long vanished embodiment. Which vagary Khalid seems to
countenance by referring to the infinite power of Allah, in the
compass of which nothing is impossible. And with these mystical
circumlocutions of ceremony, they plunge into an intimacy which is
bordered by the metaphysical on one side, and the physical on the
other. For though the Medium is at the threshold of her climacteric,
Khalid afterwards tells Shakib that there be something in her eyes and
limbs which always seem to be waxing young. And of a truth, the
American woman, of all others, knows best how to preserve her beauty
from the ravages of sorrow and the years. That is why, we presume, in
calling him, "child," she does not permit him to call her, "mother."
Indeed, the Medium and the Dervish often jest, and somewhiles mix the
frivolous with the mysterious.

We would still follow our Scribe here, were it not that his pruriency
often reaches the edge. He speaks of "the _liaison_" with all the rude
simplicity and frankness of the Arabian Nights. And though, as the
Mohammedans say, "To the pure everything is pure," and again, "Who
quotes a heresy is not guilty of it"; nevertheless, we do not feel
warranted in rending the veil of the reader's prudery, no matter how
transparent it might be. We believe, however, that the pruriency of
Orientals, like the prudery of Occidentals, is in fact only an
appearance. On both sides there is a display of what might be called
verbal virtue and verbal vice. And on both sides, the exaggerations
are configured in a harmless pose. Be this as it may, we at least,
shall withhold from Shakib's lasciviousness the English dress it seeks
at our hand.

We note, however, that Khalid now visits him in the cellar only when
he craves a dish of _mojadderah_; that he and the Medium are absorbed
in the contemplation of the Unseen, though not, perhaps, of the
Impalpable; that they gallivant in the Parks, attend Bohemian dinners,
and frequent the Don't Worry Circles of Metaphysical Societies; that
they make long expeditions together to the Platonic North-pole and
back to the torrid regions of Swinburne; and that together they
perform their _zikr_ and drink at the same fountain of ecstasy and
devotion. Withal, the Dervish, who now wears his hair long and grows
his finger nails like a Brahmin, is beginning to have some manners.

The Medium, nevertheless, withholds from him the secret of her art. If
he desires, he can attend the seances like every