ke to help you. Why did you come out here?"

Helmar then told him his whole story, disguising nothing; even going
so far as to tell him who his father was. The little bookseller
listened patiently to all he had to say, and at the conclusion of
his narrative rose from his chair and came towards him.

"Your story seems to me a straight one, and you appear to be an
open-hearted young man. I'll see what I can do for you. You say you
speak and write English and French?"

"Yes," replied George anxiously, "tolerably well."

The man left his office for a few moments.

Presently he returned. "I have a large catalogue to make out, which
requires a knowledge of two or three languages. It will take three
weeks or more to compile. If you like to undertake it, it will be a
means of keeping you until you can find something better. We are not
quite ready to start yet, but present yourself here the day after
to-morrow, and you can begin your duties. How will that suit you?"

George gratefully accepted the offer, and left the shop delighted
with his good fortune.

As he hurried along towards his quarters, it seemed to him that he
was walking on air. His wildest anticipations had been more than
realized. He had never for one moment expected that his first effort
could have possibly met with such success, and he wanted to laugh
aloud. He knew nothing of catalogue-making, but no doubt, he
thought, it required but a little common-sense, and he felt he
possessed that. At any rate he had undertaken it, and would go
through with it now.

On the appointed day George started his new task, and found it not
only easy but congenial work. The many books in various languages
attracted him further than their covers and titles, and he filled up
all the odd and spare moments he could afford in studying many of
them, particularly the Arabic ones. And so the days passed. In the
evenings he wandered about the neighbourhood as far as Boulak,
admiring the palaces of the Khedives, and watching the steamboats
and dahabiehs arrive and depart for the Nile. At times he would
stray further afield to the great Pyramids, and stand motionless
with astonishment before their towering stone wonders. His first
sight of the sun setting behind them, casting a golden-reddish glow
all around, amazed and allured him so much that he made frequent
visits to the same spot at the same hours.

But he wanted to see as much as he could during the next few days,
for he cou