ds me the memorandum, or outline of
the speech given to him by Ahmed Bey."

And this, we learn, is a litany of praises, beginning with Abd'ul-Hamid
and ending with the ulema of Damascus; which litany the Society
Deputies would place in the mouth of Khalid for the good of all
concerned. Ay, for his good, too, if he but knew. If he but looked
behind him, he would have yielded a whit, this Khalid. The deep chasm
between him and the Deputy, however, justifies the conduct of each
on his side: the lack of gumption in the one and the lack of depth in
the other render impossible any sort of understanding between them.
While we recommend, therefore, the prudence of the oleaginous Ahmed,
we can not with justice condemn the perversity of our fretful Khalid.
For he who makes loud boast of spiritual freedom, is, nevertheless, a
slave of the Idea. And slavery in some shape or shade will clutch at
the heart of the most powerful and most developed of mortals. Poor
Khalid! if Truth commands thee to destroy the memorandum of Ahmed
Bey, Wisdom suggests that thou destroy, too, thine address. And
Wisdom in the person of Sheikh Taleb now knocks at thy door.

The Sheikh is come to admonish Khalid, not to return his visit. For at
this hour of the day he should have been a-bed; but his esteem for
Mrs. Gotfry, billah, his love, too, for her friend Khalid, and his
desire to avert a possible danger, banish sleep from his eyes.

"My spirit is perturbed about thee," thus further, "and I can not feel
at ease until I have given my friendly counsel. Thou art free to
follow it or not to follow it. But for the sake of this beard Sheikh
Khalid, do not speak at the Mosque to-day. I know the people of this
City: they are ignorant, obtuse, fanatical, blind. 'God hath sealed
up their hearts and their hearing.' They will not hear thee; they can
not understand thee. I know them better than thou: I have lived
amongst them for forty years. And what talk have we wasted. They will
not hear; they can not see. It's a dog's tail, Sheikh Khalid. And what
Allah hath twisted, man can not straighten. So, let it be. Let them
wallow in their ignorance. Or, if thou wilt help them, talk not to
them direct. Use the medium of the holy man, like myself. This is my
advice to thee. For thine own sake and for the sake of that good
woman, thy friend and mine, I give it. Now, I can go and sleep.
Salaam."

And the grey beard of Sheikh Taleb and his sharp blue eyes were
animated,