"His harem?" echoed Diana in surprise. "Is he married?"
"Mais oui, Madame. He has two wives."
At Diana's exclamation he shrugged deprecatingly. "Que voulez-vous? It is the custom of the country," he said tolerantly, with the air of conceding a melancholy fact with the best grace possible.
The customs of the country was dangerous ground, and Diana changed the subject hastily. "Where did you learn to ride, Gaston?"
"In a racing-stable at Auteuil, Madame, when I was a boy. Then I was five years in the French cavalry. After that I came to Monseigneur."
"And you have been with him—how long?"
"Fifteen years, Madame."
"Fifteen years," she repeated wonderingly. "Fifteen years here, in the desert?"
"Here and elsewhere, Madame," he answered rather more shortly than usual, and with a murmur o
