The Sheik

His mocking voice and his taunt of fear stung her, but she would not

answer and, with a laugh and a shrug, he lot her go, picking up a razor

from the table and lounging into the bathroom.

With crimson cheeks Diana fled into the outer room, His manner could

not have been more casual if she had been his wife a dozen years. She

waited for him in a tumult of emotions, but with the advent of Gaston

and dinner he returned to the attitude of dispassionate, courteous host

that he had assumed when he first came in. He was a few minutes late,

and apologised gravely as he sat down opposite her. He maintained the

attitude throughout dinner, and conscious of the watching manservant

Diana made herself reply to his easy conversation.

He talked mainly of the desert and the sport that it offered, as if he

had studied her tastes and chosen the topic to please her. He spoke

well; what he said was interesting, and showed complete knowledge of

the subject, and at any other time Diana would have listened fascinated

and absorbed, but now the soft, slow, cultured voice only seemed to add

to the incongruity of the situation. The role of willing guest that he

was forcing upon her was almost more than she could play, and the

necessity of sitting still and responding was taxing her endurance to

the utmost.

And all the time she was aware acutely of his constant

surveillance. Reluctantly her own furtive glance was drawn frequently

to his face, and always his dark fierce eyes were watching her with a

steadiness that racked her nerves, till she was reminded irresistibly

of an exhibition that she had seen in a circus in Vienna, where a lion

tamer had concluded an unusually daring performance by dining in the

lions' cage, surrounded by savage snarling brutes very different from

the sleepy half-drugged creatures ordinarily shown. Interested in the

animals, she had gone behind with Aubrey after the performance, and

while fondling some tiny lion cubs that had been brought for her to see

had chatted with the tamer, a girl little older than herself. She had

been somewhat unapproachable until she had realised from Diana's

friendly manner that her questions were prompted by real interest and

not mere curiosity, and had unbent with surprising swiftness, accepting

Diana's proffered cigarettes and taking her to see her special lions,

who were boxed for the night. Diana had wandered up and down before the

narrow cages, looking at the big brutes still restless from the show,

rubbing her cheek on the soft little round head of the cub she was

holding in her arms, smiling at its sleepy rasping purr.