“What is it?” Elmina asked again curiously.
“I have bought an Arab mare that is considered by the experts to be the most outstanding horse in the world!”
Elmina’s eyes had lit up and the Marquis had gone on,
“She belongs to an Arab Chieftain who I did a good turn for a long time ago. When I heard about the mare, I wrote to him asking that, if ever he considered selling her, he would allow me the privilege of being her owner.”
“And did he say ‘yes’?”
“He replied with the flowery sentiments of the East that he would be honoured that Shalom, which is the name of the mare, should grace my stables.”
The Marquis paused to look down again at the letter.
Then he said,
“I did not tell you about it, because the Arabs are invariably unpredictable and I thought that while he agreed to my sugge
