her's, the zagharit broke out afresh, and
guns and pistols were discharged. Much feasting of a solid kind ensued
at the bridegroom's expense, in a house which had been ceded to him for
the purpose. Elias was there in gorgeous raiment, telling all who would
give ear a strange romance of how he had once been all but married to a
royal princess. Khalil, the concertina-player, was a thought aggrieved
that Mitri forbade him to make music in the church itself, but forgot his
dudgeon when the crowd trooped out again. For hours he played on
indefatigably, repeating his whole repertory of Frankish discords at
least a score of times, and telling all who asked that he had acquired
his skill in foreign music by instruction from the greatest living master
of the art--a certain English mariner named William.

Of Iskender's family not one was present. His mother dared not
adventure, for fear of the missionaries; and his uncle Abdullah lay at
that time ill in his house as the result of a wound received in a drunken
brawl.

It was not until two days later, when Iskender was beginning to overcome
the shyness of his young bride, that his mother came to bless him.

"Ah, thou hast won for thyself a pearl of price, my son, a gem desired of
many!" she whispered in his ear, when she had embraced Nesibeh. "Be
careful of her goings, guard her closely; for it has reached my ears that
she is ripe for naughtiness. May Allah, of his mercy, bless the pair of
you, and grant you honoured increase."

Congratulation, however, was only part of her purpose in the visit, as
soon appeared.

"My son," she cried excitedly, "the great lady, the mother of George, has
come hither from the land of the English, for a few weeks only, having
left the children. She had ever a fondness for thee, and has asked to
see thee, as I hear from the servants at the Mission. Even when informed
of all thy misdoings by the Father of Ice, her husband, she smiled in his
face, they tell me, and still protested she would like to see thee. So I
threw this shawl over my head, and came to fetch thee to the house. The
mother of George loves thee, as I said before; and her husband denies her
nothing, both because she comes of a good house, while he is the son of
low people, and for the sake of the many children she has borne him. By
the Gospel, I perceive a chance for thee to retrieve the past, if only
thou wilt deign to be a little politic and respect their foibles. For