Would she again set out to earn a punishment?
But how could she be punished again? The world had surely done its worst, and so lost its power over her. The arm that had wielded the lash had wielded it surely to the limit of strength. There could be nothing more to be afraid of.
And then--Nigel stood before the eyes of her mind.
In the exquisite peace of this garden at the edge of the Nile a storm was surging up within her. And Baroudi sat there at her feet, impassive, immobile, with his still, luminous eyes always steadily regarding her.
"My husband will soon be coming back!" she said, abruptly.
"And I shall soon be going up the river to Armant, and from Armant to Esneh, and from Esneh to Kom Ombos and Aswàn."
She felt as if she heard life escaping from her into the regions of the south, and a coldness of dread encompassed her.
"There is a girl at Aswàn who is like the full moon," murmured Baroudi.
She realized his absolute liberty, and a heat as of fire swept over the cold. But she only said, with a smile: "Why don't you sail for Aswàn to-night?"
"There is time," he answered. "She will not leave Aswàn until I choose for her to go."
"And are there full moons at Armant, and Esneh, and Kom Ombos?"
She seemed to be lightly laughing at him.
"At Esneh--no; at Kom Ombos--no."
"And Armant?"
A sharpness had crept into her lazy voice.
"There are French at Armant, and where the French come the little women come."
She remembered the pretty little rooms on the Loulia. He possessed a floating house--a floating freedom. At that moment she hated the dahabeeyah. She wished it would strike on a rock in the Nile and go to pieces. But he would be floating up the river into the golden south, while she travelled northwards to a tent in the Fayyum! She could hardly keep her body still in her chair. She picked up one of the silver boxes, and tightened her fingers round it.
"Will you take a little more of the rose-leaf jelly?" he asked.
"No, no."
She dropped the box. It made a dry sound as it struck the table.
"I must stay at Armant some days. I have to look after my sugar interests there."
"Oh--sugar!" she exclaimed. "My husband may think you do nothing but look after your affairs, but you mustn't suppose a woman--"
"A woman--what?"
"I knew from the first you loved pleasure."
She took up the fan again.
"From the first? When was that?"