The Garden of Allah | Page 9

discoloured step,
yawning from ear to ear. Even the tip could not excite him. Before the
carriage started he had gone into the hotel and banged the door. The
horses trotted quickly through the mud, descending the hill. One of the
tarpaulin curtains had been left unbuttoned by the coachman. It flapped
to and fro, and when its movement was outward Domini could catch
short glimpses of mud, of glistening palm-leaves with yellow stems, of
gas-lamps, and of something that was like an extended grey
nothingness. This was the sea. Twice she saw Arabs trudging along,
holding their skirts up in a bunch sideways, and showing legs bare
beyond the knees. Hoods hid their faces. They appeared to be agitated
by the weather, and to be continually trying to plant their naked feet in
dry places. Suzanne, who sat opposite to Domini, had her eyes shut. If
she had not from time to time passed her tongue quickly over her full,
pale lips she would have looked like a dead thing. The coquettish angle
at which her little black hat was set on her head seemed absurdly
inappropriate to the occasion and her mood. It suggested a hat being

worn at some festival. Her black, gloved hands were tightly twisted
together in her lap, and she allowed her plump body to wag quite
loosely with the motion of the carriage, making no attempt at resistance.
She had really the appearance of a corpse sitting up. The tarpaulin
flapped monotonously. The coachman cried out in the dimness to his
horses like a bird, prolonging his call drearily, and then violently
cracking his whip. Domini kept her eyes fixed on the loose tarpaulin, so
that she might not miss one of the wet visions it discovered by its
reiterated movement. She had not slept at all, and felt as if there was a
gritty dryness close behind her eyes. She also felt very alert and
enduring, but not in the least natural. Had some extraordinary event
occurred; had the carriage, for instance, rolled over the edge of the road
into the sea, she was convinced that she could not have managed to be
either surprised or alarmed, If anyone had asked her whether she was
tired she would certainly have answered "No."
Like her mother, Domini was of a gipsy type. She stood five feet ten,
had thick, almost coarse and wavy black hair that was parted in the
middle of her small head, dark, almond-shaped, heavy-lidded eyes, and
a clear, warmly-white skin, unflecked with colour. She never flushed
under the influence of excitement or emotion. Her forehead was broad
and low. Her eyebrows were long and level, thicker than most women's.
The shape of her face was oval, with a straight, short nose, a short, but
rather prominent and round chin, and a very expressive mouth, not very
small, slightly depressed at the corners, with perfect teeth, and red lips
that were unusually flexible. Her figure was remarkably athletic, with
shoulders that were broad in a woman, and a naturally small waist. Her
hands and feet were also small. She walked splendidly, like a Syrian,
but without his defiant insolence. In her face, when it was in repose,
there was usually an expression of still indifference, some thought of
opposition. She looked her age, and had never used a powderpuff in her
life. She could smile easily and easily become animated, and in her
animation there was often fire, as in her calmness there was sometimes
cloud. Timid people were generally disconcerted by her appearance,
and her manner did not always reassure them. Her obvious physical
strength had something surprising in it, and woke wonder as to how it
had been, or might be, used. Even when her eyes were shut she looked

singularly wakeful.
Domini and Suzanne got to the station of Robertville much too early.
The large hall in which they had to wait was miserably lit, blank and
decidedly cold. The ticket-office was on the left, and the room was
divided into two parts by a broad, low counter, on which the heavy
luggage was placed before being weighed by two unshaven and hulking
men in blue smocks. Three or four Arab touts, in excessively shabby
European clothes and turbans, surrounded Domini with offers of
assistance. One, the dirtiest of the group, with a gaping eye-socket, in
which there was no eye, succeeded by his passionate volubility and
impudence in attaching himself to her in a sort of official capacity. He
spoke fluent, but faulty, French, which attracted Suzanne, and, being
abnormally muscular and active, in an amazingly short time got hold of
all their boxes and bags and ranged them on the counter. He then
indulged in a dramatic performance, which he apparently considered
likely to rouse into life