roumi!’

“‘And it would be a great sin?’

“‘Oh, yes!’

“‘So you ate nothing all day, until sunset?’

“‘No, nothing.’

“‘But you had something to eat after sundown?’

“‘Yes.’

“’Well, then, as it is quite dark now, you ought not to be more strict about the rest than you are about your mouth.’

“She seemed irritated, wounded, and offended, and replied with an amount of pride that I had never noticed in her before:—­

“’If an Arab girl were to allow herself to be touched by a Roumi during the Ramadan, she would be cursed for ever.’

“‘And that is to continue for a whole month?’

“‘Yes, for the whole of the month of Ramadan,’ she replied, with great determination.

“I assumed an irritated manner and said:—­’Very well, then, you can go and spend the Ramadan with your family.’

“She seized my hands, and, laying them on my heart, she said:—­

“’Oh!  Please do not be unkind, and you shall see how nice I will be.  We will keep Ramadan together, if you like.  I will look after you, and spoil you, but don’t be unkind.’

“I could not help smiling at her funny manner and her unhappiness, and I sent her to go to sleep at home, but, an hour later, just as I was thinking about going to bed, there came two little taps at my door, which were so slight, however, that I scarcely heard them; but when I said:—­’Come in,’ Allouma appeared carrying a large tray covered with Arab dainties; fried balls of rice, covered with sugar, and a variety of other strange, Nomad pastry.

“She laughed, showing her white teeth, and repeated:—­’Come, we will keep Ramadan together.’

“You know that the fast, which begins at dawn and ends at twilight, at the moment when the eye can no longer distinguish a black from a white thread, is followed every evening by small, friendly entertainments, at which eating is kept up until the morning, and the result is that for such of the natives as are not very scrupulous, Ramadan consists of turning day into night, and night into day.  But Allouma carried her delicacy of conscience further than this.  She placed her tray between us on the divan, and taking a small, sugared ball between her long, slender fingers, she put it into my mouth, and whispered:—­’Eat it, it is very good.’