Anger against her was as a lust at his heart.

He had lost sight of her kindness, and her pity; he desired her and hated her in the same breath.
"Are you married, Ahmed Ismail ?" he asked.
Ahmed Ismail smiled.
"Truly, Huzoor." "Do you carry your troubles to your wife?
Is she your companion as well as your wife?
Your friend as well as your mistress ?" Ahmed Ismail laughed.
"Yet that is what the Englishwomen are," said Shere Ali.
"Perhaps, Huzoor," replied Ahmed, cunningly, "it is for that reason that there are some who take and do not give." He came a little nearer to his Prince.
"Where is she, Huzoor ?" Shere Ali was startled by the question out of his dreams.

For it had been a dream, this thought of capturing Violet Oliver and plucking her out of her life into his.

He had played with it, knowing it to be a fancy.

There had been no settled plan, no settled intention in his mind.