"When I am missed——" she began desperately, trying to keep a bold front, but her assurance was leaving her.
"You will not be missed for so long that it will be too late," he replied drily.
"Too late! What do you mean?" she gasped.
"Your own plans will stop any possibility of inquiry for some time to come." He paused, and behind her, Diana heard him strike another match. The banal little incident nearly snapped her nerves that were stretched to breaking-point. She put her hands to her head to try and stop the throbbing in her temples.
"You engaged a caravan in charge of Mustafa Ali," he went on evenly, "to travel in the desert for a month. You set out from Biskra, but your intention was at the end of the time to travel northward to Oran and there dismiss the caravan. From there you were
