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The Sheik Edith Maude Hull 9590K 2023-09-01

The old courageous self had never failed her, this new

shrinking fearful personality filled her with distrust Her confidence

in herself was gone Her conteth that remained was not sufficient to conquer the fear that had

taken so strong a hold upon her She could only hope to hide it, to

deny hirovelled at his feet

once and it had ahed! She would die rather than

afford him a similar amusement She could never wipe out the

recollection of her cowardice; he would remember always, and so would

she; but she could atone for it if her strength held And she prayed

that it ht hold, until a sob broke from her and her hands cramped

around her knees She pushed her hair off her forehead with a heavy

sigh, and she looked back over her shoulder at the e in the indefinable way a strange rooe after a few hours' association If she could leave it now and

never see it again in all her life no single detail of it would ever be

forgotten Its characteristics had been stamped upon her as familiarly

as if the hours passed in it had been years And yesterday was years

ago, when the poor silly fool that had been Diana Mayo had ridden

blindly into the trap from which her boasted independence had not been

able to save her She had paid heavily for the deternore