acked
his first kiss, and saw for the first time a star in the heaven, he is
laid; he is given to the Night, to the Eternity which Khalid does not
fear. And yet, what tears, Shakib tells us, he shed over that little
grave.

But about the time the second calamity approaches, when Najma begins
to decline and waste away from grief, when the relapse sets in and
carries her in a fortnight downward to the grave of her child,
Khalid's eyes are as two pieces of flint stone on a sheet of glass.
His tears flow inwardly, as it were, through his cracked heart....

Like the poet Saadi, Khalid once sought to fill his lap with celestial
flowers for his friends and brothers; and he gathered some; but, alas,
the fragrance of them so intoxicated him that the skirt dropt from his
hand....

* * * * *

We are again at the Mena House, where we first met Shakib. And the
reader will remember that the tears rushed to his eyes when we
inquired of him about his Master and Friend. "He has disappeared some
ten days ago," he then said, "and I know not whither." Therefore, ask
us not, O gentle Reader, what became of him. How can _we_ know? He
might have entered a higher spiritual circle or a lower; of a truth,
he is not now on the outskirts of the desert: deeper to this side or
to that he must have passed. And passing he continues to dream of
"appearance in the disappearance; of truth in the surrender; of
sunrises in the sunset."

Now, fare _thee_ well in either case, Reader. And whether well or ill
spent the time we have journeyed together, let us not quarrel about
it. For our part, we repeat the farewell words of Sheikh Taleb of
Damascus: "Judge us not severely." And if we did not study to
entertain thee as other Scribes do, it is because we consider thee,
dear good Reader, above such entertainment as our poor resources can
furnish, _Wassalmu aleik_!

IN . FREIKE . WHICH . IS . IN . MOUNT . LEBANON
SYRIA . ON . THE . TWELFTH . DAY . OF
JANUARY . 1910 . ANNO . CHRISTI . AND . THE
FIRST . DAY . OF . MUHARRAM . 1328 . HEGIRAH
THIS . BOOK . OF . KHALID . WAS . FINISHED

[Illustration]

Transcriber's Notes:

Typographical problems have been changed and are listed below.
Author's archaic and variable spelling is preserved.
Author's punctuation style is preserved.
Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.