ding at once against Allah and against thee, O fountain of my
soul?"

Asad frowned. Here was truth indeed, something that he had entirely
overlooked. Yet justice compelled him still to defend Sakr-el-Bahr, or
else perhaps he but reasoned to prove to himself that the case against
the corsair was indeed complete.

"He may have sinned in thoughtlessness," he suggested.

At that she cried out in admiration of him. "What a fount of mercy
and forbearance art thou, O father of Marzak! Thou'rt right as in all
things. It was no doubt in thoughtlessness that he offended, but would
such thoughtlessness be possible in a True-Believer--in one worthy to be
dubbed by thee the champion of the Prophet's Holy Law?"

It was a shrewd thrust, that pierced the armour of conscience in which
he sought to empanoply himself. He sat very thoughtful, scowling darkly
at the inky shadow of the wall which the moon was casting. Suddenly he
rose.

"By Allah, thou art right!" he cried. "So that he thwarted me and kept
that Frankish woman for himself, he cared not how he sinned against the
law."

She glided to her knees and coiled her arms about his waist, looking up
at him. "Still art thou ever merciful, ever sparing in adverse judgment.
Is that all his fault, O Asad?"

"All?" he questioned, looking down at her. "What more is there?"

"I would there were no more. Yet more there is, to which thy angelic
mercy blinds thee. He did worse. Not merely was he reckless of how he
sinned against the law, he turned the law to his own base uses and so
defiled it."

"How?" he asked quickly, eagerly almost.

"He employed it as a bulwark behind which to shelter himself and her.
Knowing that thou who art the Lion and defender of the Faith wouldst
bend obediently to what is written in the Book, he married her to place
her beyond thy reach."

"The praise to Him who is All-wise and lent me strength to do naught
unworthy!" he cried in a great voice, glorifying himself. "I might have
slain him to dissolve the impious bond, yet I obeyed what is written."

"Thy forbearance hath given joy to the angels," she answered him, "and
yet a man was found so base as to trade upon it and upon thy piety, O
Asad!"

He shook off her clasp, and strode away from her a prey to agitation. He
paced to and fro in the moonlight there, and she, well-content, reclined
upon the cushions of the divan, a thing of infinite grace, her gleaming
eyes discreetly veiled from him--waiting un