The Garden of Allah

was not accustomed to feeling intrusive, an

Count," Smain said c

soft hat, as if the words effected a

, Madame?" he said in French. "If I ma

ly full of vivid life, though not of energy. His manner at once banished her momentary discomfort. There is a freemasonry between pe

was told at the gate you gave permissi

tain

rabic to Smain, who turned away

ugh the rest of the garden," he said, turning a

ery kind

effected made it seem a pleasant, inevitable cou

nteoni continued, standing aside fro

g breath when

our tiny smoking-tables of rough palm wood, holding hammered ash-trays of bronze, green bronze torches for the lighting of cigarettes, and vases of Chinese dragon china filled with velvety red roses, gardenias and sprigs of orange blossom. Leather footstools, covered with Tunisian thread-work, lay beside them. From the arches of the window-spaces hung old Moorish lamps of copper, fitted with small panes of dull jewelled gla

ered soft, clear, whimsical music

standing by the doorway, leaning on

k of your garden, what I feel in it. I needn't tell you. Indeed, I am sure the

eave nearly always before the travellers come. That sounds a little rude? But

for peace," Domi

lt as if it was already un

te wall and pulled a branch of the purple fl

slowly and meditatively. "That is to say, there is similarity of day with day, night wit

oftly back, and hung quivering in the sp

hould not say

N

with her direct eyes and at the shaking flowers.

hink, feel a littl

? But how? Africa is as fierce and fu

w-already,"

iously and yet powerfully. He said it, and last night the African hautboy

he added, smiling a little, and touching the snowy wal

n I was a boy

en wasn't

re with my mother. She spoilt

n is your b

Now it is

ed to h

," sugges

going to say

implied bitterness. The wounded, the fearful, the disappointed, the c

me, for I come here to think. Th

aimed impulsively, and lea

s

Beni-Mora has seemed to me

tho

g out inter

y aristocratic. The nose was sensitive, with wide nostrils. A long and straight moustache, turning slightly grey, did not hide the mouth, which had unusually pale lips. The ears were set very flat against the head, and were finely shaped. The chin was pointed. The general look of the whole face was tense, critical, consci

Ishmael, to shift for itse

tatement nor question, merely like th

ough the rest of the garden, Madam

had already got up, moved by t

resented it, but it had recalled her to the conscio

riband of sand which circle

extraordinary

r's estate, near Tunis. He was a Sicilian; but came to North Africa each winter. I have alw

love-song

hey tell me. Each new dancer cat

e can love

easily. Look a

b, with an almost black skin, squatting on his heels, with a long yellow and red flute between his thick lips. His eyes were bent

ek all the year round for d

nd amused. They walked on, and L

. "I love them as they are; idle, absurdly amorous, quick to shed blood, gay as childre

y n

them to say their prayers five times in the day as it is commanded, and no Ar

an had convictions, and strong ones. That was certain. There was something oddly unconventional in him which something in her res

surrounded by absolutely thoughtless people with thoughtful face

laug

t think her

e folly to myself. Is no

so tall that it see

he one that presides

e seen m

him to me, w

at on moonlight nights they have heard him

most as if yo

an I believe anywhere else. T

that-I mean beli

Mora, the desert spell! Yes, there is ench

ear of

htly, as if he liked to be aware how supple his body still was. As Domini spoke he stopped. They were now at

eart. Oh, there is danger in Beni-Mora, Madame, there is danger

e perfume-seller in his little dark room, and of the sudden sensation she had

ake? This one leads to my drawing-room,

d t

t down to the wall tha

let us t

arkable is not its arrangement, the number and variety of its trees, but the fact th

sentence and his harsh voic

different from one another

d at him

be too i

g is," the

overed that in

new to yo

e was a sound of faint

ng in the loveliest place," he added

trees down which they were walking, appeared a

see the sun,

ine I actually see the desert. One loves

haps I am not disposed to

? You may

en know her name. Domini wondered suddenly how old he was. That look made him seem much older than he had seemed before. There was such an expression in his eyes as may sometimes be seen in eyes

Domini said after a moment of sil

Nature. You will think it much more won

an

the desert. It is the thing that keeps call

e might learn

st the same, you know. And yet m

times the

when they li

ad been together, and all his face was cov

ver live in a

r word for it, but the

ps, when you see what lies

nds of the sun. It was within half an hour of noon, and the radiance was b

mendous!" sh

rim of his grey hat over his eyes. The hand with

e afrai

d me. We don't know the

re in summer, but it seems further away. Here it insists on the most

eas

s some eight feet high on the side next to the desert, but the garden was raised in such a way that the inner side was merely a low parapet running along the sand path. In this parapet were cut small seats, like window-se

look for my hiding-place," he

ded withou

tretched the desert, as Eternity stretches from the edge of Time. Only to the left was the immeasurable expanse intruded upon by a long spur of mountains, which ran out boldly for some distance and then stopped abruptly, conquered and abashed by the imperious flats. Beneath the mountains were low, tent-like, cinnamon-coloured undulations, which reminded Domi

of the river bed, and quite near, rose a round and squat white tower with a small cupola. Beyond it, on the little cliff, was a tangle of palms where a tiny oasis sheltered a few native huts. At an immense distance, here and there, other oases showed as dark stains show on the sea where there are

th curling lips ran beside him. He was singing to himself in a low, inward voi

t he is singing?

s straining her ears to hear

egroes of Touggourt-'No one but God

er face. In the distance she could stil

to happen to me h

t it. She put down her parasol, exposing herself to the blinding sunlight, knelt down on the hot sand, leaned her ar

y heart," she thought. "But that's not t

. Surely, as he turned into the shadows of the palms, he was singing, "No one but God

t notice it, and he kept his eyes on her for

saw low, scattered tents, far-off columns of smoke rising. She saw a bird pass across the blue and vanish towards the mountains. Black shapes appeared among the tiny mounds of earth, crowned

antly, from the hidden summoning lands, whose verges she had with difficulty gained, and looked, at first with apprehension, upon the nearer regions. But her apprehension died when she fo

vements of his horse, was profoundly interesting, and held the attention of the onlooker in a vice, as if the fates of worlds depended upon where he was carried and how soon he reached his goal. A string of camels laden with wooden bales met him on the way, and this chance encounter seemed to Domini fraught with almost terrible pos

k out his watch a

e hour of prayer," he said. "When I am

ert as the faithful

see men prayin

sure that within him there were depths of imagi

ery likely, and even feel at home. I have seen cathedrals in which I could believe I

as now descending into the river bed. In the shadow of the low white tower two more were huddled, motionless. She looked away to right and left, but saw

five," sh

ot accustomed

e are

up to a dozen.

camels and the men

p under a red rock where the path ascends into the desert. And there are two more just at the edge of t

have splen

ut there are probably a score of A

sis. How oddly that one is moving. He goes u

is in the full blaze of the

cliff in silence. One was standing under a large isolated palm tree absolutely still, as Arabs often stand. The other, at a short distance from him and full in the sun, went to and fro, to and fro, always measuring the same space of desert, and turning and returning at two given points which never varied. He walked like a ma

Smain and looked through them, adjus

I was right. That

lasses and gla

e only travelle

rough the gl

that," s

dee

one at m

has been so long in captivity that when you let him out he s

through the glasses. As Domini did not reply he remov

she said slowly. "But I feel that I don't

u can recognise him? These a

m from him with

out till they

of them and disappearing into a dark crevice, then the white tower and the Arabs beneath it. One was an old man yawning; the other a boy. He rubbed the tip of his brown nose, and she saw the henna stains upon his nails. She lifted the glasses slowly a

e had only one ey

m-tree m

ly away from him, keep

id on an ind

of a distant voice broke upon her

n," said Co

prophet: "Oh thou that art covered arise . . . and magnify t

fro, to and fro on the burning ground till the fourth call of the Mueddin died away. Then, as he approached the isolated palm tree and saw the Arab beneath it fall to the earth and bow his long body in prayer, he paused and stood still as if in contemplation. The glasses were so powerful that it was possible to see the expressions on faces even at that distance. The expression on the traveller's face was, or seemed to be, at firs

down on the wall and l

ist in the deser

t it

a hatred, a ho

il shrank away from

ow much that was t

uld have jeered, not cowered. But why

a man flee from th

llow-tra

t was h

im back th

which should be

ds. As he bent to do it he looked steadily at her,

f truth. Is that what

ni stretched out his hand to t

yer is unwise to set foot bey

unw

ed her ve

ing: 'The desert is t

enough for the moment, and did not wish to disturb her impressions by

he garden, and had begged her to come again whenever sh

ur word," she said fran

ne. I built it to prevent a more hideous one being built, and let it to the proprietor. You might like to ascend the tower. The v

ds in Arabic on the b

said, watching the forming of

frican, though my father was a

ite door was softly shut by Smain, Domini felt rather like a new E

id Batouch. "Have

be so beautiful as that. No

rself as she sai

ged some words with Batouch, accompanying them with violent ge

atter with him

ert alone. Hadj wishes that the nomads may cut his throat, and that his flesh may

ant a guide every day!

ferent. I would give

horse. I don't want a quiet one, but something wit

well as to her mind. A physical audacity was s

he lion. She is a

me for me this afternoon, but bring round a h

y evening

I said to-mo

nt into the dark house, from which the burning noonday sun was carefully excluded. She intended to res

euner was ready. She went upstairs, washed her face and hands in cold water, stood still while Suzanne sh

n of middle age, probably a commercial traveller, who had eyes like a melancholy toad, was at another, eating olives with anxious rapidity, and wiping his forehead perpetually with a dirt

und on the polished wooden floor. The priest glanced up over his napkin, rose and bowed. The French officers stared with an interest they were too chivalrous to attempt to conceal. Only th

-look them in the eyes and know them for what they were, good or evil. In the presence of this total stranger there was something unpleasantly distracting which she could not and did not ignore, something which roused her antagonism and which at the same time compelled her attention. She had been conscious of it in the train, conscious of it in the tunnel at twilight, at night in the hotel, and once again in Count Anteoni's garden. This man intruded himself, no doubt unconsciously, or even against his will, into her sight, her thoughts, each time that she was on the point of giving herself to what Count Anteoni called "the desert spirits." So it had been when the train ran out of the tunnel into the blue country. So it had been again when she leaned on the white wall and gazed out over the shining fastnesses of the sun. He was there like an enemy, like something determined, egoistical, that said to her, "You would look at the greatness of the desert, at immensity, infinity, God!-L

distance. As she ate her fish-a mystery of the seas of Robertville-she imagined his quiet existence in this remote place, sunny day succeeding sunny day, each one surely so like its brother that life must become a sort of dream, through which the voice of the church bell called melodiously and the incense rising before

e Arab waiter slipped forward with attentive haste. For the swing door of the salle-a-manger at this moment was pushed open

ish, which was like something between a trout and a herring. When she had finished it she gazed straight before her at the cloth, and strove to resume her thoughts of the priest's life in Beni-Mora. But she could not. It seemed to her as if she were back again in Count Anteoni's garden. She looked once more thr

e consciousness of others-that was unnatural in her. She had never been sensitive like this in her former life, but the fierce African sun seemed now to have thawed the ice of her indifference. She felt everything with almost unpleasant acuteness. All her

rs? She could not imagine how he would be with them. The only other man in the room-the servant had gone out for the moment-was the priest. He and the priest-they would surely be antagonists. Had he not turned aside to avoid the priest in the tunnel? Probably he was one of those many men who actively hate the priesthood, to whom the soutane is anathema. Could he find pleasant companionship with such a man as Count Anteoni, an original man, no doubt, but al

why could she

ned his head and glanced sideways at the priest, who was behind him to the right. Then he looked again at his hands. And Domini knew that all t

ragout of mutton and peas, and sh

hundred French soldiers had been staring at her critically she would not have cared at all. She was not a shy woman and was in nowise uncomfortable when many eyes were fixed upon her. So she stood and talked a little to the priest about Count Anteoni and her pleasur

oke well of C

y generous

twisting his n

e. I believe he comes here in search of solitude. He s

ng," sh

ooked slight

ult not to think, M

ni thinks rather as a Bas

oulder. The traveller had turned sideways. At once she bade the

. Suzanne had arranged photographs, books, flowers in the little salon, had put cushions here and there, and thrown pretty coverings over the sofa and the two low chairs. The room had an air of cosiness, of occupation. It wa

at she would be there for a long while, that she would strike roots into this sunny place of peace. When she heard the church bell now she thought of the interior of the church and of the priest with an odd sort of familiar pleasure, as people in England often think of the village church in which they have always been accustomed to worship, and of the clergyman who ministers in it Sunday after Sunday. Yet at moments she remembered her inward cry in Count Anteoni's garden, "Oh, what is going to happen to me here?" And then she was dimly conscious that Beni-Mora was the home of m

soothed him slightly, yet she could see that his childish vanity was injured. There was a malicious gleam in his long, narrow eyes as he looked after her. Yet there was genuine admiration too. The Arab bows down instinctively before any dominating spirit, and such a spirit in a foreign woman flashes in his eyes like a bright flame. Physical strength, too, appeals to him with pecu

r Arabs had bazaars. One of the latter came out from the shadow of his hanging rugs and embroideries as she passed,

t could not help looki

which stretched from his left cheek to his forehead, ending just over the left eyebrow. The expression of his eyes was almost disgustingly intelligent. While they were fixed upon her Domini felt as if her body were a glass box in which all her thou

-venez! I have much-I will show-j'ai de

ng precious-jewels perhaps. She saw only a quantity of sand, laughed, and moved

bazaar! I will read for Madame-what will be-what will become-I will read-I will tell. Tenez!" He stared down into the bag

," Domi

ted, but was n

no time

more into the bag. "Ah! Mon Dieu! Ah! Mon Dieu!" he repeate

a little distance she glanced back. The man was standing in the middle o

! I see it-I see-je vois la

adful suffering in his voi

ke animals drowned in a lethargic dream. A black boy ran by holding a hammered brass tray on which were some small china cups filled with thick coffee. Halfway up the street he met three unveiled women clad in voluminous white dresses, with scarlet, yellow, and purple handkerc

tou. The mitre upon the head was worn surely as if it were a helmet, the pastoral staff with its double cross was grasped as if it were a sword. Upon the lower cross was stretched a figure of the Christ in agony. And the Cardinal, gazing with the eye

ce echoing along the sands till the worshippers of Allah

teoni's card from her glove and rang the bell. After a long interval a magnificent ma

o see the sunset?" she a

numbered rooms, up a second staircase and out upon a flat-terraced roof, from which the tower soared high above the houses and palm

d. "I shall stay some time and

et rid of him. Already, from the roof, she caught sight of a great visionary panorama glowing with colour and magic. She was impatient to climb still higher into the sky, to look down on the world as an eagle does. So she turned away deci

eiling of the top of the staircase, which prevented a person standing on one side of the tower from seeing anybody who was standing at th

Directly she had shut the little door and felt herself alone-alone as an eagle in the sky-she took the step forw

that she had never imagined. It was scarcely vivid; for in everything that is vivid there seems to be something small, the point to which wonders converge, the intense spark to which many fires have given themselves as food, the drop which contains the murmuring force of innumerable rivers. It was more than vivid. It was reliantly dim, as is that pulse of life wh

ce, cool and serene, widened as circles in a pool towards the unseen limits of the satisfied world, limits lost in the hidden regions beyond the misty, purple magic where sky and desert met. And she felt as if her brain, ceaselessly at

She thought her bosom ceased to rise and fall. The very blood d

ives in two, as the Great Gulf divided him who lay in Abra

THE VOICE