ntly quite recovered her usual demeanor. Philippus,
as he watched her, had to control himself sternly, and as soon as
possible he took his leave.

It was as though he had been fated once more to see with agonizing
clearness what he had lost in her; she walked through life as though
borne up by lofty feeling, and a thoughtful radiance lent her noble
features a bewitching charm which grieved while it enchanted him.

Orion a prisoner, and all his possessions confiscated! The thought had
horrified her for a little while; but then it had come to her that this
was just as it should be--that what had at first looked like a dreadful
disaster had been sent to enable her love to cast off its husks, to
appear in all its loftiness and purity, and to give it, by the help of
the All-merciful, its true consecration.

She did not fear for his life, for he had told her and written to her
that Amru had been paternal in his kindness; and all that had occurred
was, she was sure, the work of the Vekeel, of whose odious and cruel
character he had given her a horrible picture that day when Rufinus had
gone to warn the abbess.

When Philippus had left his friends, he sighed deeply. How different he
had found these women from what he had expected. Yes, his old friend knew
men well!

From trifling details he had succeeded in forming a more accurate idea of
Pulcheria than the leech himself had gained in years of intimacy.
Horapollo had foreseen, too, that the danger which threatened the
Mukaukas' son would fan Paula's passions like a fresh breeze; and Joanna,
frail, ailing Joanna! she had behaved heroically under the loss of the
companion with whom she had lived for so many years in faithful love. He
could not help comparing her with the wretched Neforis; what was it that
enabled one to bear the equal loss with so much more dignity than the
other? Nothing but the presence of the tender-hearted Pulcheria, who
shared her sorrow with such beautiful resignation, such ready and
complete sympathy. This the governor's widow had wholly lacked; and how
happy were they who could call such a heart their own! He walked through
the garden with his head bent, and looking neither to the right hand nor
the left.

The Masdakite, who was still sitting with Mandane under the sycamore, as
indifferent to the torrid heat as she was, looked after him, and said
with a sigh as he pointed to him:

"There he goes. This is the first time he ever said a rude word to