ng against him hard, with
face averted.

"The picture is it? Only stay till it is finished, and I will give it
thee with pleasure."

"No, no, I tell thee; let me go or I will tear thy eyes out! Art thou
not a Brutestant, a dog? Thy touch is defilement. How canst thou
continue in that lying faith? Art thou not scared each night at the
thought of the devils and the eternal fires?"

She gave up resistance, and stood surveying him with great round eyes
of horror, fascinated by the sight of a creature doomed to everlasting
torment. The feel of her slight brown wrist was like a snake for
coolness. Iskender ventured to caress it with his fingers. But at the
touch she snatched it from him angrily, and sprang to a safe distance.

"Thou hast been weeping; why?" she asked with a cool directness, which
was like a sword-thrust in Iskender's heart. His woe broke out afresh.

"O Lord!" he blubbered. "I have none to love me. My Emir, whom I love
truly, casts me off. The Brutestants, who brought me up, despise me.
The Christians call me dog!"

"O man, stop crying, for it frightens me." Nesibeh came again and
leaned over him. "Be sure thy sorrow is from the hand of Allah to
punish thy errors and disgust thee with them. My father says that
calamities are often sent as warnings to the reprobate. Be thou
warned, O my dear, and return to the Church. Then our Lord will be
pleased with thee, and make men love thee."

"And thou--wilt thou too love me, or still call me dog?" Iskender
seized her hand again, though she resisted furiously. But the words
were cut in his mouth by a heavy hand which smote him sideways,
deafening one ear; and when he recovered from sensations of a general
earthquake, it was to find himself alone with Mitri.

The priest stood smiling down on him with folded arms.

"What means this, O son of a dog?" he said through clenched teeth.
"Dost thou take us, by chance, for Brutestants, for shameless heathens?
Praise be to Allah, we are quite unused to Frankish manners. Respect
our daughters as thou wouldst the daughters of the Muslim, or harm will
come to thee."

At those words all his former misery returned upon Iskender. He buried
his face in his sleeve.

The anger of the priest turned to astonishment. After staring for a
minute, he sat down beside the youth and, putting his arm round his
neck, inquired:

"What ails thee, O my dear? It cannot be that thou dost weep so
bitterly because I s