Sitta Nefysseh looked after him with outstretched arms, and the flood of tears which she had so long restrained burst from her eyes.

"I love him, O Allah! Thou knowest that I love him! Let him return a hero covered with glory, and then, O Allah, graciously grant that I may be able to reward him for all his love, and for all the pain I have caused him! Let Kachef Youssouf return as Youssouf the Mameluke bey, and I shall be blessed; as the master of my life will I accept him, for I love him."

A horse's hoofs ring out against the pavement of the court-yard without. A cry resounds from her lips, and she sinks down. "O Allah, watch over him! Let him return! I love him--I love him so dearly!"

CHAPTER VI

PERSECUTION.

An hour had scarcely elapsed since Youssouf's departure when two of her maids rushed into Sitta Nefysseh's presence with anxious looks.

She lay on the divan, her countenance entirely concealed, to hide her tear-stained features. She remained still, endeavoring to recover her composure. The women came nearer.

"Mistress, some one is here who wishes to speak with Sitta Nefysseh."

"Well, what is it that alarms you so?" said she, raising her head slightly, and looking at them. "Who is it that wishes to speak with me?"

"O mistress," murmured one of them, "it is the cadi with four of the police."

Sitta Nefysseh sprang to her feet.

"What say you? The chief of the police dares to enter my house! What does he want ?"

"He says he comes at the instance of his highness the viceroy."

"If that is the case," said Sitta Nefysseh, quietly, "let him enter." One of the women opened the door, and the cadi, the chief of police, appeared on the threshold; behind him stood four policement with pistols and daggers in their belts, their hands on their swords.

"Were my women right? " asked Sitta Nefysseh, with dignity. "You come in the name of his highness the viceroy?"

"Yes," replied the cadi, with a slight bow. "Yes, I come in his highness's name. The viceroy commands that Mourad Bey's widow accompany me at once to his presence, to the citadel."

"And with what right?" asked she quietly.

"I know not and care not," said the official, with an air of indifference; "here is the order." He drew from his pocket a document, to which large seals were appended, and handed it to her.

Sitta Nefysseh looked at it, and returned it with perfect composure.

"You are right, it is the viceroy's order. I will obey. Order the carriage to be driven to the door."

She said this in such imperious tones that the cadi, at other times a proud man, and a high dignitary of the viceroy's court, could not but obey her, and stepped out and delivered her command to one of his officers. He then returned to Sitta Nefysseh.

"I have orders to leave a guard in your house," said he.

"Then do so," said she, quietly. "The viceroy is master over us all, and it seems there is no law here in Cairo but his will. Obey him, therefore. Leave a guard in my house."

He seemed not to notice the mockery in her words, and bowed in silence.

"No one may enter or leave your house during your absence."

"Why do you say this to me? Say it to those who may desire to leave it after I have gone, and who may be alarmed. I am not alarmed; my conscience does not accuse me. My carriage is ready--let us go. I trust, however, that the viceroy does not require me to appear before him alone; it is becoming that Mourad's Bey's widow should be accompanied by her women when she goes out."

"I am not instructed to refuse such a request; yet, there must not be more of them than your carriage will contain."

"Two of my servants will accompany me," said she. Without once looking back into the room, or manifesting any fear or anxiety whatever, she stepped out into the vestibule, and, beckoning to two of the weeping women who had assembled about her, commanded them to follow her. "You others need fear nothing," said she with perfect composure. "The cadi leaves his guards here to protect you, against whom I know not, but certainly against someone." Taking leave of her servants with a kindly nod, and drawing her veil more closely about her, she walked proudly out into the court-yard to the carriage.

Almost ashamed of his errand, the cadi followed and assisted her in entering the carriage, closing the door after her. The carriage drove off rapidly, accompanied by the cadi and his officers, while another body of men remained in charge of the house.

Sitta Nefysseh leaned back against the cushions while the carriage rolled through the streets, her thoughts far distant from her present surroundings.

"I thank thee, Allah, that he is saved!" she murmured to herself. "I thank thee! He would have been excited to ungovernable wrath, and he would have been punished and imprisoned as a rebel. I have saved him! What have I now to fear? Let the worst befall, provided only that he be safe!"

The carriage moved slowly up the Muskj Street, through dense crowds of people. It was market day, and the street was thronged with people, who complained so loudly of the intruding carriage and horsemen that Sitta Nefysseh, aroused from her meditations, leaned forward and drew the window curtains aside. The people, who in their wrath had not observed that the cadi and his officers constituted the escort of the carriage, now became silent as they saw the woman at the window, and peered in with curiosity.

Sitta Nefysseh raised her veil and displayed her countenance to the multitude. "It is Sitta Nefysseh, Mourad Bey's widow!" resounded in the street. The cry was repeated until the gaze of all became fixed on the carriage in astonishment. "What does it mean?"

Buying and selling were no longer thought of. The people followed the carriage, which moved slowly through the crowded street toward the viceroy's citadel, in dense masses. It was in vain that the cadi ordered them to disperse; in vain that the officers threatened them with drawn swords. They only pressed on in denser masses, increased by the people who came Rocking from their houses to see Mourad Bey's widow, who sat tranquilly in the carriage with her two women. Their destination was at last reached, and the gates of the citadel closed behind them. The people who had accompanied the carriage remained without, yelling and shrieking: "Sitta Nefysseh is imprisoned--let us liberate her!"

Sitta Nefysseh had left her carriage, and was now following the cadi, who walked in advance. Behind her came the two women, followed by the officers. Thus the procession moved in profound silence up the broad stairway and into the grand reception saloon.

"Be kind enough to wait here a moment," said the cadi.

He walked into the neat apartment. Sitta Nefysseh, who had again covered her face with her veil, stood proudly erect in the midst of the saloon. The two weeping women stepped nearer to their mistress, and asked if danger threatened her, and begged to be permitted to accompany her everywhere.

"Be still!" said Sitta, in low tones. "Shed no tears. These men must not have the satisfaction of seeing us appear cowardly and weak."

The cadi now returned and stood at the threshold, holding the velvet curtain aside.

"Be kind enough to enter, Sitta Nefysseh."

"Not alone. My women will accompany me."

"No, they are to remain here. You alone are to enter. The women will await your return here."

Sitta Nefysseh walked proudly into the next apartment. The curtain fell back behind her. Cousrouf, who lay stretched out on his silken cushions, smoking his chibouque, looked up at her through the clouds of smoke that enveloped him as she entered the room. She looked at him composedly, and remained standing at the door with so proud and dignified a bearing, such majesty in her whole appearance, that Cousrouf's insolence could not but succumb. He arose and advanced to meet her.

"I salute you, Sitta Nefysseh, widow of Mourad Bey!"

"I do not return your salutation. I have been conducted here from my house in an insulting manner, and I am now surprised to find that his highness seems only to have had me brought here in order to salute me."

"I did not call you in order to salute you, but for an entirely different purpose," replied Cousrouf. "Seat yourself on the ottoman beside me, and let us converse."

"Converse, highness? Friends and confidants sit down to converse with each other, but unfortunately we are neither," replied she, composedly, as she seated herself on the ottoman with the dignity of a princess. Cousrouf remaining standing, Sitta Nefysseh raised her hand and pointed to the divan. "To the viceroy belongs the seat of honor. I beg your highness to take that seat."

He bowed slightly, and took the seat assigned him.

"I wished to beg Sitta Nefysseh's permission to seat myself at her side,to converse with her as a friend. You do not desire it, however--you wish to see in me the prince only. Let it be so. I am only the viceroy, and I have summoned you to appear before me."