"I hope I am!" retorted the Doctor. "To be merely ordinary would
not suit my line of ambition. This is very excellent coffee"--here
he peered into the fresh pot of the fragrant beverage just set
before him. "They make it better here than at the Gezireh Palace.
Well, Denzil, my boy, when you get into Cairo, give my love to
Helen and tell her we'll all go home to the old country together;
I, myself, have got quite enough out of Egypt this time to satisfy
my fondness for new experiences. And let me assure you, my good
fellow, that your proposed duel with Gervase will not come off!"

"It will come off!" said Denzil, with sudden fierceness. "By
Heaven, it shall!--it must!"

"More wills than one have the working out of our destinies,"
answered Dr. Dean with some gravity. "Man is not by any means
supreme. He imagines he is, but that is only one of his many
little delusions. You think you will have your way; Gervase thinks
he will have his way; I think I will have my way; but as a matter
of fact there is only one person in this affair whose 'way' will
be absolute, and that person is the Princess Ziska. Ce que femme
veut Dieu veut."

"She has nothing whatever to do with the matter," declared Denzil.

"Pardon! She has everything to do with it. She is the cause of it
and she knows it. And as I have already told you, your proposed
fight will not come off." And the little Doctor smiled serenely.
"There is your carriage at the door, I suppose. Off with you, my
boy!--be off like a whirlwind, and return here armed to the teeth
if you like! You have heard the expression 'fighting the air'?