It seemed strange to see the English faces beneath the fez. She and
Millicent Hardcastle walked about and talked to their friends. There
were many smart young gallants in the regiments then quartered in
Cairo, who enjoyed dancing with the slender, youthful widow with the
good jewels and pretty dress, and soon Tamara found herself whirling
with a gay hussar.

"Let us stop near the Royalties and look at the Russians," he said.
"You know, a Grand Duke arrived to-day, and must be here to-night."

They came to a standstill close to the little group surrounding the
Khedive, and amid the splendid uniforms of the Grand Duke's suite there
was one of scarlet, the like of which Tamara had never seen before.

Afterward she learned it was a Cossack of the Emperor's escort, but at
the moment it seemed like a gorgeous fancy dress. The high boots and
long, strangely graceful coat, cut with an Eastern hang, the white
under-dress, the way the loose scarlet sleeves fell at the wrist,
showing the white tight ones, the gold and silver trimmings and the
arms, stuck in the quaint belt, all pleased her eye extremely; and then
she recognized its wearer as the young man of the Sphinx.

How dress changes a person! she thought. He looked at ease now in this
gorgeous garment, and a very prince for a fairy tale. That accounted
for the dreadful gray flannel--he was a soldier and unaccustomed to
wearing ordinary clothes. She had heard that in foreign countries even
the officers wore their uniforms habitually; not as the English do,
merely as an irksome duty.

He did not appear to see her, but when she began dancing again, and