e,
such as the Church alone can grow, wet with my own tears!"

"And yet," cried Orion, "you denied to him, whom you call your friend,
what the Church does not refuse to thieves and murderers, if only they
desire forgiveness and have received absolution from a priest;
and that...."

"And that your father did!" interrupted the old man. "Peace be to him!
He is now, no doubt, gazing on the glory of the Lord. And nevertheless
I could forbid the priesthood here showing him honor at the grave.--Why?
For what urgent reason was such a prohibition spoken by a friend against
a friend?"

"Because you wished to brand him, in the eyes of the world, as the man
who lent his support to the unbelievers and helped them to victory,"
said Orion gloomily.

"How well the boy can read the thoughts of men!" exclaimed the prelate,
looking at the young man with approbation in which, however, there was
some irony and annoyance. "Very good. We will assume that my object
was to show the Christians of Memphis what fate awaits the man,
who surrenders his country to the enemy and walks hand-in-hand with
unbelievers? And may I not possibly have been right?"

"Do you suppose my father invited the Arabs?" interrupted the young man.

"No, Child," replied the patriarch, "the enemy came of his own free
will."

"And you," Orion went on, "after the Greeks had driven you into exile,
prophesied from the desert that they would come and overthrow the
Melchites, the Greek enemies of our faith, drive them out of the
country."

"It was revealed to me by the Lord!" replied the old man, bowing his
head reverently. "And yet other things were shown to me while I dwelt
a devout ascetic, mortifying my flesh under the scorching sun of the
desert. Beware my son, beware! Heed my warning, lest it should be
fulfilled and the house of Menas vanish like clouds swept before the
wind.--Your father, I know, regarded my prophecy as advice given by me
to receive the infidels as the instrument of the Almighty and to support
them in driving the Melchite oppressors out of the land."

"Your prophecy," replied Orion, "had, no doubt, a marked effect on my
father; and when the cause of the emperor and the Greeks was lost,
your opinion that the Melchites were unbelievers as much as the sons
of Islam, was of infinite comfort to him. For he, if any one--as you
know--had good reason to hate the sectarians who killed his two sons in
their prime. What followed, he did to rescue his and