The Sheik | Page 4

came of age a few months ago, and, in future, I can do as I please. Not
that I have ever done anything else," she conceded, with another laugh,
"because Aubrey's ways have been my ways until now."
"But for the sake of one month! What difference could it make to him?"
he asked in astonishment.

"That's Aubrey," replied Miss Mayo drily.
"It isn't safe," persisted Arbuthnot.
She flicked the ash from her cigarette carelessly. "I don't agree with
you. I don't know why everybody is making such a fuss about it. Plenty
of other women have travelled in much wilder country than this desert."
He looked at her curiously. She seemed to be totally unaware that it
was her youth and her beauty that made all the danger of the expedition.
He fell back on the easier excuse.
"There seems to be unrest amongst some of the tribes. There have been
a lot of rumours lately," he said seriously.
She made a little movement of impatience. "Oh, that's what they always
tell you when they want to put obstacles in your way. The authorities
have already dangled that bogey in front of me. I asked for facts and
they only gave me generalities. I asked definitely if they had any power
to stop me. They said they had not, but strongly advised me not to
make the attempt. I said I should go, unless the French Government
arrested me.... Why not? I am not afraid. I don't admit that there is
anything to be afraid of. I don't believe a word about the tribes being
restless. Arabs are always moving about, aren't they? I have an
excellent caravan leader, whom even the authorities vouch for, and I
shall be armed. I am perfectly able to take care of myself. I can shoot
straight and I am used to camping. Besides, I have given my word to
Aubrey to be in Oran in a month, and I can't get very far away in that
time."
There was an obstinate ring in her voice, and when she stopped
speaking he sat silent, consumed with anxiety, obsessed with the
loveliness of her, and tormented with the desire to tell her so. Then he
turned to her suddenly, and his face was very white. "Miss
Mayo--Diana--put off this trip only for a little, and give me the right to
go with you. I love you. I want you for my wife more than anything on
earth. I shan't always be a penniless subaltern. One of these days I shall
be able to give you a position that is worthy of you; no, nothing could

be that, but one at least that I am not ashamed to offer to you. We've
been very good friends; you know all about me. I'll give my whole life
to make you happy. The world has been a different place to me since
you came into it. I can't get away from you. You are in my thoughts
night and day. I love you; I want you. My God, Diana! Beauty like
yours drives a man mad!"
"Is beauty all that a man wants in his wife?" she asked, with a kind of
cold wonder in her voice. "Brains and a sound body seem much more
sensible requirements to me."
"But when a woman has all three, as you have, Diana," he whispered
ardently, his hands closing over the slim ones lying in her lap.
But with a strength that seemed impossible for their smallness she
disengaged them from his grasp. "Please stop. I am sorry. We have
been good friends, and it has never occurred to me that there could be
anything beyond that. I never thought that you might love me. I never
thought of you in that way at all, I don't understand it. When God made
me He omitted to give me a heart. I have never loved any one in my life.
My brother and I have tolerated each other, but there has never been
any affection between us. Would it be likely? Put yourself in Aubrey's
place. Imagine a young man of nineteen, with a cold, reserved nature,
being burdened with the care of a baby sister, thrust into his hands
unwanted and unexpected. Was it likely that he would have any
affection for me? I never wanted it. I was born with the same cold
nature as his. I was brought up as a boy, my training was hard. Emotion
and affection have been barred out of my life. I simply don't know what
they mean. I don't want to know. I am very content with my life as it is.
Marriage for a woman means the end of independence, that is, marriage
with a man who is a man, in spite of