er days, asking her
if she had true and entire trust in him.

She warmly replied that he must surely feel that she did; and now, as
the others came into the room, she nodded to her mother, whom she had
already seen quite early, and offering him her hand shook his heartily.
This had been a restful interval; but the sight of Paula, and the news
he had to give her, threw him back into his old depressed and miserable
mood.

Little Mary, whose cheeks had recovered their roses and who looked quite
well again, threw her arms round Paula's neck as she heard the evil
tidings; but Paula herself was calmer than he had expected. She turned
very pale at the first shock, but soon she could listen to him with
composure, and presently quite recovered her usual demeanor. Philippus,
as he watched her, had to control himself sternly, and as soon as
possible he took his leave.

It was as though he had been fated once more to see with agonizing
clearness what he had lost in her; she walked through life as though
borne up by lofty feeling, and a thoughtful radiance lent her noble
features a bewitching charm which grieved while it enchanted him.

Orion a prisoner, and all his possessions confiscated! The thought had
horrified her for a little while; but then it had come to her that this
was just as it should be--that what had at first looked like a dreadful
disaster had been sent to enable her love to cast off its husks, to
appear in all its loftiness and purity, and to give it, by the help of
the All-merciful, its true consecration.

She did not fear for his life, for he had told her and written to her
that Amru had been paternal in his kindness; and all that had occurred
was, she was sure, the work of the Vekeel, of whose odious and cruel
character he had given her a horrible picture that day when Rufinus had
gone to warn the abbess.

When Philippus had left his friends, he sighed deeply. How different
he had found these women from what he had expected. Yes, his old friend
knew men well!

From trifling details he had succeeded in forming a more accurate idea
of Pulcheria than the leech himself had gained in years of intimacy.
Horapollo had foreseen, too, that the danger which threatened the
Mukaukas' son would fan Paula's passions like a fresh breeze; and
Joanna, frail, ailing Joanna! she had behaved heroically under the loss
of the companion with whom she had lived for so many years in faithful
love. He could not help comparing he