“I used to,” she replied, “but not lately. It is a pleasure being on a horse such as this.”

“It belongs to the Ambassador,” Lord Castleford explained, “and he is as good a judge of horseflesh as he is about everything else.”

“You admire him?”

“Who does not admire him when he is more important even than the Sultan? It was said often enough in the past that Sir Stratford de Redcliffe was the real King of Turkey and now he is back again, it is still true.”

There was an enthusiasm in Lord Castleford’s voice that had not been there previously.

Yamina glanced up at him.

She had thought at first that, although he was handsome, he had seemed cold and austere with that superior English attitude which, in common with most other peoples, she found disconcerting.

For the moment the warmth in his voice surprised her, even while she told herself that she was sure he was far too busy admiring himself to admire anyone else.

He was not the type of man that she thought attractive, although at the same time she knew that she must be grateful to him for rescuing her from what might have been a very difficult, if not dangerous, situation.

It was taking them some time to reach the district where she lived, but she was well aware that Lord Castleford had been wise in avoiding streets where they might have encountered more violence.

Now they were descending slowly between dark cypresses and bushes covered with white and yellow blossom.

“You must be more careful another time,” Lord Castleford said, almost as if he spoke to a child, “before you go shopping with only one elderly servant to protect you.”

“It is something I don’t often do,” Yamina replied. “But my father is ill and I needed some special herbs. I wished to discuss with the herbalist what would be most suitable.”

“Would it not have been wiser to call in a physician?” Lord Castleford asked.

“In this part of the world there are herbal remedies for almost every ailment,” Yamina answered. “Many of them have been handed down for centuries by word of mouth from family to family and from father to son. They are not written down, they do not appear in books, but nevertheless they are extremely efficacious.”

“But surely taking them without guidance is somewhat of a risk?” Lord Castleford persisted.

“No more of a risk than accepting blindly what is ordered by a physician,” Yamina replied.

She paused and then, as if she could not help taunting him, she continued,

“From what we have heard of the hospital arrangements at Scutari, the physicians have produced little or nothing to help the men who have been wounded in the war.”

“There you are right!” Lord Castleford agreed, “but I assure you it is most unjust and unfair to blame Lord Stratford, as the Press in England has been doing.”