your
brother."

"Remember I am in the confidence of the Khedive, Pasha."

"Ismail! What dare he do? Every Egyptian in the land would call him
infidel. Ismail would dare do nothing." His voice was angrily guttural
with triumph.

"England will ask the price of the young man's life of you, Excellency."

"England dare not move--is thy servant a fool? Every Mussulman in the
land would raise the green flag--the Jehad would be upon ye!"

"He is so young. He meant no ill. The face of your daughter drew him on.
He did not realise his crimen--or its penalty."

"It is a fool's reasoning. Because he was a stranger and an infidel, so
has he been told of dark things done to those who desecrate our faith."

"Had he been an Egyptian or a Turk--"

"I should slay him, were he Ismail himself. Mine own is mine own, as
Mahomet hath said. The man shall die--and who shall save him? Not even
the Sultan himself."

"There are concessions in the Fayoum--you have sought them long."

"Bah!"

"There is the Grand Cordon of the Mejidieh; there is a way to it,
Excellency."

"The man's blood!"

"There is a high office to be vacant soon, near to the person of the
Khedive, with divers moneys and loans--"

"To see Donovan Pasha cringe and beg is better."

"There is that mercy which one day you may have to ask for yourself or
for your own--"

"The fool shall die. And who shall save him?"

"Well, I will save him," said Dicky, rising slowly to his feet.

"Pish! Go to the Khedive with the tale, and I will kill the man within
the hour, and tell it abroad, and we shall see where Donovan Pasha will
stand to-morrow. The Khedive is not stronger than his people--and there
are the French, and others!" He spat upon the floor at Dicky's feet.
"Go, tell the Khedive what you will, dog of an Englishman, son of a dog
with a dog's heart!" Dicky took a step forward, with an ominous flare of
colour in his cheek. There was a table between him and Selamlik Pasha.
He put both hands upon it, and leaning over said in a voice of steel:

"So be it, then. Shall I go to the Khedive and say that this night
Mustapha Bey, eldest and chosen son of Selamlik Pasha, the darling of
his fat heart, was seized by the Chief Eunuch, the gentle Mizraim, in
the harem of his Highness? Shall I tell him that, Trousers?"

As Dicky spoke, slowly, calmly, Selamlik Pasha turned a greenish-yellow,
his eyes started from his head, his hand chafed the air.

"Mustapha Bey--Khedive's h