The Sheik Retold(52)

"I came with him. It was the first time I had experienced Ahmed en prince. I had never seen him in anything but European clothes and got quite a shock the morning we arrived at Oran. I came up on deck and found an Arab of the Arabs waiting for me. Not only the robes, mind you, he was completely altered in deportment and expression. I hardly recognized him. Some of his men were waiting for him on the quay, and their excitement was extraordinary. It was also then that I noted the deference the French officials paid to Ahmed and understood the position that the old sheik had made for himself and the high esteem in which he was held.

"We spent the night in a villa on the outskirts of the town belonging to an old Arab who entertained us lavishly and impressed on Ahmed the necessity of acquiring a wife or two and settling down for the good of the tribe. This was during intervals of coffee-drinking, listening to monotonous native music, and watching dancing girls, one of whom the old man tried to induce Ahmed to buy. Ahmed made a show of bargaining for her—merely to see the effect it would have on me, but I refused to be drawn in and escaped to bed.

"We started early the next morning and were joined a few miles out of the town by a big detachment of followers. I can hardly describe my feelings in the midst of that yelling horde of men, galloping wildly around us and firing their rifles, but it was Ahmed's attitude that impressed me most. He took it all quietly as his due, until he had had enough and then stopped it all with a peremptory authority that was instantly obeyed. He then apologized to me for the exuberant behavior of his children. This was a new Ahmed to me, a young man whose extraordinary self-possession made me feel very young. In France, I had assumed the role of elder brother, but here the roles were suddenly reversed.

"Our arrival at the sheik's camp was lavish. Though I had heard tales of it from my father and Ahmed, I was not quite prepared for the splendiferous mix of Eastern and European luxury with which the sheik surrounded himself. The meeting between the sheik and Ahmed was most touching. Ahmed became immediately absorbed in his life and was happier than I had ever seen him in Paris. The charm of the desert had also taken hold of me, and I left with regret to return to my medical studies.

"He was nineteen then, and when he was twenty-one, my father had the unpleasant task of carrying out Lady Glencaryll's dying wishes. He wrote to Lord Glencaryll asking him to come to Paris on business connected with his late wife. A painful interview followed, during which he put forth the whole facts before the earl. With the letter, the wedding ring, and the locket, along with a sketch my father had made of her, the proof was conclusive.

"Glencaryll broke down completely, sparing himself nothing. He admitted that his wife had every justification for leaving him. He had never known himself what had happened that terrible night, but the tragedy of his wife's disappearance had cured him of his curse. He had made every effort to find her. It was many years before he gave up all hope. It was impossible not to pity him.

"The knowledge that he had a son almost overwhelmed him. The fact that his title and family name would die with him had been a constant source of grief. His happiness in the knowledge of Ahmed's existence was pathetic, but nothing had yet been said to Ahmed in case his father rejected the claim. With his ready acceptance and eagerness to see his son, my father sent for Ahmed.

"The old sheik sent Ahmed to Paris with no explanation, leaving to my father the difficult task of breaking the news. It was decided that Ahmed should be told first and then father and son should meet. I shall never forget that day. We went to my father's study where he recounted the whole story as gently as he could. Ahmed was standing by the window. He never said a word the whole time my father was speaking. When he finished, Ahmed's color was ashen. He stood perfectly still with his eyes fixed on my father's—and then his fiendish temper broke out. It was a terrible scene. He cursed his father in a steady stream of mingled Arabic and French blasphemy that made one's blood run cold. He then cursed all English people impartially.

"He cursed my father because he had dared to send him to England. He cursed me because I had been a party to the affair. The only person he spared was the sheik. He refused to see his father, refused to recognize that he was his father, left the house that afternoon and Paris that very night. He returned straight back to the desert, taking Gaston, who had arranged previously to enter his service as soon as his time in the Cavalry was up. Lord Glencaryll wrote to him, addressed to Viscount Caryll—which is, of course, his courtesy title—begging for at least an interview, but it was returned unopened.

"Since that day his hatred of the English has been a monomania. He has never spoken another word of English. His avoidance of English people has been at times awkward and embarrassing, even to the extreme of forcing me to go through the farce of translating into French or Arabic remarks made to him by English travelers. That is, whenever he condescended even to notice the remarks, which was not often.

"For two years we saw nothing of him. Then the old sheik asked us to visit. We went with some misgivings about Ahmed's reception, but he met us as if nothing had happened. He ignored the whole episode and has never referred to it since, but Ahmed himself had changed indescribably. All the lovable qualities that had made him so popular in Paris were gone. He had become the cruel, merciless man he has been ever since. Although I was eventually permitted back on the old footing and he has always been good to Gaston, he has otherwise spared nobody. He is my friend, I love him, and I am not telling you more than you already know."