The Garden of Allah

the French window on to the verandah. Already Beni-Mora was bathed in golden beams and full of gentle activities. A flock of goats pattered by towards the edge of the oasis. The Arab gardeners wer

at she had come to Beni-Mora. Her lonely sensation of the previous night had gone. As she stood in the sun she was conscious that she needed re-creation and that here she might find it. The radiant sky, the warm sun and the freedom of the coming day and of many coming desert days, filled her heart with an almost childish sensation. She felt yo

g above black trees and greasy pavements. Surely it was difficult to be clean of soul there. Here it would be easy. One would tune one's lyre in accord with Nature and be as a singing palm tree beside a water-spring. Sh

t constrained; when frightened it is not disturbed; but like a vivid flame and a burning torch it

y. Domini had been weary so long, weary of soul, that she was almost startled to find herself responding quickly to the sacred passion on

nly, fiercely, even though I suffer. Let me wake. Let me feel.

her cheeks. And afterwards it seemed to her as if her first real, passionate prayer in Beni-

prayer to the fir

They were smoking cigarettes and talking eagerly. Their conversation, which was in Arabic, sounded violent. The accented words were l

while Hadj remained under the trees, exposing his teeth in a sarcastic grin, which plainly

he wanted a companion in her first walk about Beni-Mora. There would be more savour of freedom in solitude. Yet she had hardly the heart to dismiss Batouch, with all his dignity and dete

?" asked the poet as s

o Hadj, whose grin became more mischievous,

illage, the mosque, the casino, the statue of the Cardina

Domini. "Is it

into a lyric ecstasy, but h

d tell me afterwards if in all E

wonderful," she said, smili

Madame shall tell me," he repea

oment into the church," she sai

to whom it meant nothing. She was conscious that since she had come to this land of another creed, and of another creed held with fanaticism, her sentiment for her own religion, which in England for many years had been but lukewarm, had suddenly gained in strength. She had an odd, almost manly, sensation that it was her duty in Africa to stand up for her faith, not blatantly in words to impress others, bu

f made of some unwholesome sweetmeat. Long candles of blue and gold and bouquets of dusty artificial flowers flanked it. Behind it, in a round niche, stood a painted figure of Christ holding a book. The two adjacent side chapels had domed roofs representing the firmament. Beneath the pulpit stood a small harmonium. At the opposite end of the church was a high gallery holding more chairs. The mean, featureless windows were filled with glass half white, half staring red dotted with yellow crosses. Round the walls were reliefs of the fourteen stations of the Cross

ster saints. Yet as Domini touched her forehead and breast with holy water, and knelt for a moment on the stone floor, she was conscious that this rather pitiful house of God moved her to an emotion she had not felt in the great and beautiful churches to which she was accustomed in England and on the Continent. Through the windows she saw the outlines of palm

f Him who had ordered the pageant of the sun which she had seen last night among the mountains. And presently she and this little church in which she stood alone became pathetic in her thoughts, and even the religion which

red to herself. "Let me be bigger! Oh, l

w the priest whom she had met in the tunnel enterin

hought I would offer to show you our lit

hed, looked honest, kind, and pathetic, but with a pathos that was unaffected a

ered. "I have been lo

a Catholi

es

here was something childlike

a, but we have been fortunate in bygone years. Our great Cardinal, th

al Lavi

statue faces the beginning of the great desert road,

. The almost tragic expression of hi

ca, I believe,

been one of his freres armes, but my health preven

ssion returne

. But there are still the White Fathers whom he founded. Glorious men. They carry the Cross

you were w

who desire to enter the most severe life can do so. If it were otherwise I should long

sses, anchors; the white embroidered muslin that draped the tabernacle; the statue of a bishop in a red and gold mitre holding a staff and Bible, and anot

se in front of a painting of Saint Bruno dressed in a whi

ordonne a s

r aux bien

ir les bien

the saint in grotesque at

. "Who could look at it without feeling tha

door, a very discreet and even humble, but at the same time anxious, bark. The priest's fa

said, and he opened the d

attentive attitude. Directly the priest appeared it began to wag its short tail violently

he said. "He was not with me ye

by Bous-Bous, who had suddenly assumed an air of conscious majesty,

palm trees looking after them. The

too?" asked Batouch, s

ant to discuss religion with

ndful of her secret resolve to get ri

ut across

cessive, for the glorious strength of the sun was robbed of its terror, its possible brutality, by the bright and feathery dryness and

trong. Madame wal

eriously astonished, and

But I shall grow stronger here. I shall b

slim white horse, galloped past at a tremendous pace, holding his reins high above the red p

ses here," she said when

nows how

ughed

ever since I

n pounds," remarked Batouch, using the pr

d I'll buy him," Domini said. "I want to go fa

t not go

y n

bandits in

" Domini said carelessl

of the small street in which they were Domini saw a wide open space, in the centre of which stood a quantity of pillars supporting a peaked roof. Round the sides of the

ple! Do they all live i

e desert to sell and to buy. But mo

m all directions tall men with naked arms and legs, and fluttering white garments, came slowly towards her, staring intently at her with lustrous eyes, whose expression seemed to denote rather a calm and dignified appraisement than any vulgar curiosity. Boys, with the whitest teeth she had ever beheld, and flowers above their well-shaped, delicate ears, smiled up at her with engaging impudence. Her nostrils were filled with a strange crowd of odours, which came from humanity dressed in woollen garments, from fruits exposed for sale in rush panniers, from round close bouquets of roses ringed with tight borders of green leaves, from burning

yes chanced to meet any of the bold, inquiring eyes around her she was inclined to smile as if in recognition of these children of the sun, who did not seem to her like strangers, despite the unknown language that struggled fiercely in their throats. Nevertheless, she did not wish to stay very long among them now. She was resolved to get a full and delicately

d to him. "But I'll buy some p

ld up in his delicate fingers a long bottle, sealed and

must go to Ahmeda,

wsy bee. The perfume-seller was immersed in the Koran, his back to the buying world. Batouch was about to call upon him, when Domini checked the exclamation with a quick gesture. For the first time the mystery that coils like a great black serpent in the shining heart of the E

med

kles, tufted with white hairs, lit by eyes that shone with the cruel expressiveness of a falcon's. After a short colloquy in Arabic he raised himself

s Madame desire?"

he searching directness characteristic of her, a fea

ng that is of the East-

" said

red with red and green lines. He removed the stopper, made Domini take off her glove, touched her bare hand with the st

l it," he

eyes. Yes, that was a voice of Africa too. Oh! how far away she was from her old life and hollow days. The

me some of th

read in the glass, weighed it in a scales and demanded a price. Ba

said, giving Ba

d picked up the broad-leaved volume which lay upon the floor. He swayed gently and rhythmically to and fro. Then once

afar off, as woman is by

the perfume to the hotel an

ame will ne

ask t

here I will wait for her. Monsieur the Count doe

ll," Dom

alone in the garden. As they walked towards it in the sun, through narrow ways where idle Ar

Batouch spoke of him with a convinced respect, describin

day, upon our Sabbath, he comes to the gate with a bag of money in

t is he?

erywhere. He has three in Africa alone, and in one he keeps many lions.

wandering maker of gardens, who was a

oung?" s

N

rri

arden. And sometimes for a year he never comes to Beni-Mora. But he is here now. Twenty Arabs are always working in t

e is dange

ose who are in the desert without arms

d mountains. On the right was a shady garden with fountains and stone benches, and beyond stood a huge white palace built in the Moorish style, and terraced roofs and a high tower ornamented with green and peacock-blue tiles. In the distance, among more palms, appeared a number of low, flat

e looked down the road to the point where its wh

t enthusiasm, having al

Moorish palace. "It is a hotel, and is not yet open, but I know the guardian. F

arm resting-place for flies, stared at Domini with a lustrous vacancy of expression. At the corners of the alleys unveiled women squatted, grinding corn in primitive hand-mills, or winding wool on wooden sticks. Their heads were covered with plaits of imitation hair made of wool, in which barbaric silver ornaments were fastened, and their black necks and arms jingled with chains an

furniture?" sh

it? They live out here in

the dull pain set up in her heart by the rude shock of her mother's sin and its result, made this naked, sunny, barbarous existence seem desirable. She stood for a moment to watch two women sorting grain for cous-cous. Their guttural laughter, their noisy tal

ndon with her when she ret

ndon for a very long time,

stay here

s I shall travel on into the

days, we should come at last to Tombouctou," said Batouch. "But very likely

d to go?" Domini as

afr

ing ki

id to die? All must pass through that door. It do

o fear of d

Madame?" He gazed at Domin

know," sh

ered and cou

the Vill

the great river bed, the Oued-Beni-Mora, then a low earth cliff, and then the immense airy flats stretching away into the shining regions of the sun. At some distance, raised on a dazzling white wall above the desert in an unshaded place, Domini saw a narrow, two-sided white house, with a flat roof and a few tiny loopholes instead of windows. One side looked full upon the wat

e!" Domini said. "Th

e other side, looki

nd. Mystery hung about this dwelling, a mystery of light, not darkness, secrets of flame and hidden things of golden meaning. She felt almost like a child who is about to penetrate into the red land of the winter fire,

it here fo

he stepped into the garden and confronted a graceful young Arab dressed

t the garden a l

the face of a happy lotus-eater. The great, lustrous eyes were tender as a gazelle's and thoughtless as the eyes of a sleepy child.

t her question, and he smiled contentedly back

you will. Shall I

ixed upon her. Domini's wish to be alone had left her. This was surely the

stay by the do

e is no one in Beni-Mor

h a pepper tree. In it Domini saw a brown boy curled up like a dog and fast asleep.

you,

uch had implied the truth. Must the European gardens give way t

he right was the villa. She saw now that it was quite small. There were two lines of windows-on the ground floor and the upper story. The lower windows opened on to the sand, those above on to a verandah with a white railing, which was gained by a white staircase outside the house built

rooms," murmured t

bedrooms?" she a

king-room, the Moorish bath, the room of the little dog, the kitchen and the rooms

e and there through the masses of trees to the left, where a little raised sand-pat

path," Domini said

his was surely a home of dreams, a haven where th

our name?"

orn in this garden. My father, Moha

ng mystery of the trees. The longing for secrecy, for remoteness, for the beauty of far away had sometimes haunted her, especially in the troubled moments of her life. Her heart, oppressed, had overleaped the horizon line in answer to a calling from hidden things beyond. Her emotions had wandered, seeking the great distances in which t

lked acted as a sounding-board to the delicious voice. The little path wound on and on between two running rills of water, which slipped incessantly away under the broad and yellow-tipped leaves of dwarf palms, m

Jamelons, white laurels, indiarubber and cocoanut trees, bananas, bamboos, yuccas, many mimosas and quantities of tall eucalyptus trees. Thickets of scarlet geranium flamed in

en reveries, but afterwards, when she knew the garden better, she often heard them twittering with a subdued, yet happy, languor, as if joining in a nocturn upon the edge of sleep. Under the trees the sand was yell

the floating green robe of Smain, she rested her eyes, and her soul, on countless mingling shades of the delicious colour; rough, furry green of geranium leaves, silver green of olives, black green of distant palms from which the sun held aloof, faded green o

leaves of plants, gliding over the slippery edges of the palm branches, trembling airily where the papyrus bent its antique head, dancing among the big blades of sturdy grass that sprouted in tufts here and there, restin

rom its stem and bearing it to the sand, striking a berry from its place and causing it to drop at Domini's feet, giving a faded geranium petal the courage to leave its more vivid companions and resign itself to the loss of t

om of the little

wo squares of grass which were shadowed by date palms heavy with yellow fruit, and beneath some leaning mulberry tr

curled over his back sternly staring into vacancy. His expression and his attitude were autocratic and determined, betokening a tyrannic

money for the dog," murmured

has he b

en I was born, and I have been m

ed at Smain with astonishment. He was

been divor

l show Madame t

bent forward on either side of it, and their small leaves almost meeting, were transformed by the radiant sunbeams into tongues of pale fire, quivering, well nigh transparent

ou must love this

warmth, the enchanted stillness and privacy of this domain touched

she added, "without once wis

ed drowsil

, as they passed over a palm-wood bridge beneath whi

ooked blanched. The sense of mystery increased, for the trees were enormous and grew densely here. Pine nee

at Monsieur the Count loves," said

Domini, suddenly stop

them down the alley, clear and

love. That is why he plays when he ought to be

me, it grasped Domini's fancy and laid a spell upon her imagination. For it sounded as naively sincere as the song of a bird, and as if the heart from which it flowed were like the heart of a child, a place of revelation, not of concealment. The sun made men careless here. They opened their windows to it, and one could see into the warm and glowing rooms. Domini looked at the gentle Arab youth beside her, already twice married and twice divorced. She listened to Larbi's unending song of love. And she said to herself, "These people, uncivilised or not, at least live,

ad caught the spark of his enthusiasm. But now another fire seemed lit within her, and she found herself marvelling at such austerity. Was it not a

melody, changing the ornamentation at the fantasy of the player. She looked for him a

d, and his voi

almost entirely concealed by masses of purple bougainvillea. It had a flat roof. In three of its sides were large arched window-spaces without windows. In the fourth was a nar

unt," said Smain. "He spends many hours ther

lute was close to them now. "Larbi must be in there," Do

among the t

meone i

blue-grey smoke curled through it and evaporated into the shadows of the

e would not go in t

e to the doorway of the little room and lo