in
sight, she shuffled off along the burning road.

For some time Mitri sat immersed in thought; while Iskender, on whom
the business of narration had brought back despair, hid his face in his
arm. At length the priest pronounced:

"In all thy conduct as related I discern no grievous sin, but only
folly and a youth's wild fancies. The Franks will call thee sinful and
a liar; but they, I think, have never known the youth which we
experience--the warmth, the wonder and the dreams of it. The lad who
has been taught to read, or fed with stories, is dazzled by the vision
of the world, its sovereignties, its wealth, its strange encounters.
He pictures himself a ruler or a lord of riches, and invents a store of
marvels for his own delight; and that because he would admire himself,
and cannot do so in the daily tasks and mean surroundings of his actual
life. I myself, when at the seminary, considered the Patriarch's
throne as mine of right, and should not have been greatly surprised to
find myself installed there with my copy-book in my hand. But
by-and-by the world enlarged. Its distances and depths appeared more
clearly. I perceived how, in order to become a Patriarch, I must lead
the monastic life, renouncing homely joys; and even thus stood little
chance of gaining my desire, since all the chief among the monks are
foreign Greeks who despise us sons of the Arab, and would keep us down.
The face of a girl I loved soon exorcised ambition; and behold me a
small parish priest, a friend and equal of poor fellahin. Now thy
dream was to be a Frank in all save birth, to associate with thy Emir
on equal terms. To that end all thy follies were invented. The wish
was foolish only, but to put it into practice, that was fatal to
thee--a crime in all men's eyes! 'O dreamer, sit still in thy chamber,
thou art a prince: air thy princeship, men will teach thee thou art an
ass!' The world defames thee, as is only natural. It would have done
the same for me, had I, a poor young student, actually claimed the
honours of a Patriarch. Allah made thee a son of the Arabs. Accept
the part allotted, and give up aping that which thou canst never be.
The charge of perjury at any rate, is groundless as against thee. I
will send word to Yuhanna, lest he harm thee. And now the moral is: I
wish to help thee, but cannot well do so whilst thou art a heretic.
Promise to let me baptize and anoint thee without more ado, and Allah
witness I w