on the road. Costantin the gardener answered
his demands, though grudgingly; and Asad told him all he wished to
know. The last named even condescended to remonstrate with Iskender on
his change of faith, displaying the interest of a cultivated observer
in the motions of some curious wild creature.

"I am a son of the Arabs," was Iskender's invariable answer, "and have
no wish to seem to be a Frank. My religion teaches me to remove my
hopes and ambitions from this world; and Allah knows I have experienced
enough of its vicissitudes. All I ask now is leave to live and die in
peace."

"That is beautiful, what thou sayest!" Asad would rejoin with his
superior smile. "But wait a month or so till thou hast survived thy
present grievance; then wilt thou wish that thou hadst done as I have.
For, only think! I am to be sent to the land of the English to perfect
my studies. There I shall take care to ingratiate myself with the
great ones of their Church, and to wed some noble lady of their race;
that, when I return hither, these people may be forced to treat me with
respect, and no longer as their servant and inferior. I shall be a
great khawajah, receiving perhaps two hundred English pounds every
year, whereas thou canst hope to be no more than a humble toiler at
some trade or other. With the exercise of but a little self-control,
thou mightst have been all this instead of me. Hadst thou but heard
the voice of my good counsel, much might have been preserved to thee.
Even now I would have helped thee for old friendship's sake. In the
day of my power which is to come, in sh' Allah, it would have been easy
to procure for thee the post of a teacher in some school or of
lay-reader in some lesser mission. But thy espousal of a barbarous
superstition, which no civilised and cultured person can so much as
tolerate, has put it quite beyond my power to serve thee."

Iskender hardly listened to such talk. His mind found business in its
own devices. He would have chosen to avoid the speaker altogether; but
even Asad's unconcerned announcements, sandwiched in between gibes at
the Orthodox faith were better than no tidings of his former patron.
And Asad always lay in wait for him, delighting to dazzle one so
downcast with the vision of his own high future. One morning he said:

"The uncle of the convalescent is expected to arrive to-day. He has
come all the way from Lundra on hearing of his dear one's illness. It
seems th