ds sat at work together till a late hour, and when the old man
was alone again he reflected: "So long as he can be of use to the child
he will not go away, and by that time I shall have dug a pit for that
damned siren."

.........................

Orion had his hands full of work for the next morning. Before it was
light he sent off two trustworthy messengers to Doomiat, giving each of
them a letter with instructions that a sailing vessel should be held
in readiness for the fugitives. One was to start three hours after the
other, so that the business in hand should not fail if either of them
should come to grief.

He then went out; first to the harbor, where he succeeded in hiring a
large, good Nile-boat from Doomiat, whose captain, a trustworthy and
experienced man, promised to keep their agreement a secret and to be
prepared to start by noon next day. Next, after taking council with
himself, he went to the treasurer's office, and there, with the
assistance of Nilus, made his will, to be ratified and signed next
morning in the presence of a notary and witnesses. His mother, little
Mary, and Paula were to inherit the bulk of his property. He also
bequeathed a considerable sum as a legacy to the hospitals and orphan
asylums, as well as to the Church, to the end that they might pray
for his soul; and a legacy to Nilus "as the most just judge of his
household." Eudoxia, Mary's Greek governess, was not forgotten; and
finally he commanded that all his house-slaves should be liberated, and
to the end that they might not suffer from want he bequeathed to them
one of his largest estates in Upper Egypt, where they might settle and
labor for their common good. He increased the handsome sums already
devised by his father to the freedmen of his family.

This business occupied several hours. Nilus, who wrote while Orion
dictated, giving the document a legal form, was deeply touched by
the young man's fore thought and kindness; for in truth, since his
desecration of the judgment-seat, he had given him up for a lost soul.

By Orion's orders this will was to be opened after four weeks, in case
he should not have returned from a journey on which he proposed starting
on the morrow, and this injunction revealed to the faithful steward, who
had grown grey in the service, that the last scion of the house
expected to run considerable risk; however, he was too modest to ask any
questions, and his master did not take him into his c