It seems that Lord Glencaryll had taken her to Algiers and had
wished to make a trip into the desert. He had been drinking heavily,
and she did not dare to upset his plans by refusing to go with him or
even by telling him how soon her child was going to be born. So she
went with him, and one night something happened--what she would not
say, but my father says he has never seen such a look of terror on any
woman's face as she hurried over that part of her story. Whatever it
was she waited until the camp was asleep and then slipped out into the
desert, mad with fear, with no thought beyond a blind instinct of
flight that drove her panic-stricken to face any danger rather than
remain and undergo the misery she was flying from. She remembered
hurrying onward, terrified by every sound and every shadow, frightened
even by the blazing stars that seemed to be watching her and pointing
out the way she had taken, until her mind was numb from utter weariness
and she remembered nothing more until she awoke in the headman's tent.
She had been afraid to say who she was lest she should be sent back to
her husband. And with the birth of the child she became more than ever
determined to preserve her secret. The boy should be spared the
suffering she had herself endured, he should not be allowed to fall
into the hands of his father to be at his mercy when the periodical
drinking fits made him a very fiend of cruelty. She made my father and
the Sheik swear that not until the boy grew to manhood should Lord
Glencaryll be told of his existence. She wrote a letter for her husband
which she gave into my father's keeping, together with her wedding
ring, which had an inscription inside of it, and a miniature of
Glencaryll which she had worn always hidden away from sight. She was
very contrite with the Sheik, begging his forgiveness for the sorrow
she had caused him and for keeping from his knowledge the fact that she
was not free. She loved her husband loyally to the end, but the last
few days that she lived the Sheik's devotion seemed to wake an
answering tenderness in her heart. She was happiest when he was with
her, and she died in his arms with his kisses on her lips. She left her
boy in his keeping, and Ahmed Ben Hassan adopted him formally and made
him his heir, giving him his own name--the hereditary name that the
Sheik of the tribe has borne for generations. His word was law amongst
his people, and there was no thought of any opposition to his wishes;
further, the child was considered lucky, and his choice of successor
was received with unanimous delight. All the passionate love that the
Sheik had for the mother was transferred to the son. He idolised him,
and the boy grew up believing that Ahmed Ben Hassan was his own father.