Paula went up-stairs again, distressed and vexed with herself.

Was it the heat that had enervated her and robbed her of the presence of mind she usually had at her command?
She herself could not understand how it was that she had not at once taken advantage of the opportunity to plead to Haschim for her faithful retainer.

The merchant might have interested himself for Hiram.
The slave at the gate had told her that he had not yet been taken; the time to intercede, then, had not yet come.

But she was resolved to do so, to draw the wrath of her relations down on herself, and, if need should be, to relate all she had seen in the course of the night, to save her devoted servant.

It was no less than her duty: still, before humiliating Orion so deeply she would warn him.