ll
give you a present."

"Is that a color?" asked Balsamides contemptuously. "Is that red? It is
pink. It is magenta. How much did you pay to have it made?"

"If I could make Rhodes tapestry, I should be as rich as the Hunkyar,"
retorted Marchetto, squatting on the matted floor and slowly drawing the
magnificent tapestry across his knees, so that Gregorios could see it to
advantage.

"Do you take me for a madman?" asked the aid-de-camp. "I do not care for
Rhodes tapestry. Kaldyr! If it were old, it would have holes in it."

"I have Rhodes full of holes, beautiful holes," observed Marchetto, with
a grin.

"Fox!" retorted Gregorios. "Do you think when I buy tapestry I want to
buy holes?"

"But this piece has none," argued the Jew.

"You want me to buy it. I can see you do. You are laughing at my beard.
You think I will give a thousand pounds for your rubbish?"

"Not a thousand pounds," said Marchetto. "It is worth a hundred and
fifty pounds, neither more nor less. Marchetto is an honest man. He is
not a Persian fox."

"No," answered Balsamides, "he is an Israelite of Saloniki. What have I
to do with such a fellow as you, who have the impudence to ask a hundred
and fifty liras for that rag?"

"How shall the lion and the lamb lie down together?" inquired Marchetto.
"And is it a rag?"

"I will tell you, Marchetto," said Gregorios, gravely. "The lion and the
lamb shall lie down together, when the lion lies down with the lamb
inside of him."

"Take, and eat!" exclaimed the ready Jew, holding out the Rhodes
tapestry to Balsamides.

"A man who has fasted throughout Ramazan shall not break his fast with
an onion," retorted Gregorios, laughing.

"Who eats little earns much," replied Marchetto. "Is it not the most
beautiful piece of Rhodes you ever saw, Effendim? There is not a Pasha
in Stamboul, nor in Pera, nor in Scutari, who possesses the like of it.
Only a hundred and fifty pounds; it is very cheap."

"I will give you ten pounds for it, if you will give me a good
backsheesh," said Gregorios at last. In Stamboul it is customary, when a
bargain of any importance is completed, for the seller to make the buyer
a present of some small object, which is called the backsheesh, or gift.

On hearing the offer, Marchetto looked slyly at Gregorios and laughed,
without saying anything. Then he slowly began to fold the tapestry
together.

"Ten pounds," said Balsamides. "Pek chok,--that is quite enough, and too
much."