ween
forty and fifty years old, but his soft, black beard was already turning
grey; his noble dark face bore the stamp of a lofty, high-bred soul, and
a keen but temperate spirit shone in his eyes. There was something serene
and clear in his whole person; he was a man to bear the burthen of life's
vicissitudes with dignity, while he had set himself the task of saving
others from them so far as in him lay.

The patriarch's complaints had come also to the Kadi's knowledge, and he,
too, was minded to exact retribution for the massacre of the Moslem
soldiers; but the punishment should fall on none but the guilty. He would
have been sorry to believe that Orion was one of them, for he had
esteemed his father as a brave man and a just judge, and had taken many a
word of good advice from the experienced Egyptian.

The scene between him and the infuriated Vekeel was a painful one even
for the attendants who stood round; and Orion, who heard Obada's raging
from the adjoining room, could gather from it some idea of the relentless
hatred with which his negro enemy would persecute him.

However, as after the wildest storm the sea ebbs in ripples so even this
tempest came to a more peaceful conclusion. The Kadi represented to the
Vekeel what an unheard-of thing it would be, and in what a disgraceful
light it would set Moslem justice if one of the noblest families in the
country--to whose head, too, the cause of Islam owed so much--were robbed
of its possessions on mere suspicion. To this the Vekeel replied that
there were definite accusations brought by the head of the native Church,
and that nothing had been robbed, but merely confiscated and placed in
security. As to what Allah had thought fit to destroy by fire, no one
could be held answerable for that. There was no "mere suspicion" in the
case, for he himself had in his possession a document which amply proved
that Paula, Orion's beloved, had been the instigator of the crime which
had cost the lives of twelve of the true believers.--The girl herself had
been taken into custody yesterday. He would cross-examine her himself,
too, in spite of all the Kadis in the world; for though Othman might
choose to let any number of Moslems be murdered by these dogs of
Christians he, Obada, would not overlook it; and if he did, by tomorrow
morning the thousand Egyptians who were digging the canal would have
killed with their shovels the three Moslems who kept guard over them.

At this, Othma