you will understand many things you do not now, and I hope you will still have cause to trust men as you do now. But, mademoiselle, they are not all trustworthy, and women are right not to believe what they say."
He caressed his clean-shaven chin and became lost in thought. Presently he unfolded his plan, and, even in my youth and impatience, I began to see that the sole object of his precautions was to get me into the house in such a way as to save me from any breath of scandal.
The sooner we left the station-house the better it would be. He spoke a few words to the police-officers, and then told me to follow him. There was a closed coupé awaiting us, and when we were in it he pulled down both curtains. "We are going on a long drive until it becomes respectable daylight. Then we shall go to your house, as if I were bringing you back from a visit to one of my wives."
It was after nine o'clock when we reached the Kallerghis house.
"Now," he said, "arrange the yashmak so that it will look like a European scarf, and hold your feredjé as if it were a silk cloak, and don't look frightened. I will get out and ring the bell, and stay here talking and laughing with you for a minute. If you see people whom you know, bow cordially to them, and do not act as if there were anything unusual in the situation."
