o Nahoum as quick
as could be, eh? He likes funny stories, same as you--damn, nice, funny
little stories, eh?"

There was something chilly in Lacey's voice now, which Higli did
not like; something much too menacing and contemptuous for a mere
man-of-all-work to the Inglesi. Higli bridled up, his eyes glared
sulkily.

"It is but my own business if I laugh or if I curse, effendi," he
replied, his hand shaking a little on the stem of the narghileh.

"Precisely, my diaphanous polyandrist; but it isn't quite your own
affair what you laugh at--not if I know it!"

"Does the effendi think I was laughing at him?"

"The effendi thinks not. The effendi knows that the descendant of a
hundred tigers was laughing at the funny little story, of how the two
cotton-mills that Claridge Pasha built were burned down all in one
night, and one of his steamers sent down the cataract at Assouan. A
knock-down blow for Claridge Pasha, eh? That's all you thought of,
wasn't it? And it doesn't matter to you that the cotton-mills made
thousands better off, and started new industries in Egypt. No, it only
matters to you that Claridge Pasha loses half his fortune, and that you
think his feet are in the quicksands, and 'll be sucked in, to make an
Egyptian holiday. Anything to discredit him here, eh? I'm not sure what
else you know; but I'll find out, my noble pasha, and if you've had
your hand in it--but no, you ain't game-cock enough for that! But if
you were, if you had a hand in the making of your funny little story,
there's a nutcracker that 'd break the shell of that joke--"

He turned round quickly, seeing a shadow and hearing a movement. Nahoum
was but a few feet away. There was a bland smile on his face, a look of
innocence in his magnificent blue eye. As he met Lacey's look, the smile
left his lips, a grave sympathy appeared to possess them, and he spoke
softly:

"I know the thing that burns thy heart, effendi, to whom be the flowers
of hope and the fruits of merit. It is even so, a great blow has fallen.
Two hours since I heard. I went at once to see Claridge Pasha, but found
him not. Does he know, think you?" he added sadly.

"May your heart never be harder than it is, pasha, and when I left the
Saadat an hour ago, he did not know. His messenger hadn't a steamer
like Higli Pasha there. But he was coming to see you; and that's why I'm
here. I've been brushing the flies off this sore on the hump of Egypt
while waiting." He glanced wi