odox priest was
the devil in their eyes; and was certain to rouse the cupidity of other
people. Allah had blessed Iskender with the friendship of a mighty
prince. She bade him keep the blessing to himself, not let it waste
away in gifts to strangers.

Her words confirmed the counsel of the wise Abdullah. Iskender
resolved to follow it to the letter. But when, presenting himself
before his lord next morning, he announced the programme for the day,
the Frank raised unforeseen objections. He would in no case visit the
bath, he said, having heard that they used dirty water there. It was
with difficulty that Iskender won him to view Abdullah's invitation
with some favour.

Abdullah's house was in the town itself, hard by the shore. It stank
in the approach, as the Frank was not slow to remark; but within all
was swept and perfumed for the occasion. Borrowed mats strewed the
floor. Two candles burned upon a little shelf, before a picture of the
Blessed Virgin placed there in remembrance of the famous vision. And
the host omitted no formula of politeness that had ever been used by a
son of the Arabs to felicitate and set at ease an honoured guest. The
Emir, completely reassured, smiled graciously. The food, when it
appeared, was tasty and abundant, and his Honour seemed to like it.
But Iskender knew that it was of the cheapest: the whole feast had not
cost his uncle ten piasters. When the Emir, at taking leave, put two
mejidis in Abdullah's hand, he bit his lip and cursed the old man's
guile.

Thenceforth he determined to keep all English-speaking persons at a
distance, since their whole endeavour seemed to be to cheat his loved
Emir. But it was not so easy to discard his old acquaintance.

That same evening, after parting from his patron, he ran right into the
arms of a pair of merry fellows, who announced their playful purpose to
detain him. Both wore their fezzes at a rakish angle, both had a
rosary dangling fashionably from the left hand, both talked and laughed
uproariously--secure in their employment by a foreign tourist agency
from the disgust of the Muslim population, whose scowls shadowed them.
Elias Abdul Messih was one of them. The other, who boasted a very
large hooked nose, like a parrot's beak, which reduced the rest of his
face to insignificance, was Yuhanna Mahbub, a famous bully.

"Now we have thee!" cried Elias, laughing loudly. "By Allah, it is
rude in thee to shun thy friends."

"Is