atives of the land.

All rose upon his entrance. Old Abdullah straightened his frame to
something of its former majesty, and said:

"Good efenin', sir!"

"I have come too late, I find," the small white-bearded clergyman
remarked to Mitri, who had forced him to be seated and set food before
him. "I knew not that the baptism had taken place. My desire was only
to ascertain that Iskender was earnest in this change of faith, and not
impelled by anger at a treatment he conceived to be unjust."

"By Allah, no, he is the most sincere of converts!" responded Mitri
with his jolly laugh. "Have I anything to tempt a proselyte? Look
round this room--with one beyond it, it is all my house--and compare it
with the dwelling of the Father of Ice. Ah, no, my friend: this is a
true conversion!"

"I ask you to belief, sir, that I haf nothin' to do with it," said old
Abdullah angrily in English. "I suffer much from unkind thin's beeble
say about me. They haf ruined me in my brofession."

Mitri silenced the old man. With a Protestant missionary for his
guest, the priest thought all words wasted that were not employed on
controversial subjects.

"Thou art a good man, O khawajah," he observed politely but with a
certain malice. "Thou alone of all thy tribe wouldst deign to enter my
poor house without arrogance, and sit down with my friends and
neighbours in this kindly way; more especially this evening, when our
gladness is at your expense. Tell me, I beseech thee, in what sense
the others of your kind serve Allah by building palaces in the land,
displaying a luxury unknown among us, and so tempting the weak and
worthless of the Church to gather round them in the hope of gain. The
Muslimin are unassailable, being the rulers; and the Latins are too
strong and clever for them; so because their Honours must convert some
one, being paid and sent here for the purpose, they take example from
the Latins and turn on us, who are weak and not well educated. But how
do they serve Allah in all this? Explain to me, O my soul!"

The visitor stroked his thin white beard.

"Are the schools nothing? Are the hospitals nothing?" he inquired.

"By Allah, it is true, they are much!" came in chorus from the company.

"But the charity might be greater if it were dissociated from attempts
at perversion," submitted Mitri with a show of deep humility.

The missionary reflected for a moment before he said gently:

"Your ideas and ours are