AT ALEPPO
In spite of the fact that Dr. Mills had sent away the leaders among
the fédai, the society still continued to exist, the only difference
being that its members exercised more caution than formerly. Archag
had been chosen president; he called no more meetings, for fear
of being discovered, but he had long conversations with Garabed,
Aram and Nejib about the problems of their country. The four boys
were always together. Nejib had now a great admiration for Archag,
and invited him to spend the Easter holidays at his home in Aleppo.
Nejib's father, Dr. Rossinian, was the leading physician of
Aleppo. While his numerous colleagues barely managed to secure a
living, he made money hand over fist. He lived in a magnificent
house, and kept an automobile, a carriage, and saddle horses. All
this luxury he owed to his wife, an Irish lady abounding in energy
and good spirits, who had been for several years head nurse at
the Aintab Hospital, at the time when Dr. Rossinian, fresh from
the University of Beyrout, was there as resident physician. The
Irish lady had fallen in love with the young man, and he had made
her an offer of marriage. When she became his wife, she gave him
all her savings, in order that he might continue his studies, and
went with him to Europe. After spending four years at German and
English universities, Dr. Rossinian established himself in Aleppo,
where by means of his skillful operations and remarkable cures,
he acquired an extensive practice among the wealthy classes of
the entire province. His wife did not let him rest on his laurels,
however; she spurred him on to further study, and it was due to her
persuasion that the doctor went to Europe every three or four years,
to keep abreast of his profession. Dr. Rossinian's love and admiration
for his wife were unbounded, and she adored him with all the ardor of
her early attachment. They had two children, Nejib, and a daughter,
Winifred, two years younger.
Archag had heard of the luxury of the Rossinians, and when he and Nejib
reached their journey's end, and were driving through the streets
of Aleppo, he wondered with a little uneasiness, how he would be
received. The carriage stopped in front of a large, handsome house,
and the boys were ushered into the hall by a negro servant. Then
they heard footsteps, and the doctor, with his wife and Winnie,
came forward to welcome the travelers. Nejib embraced his parents
and sister and presented Archag.
"Bouyourun, Baron Archag," said Mrs. Rossinian; "welcome to you!" and
she shook hands with him, English fashion.
Her very face, in its frame of soft gray hair, breathed kindness;
she was dressed in black silk, and Archag observed that her fingers
were loaded with rings. Winnie was a pretty young girl of fifteen,
with mischievous eyes; she made Archag feel extremely shy.
The dinner hour had been set forward in honor of the two
boys, who declared they were as hungry as wolves. When they
entered the dining-room they found only Winnie and her governess
there. Miss Pritchard was a long and lean individual, all angles
and asperities. She must have seen rather more than forty summers,
but nothing in the world could ever make her admit it. She was one of
those daughters of Albion who, though living in various parts of the
world, still retain their own habits and English peculiarities. Miss
Pritchard, for instance, would have thought herself forever disgraced
if she had appeared a single evening without dressing for dinner; no
matter if she happened to be traveling in Asia Minor, or sitting down
to a cup of tea with bread and butter, she would make no exception
to her rule. She always withdrew to her room an hour before the meal,
to emerge clad in a silk dress, with a bright ribbon in her hair. For
her, there was but one country in the world: England. In spite of
the comfort and luxury which she enjoyed, she was always lamenting
her "English home." At the bottom of her heart, however, she very
well knew that she was much better off at Aleppo than in England,
where she would have had to work hard to earn her living. It need
hardly be said that after living ten years in this country, she did
not know ten words of Turkish. She had never become accustomed to the
small discomforts of the Orient; a flea gave her a nervous shock, and
other insects threw her into a swoon. These ill-turns recurred at such
frequent intervals that nobody was alarmed by them any more. Some one
would give her eau de cologne to inhale, and after five or ten minutes
the poor lady would come to herself, saying: "It is too dreadful,
I must pack my trunks at once; so sorry to leave you all, dears,
but I can't stand it any longer."
Nobody took her at her word, however, and by the next day she had
forgotten all about it. The Rossinians overlooked her numerous
eccentricities, for she was a very good teacher, and devoted to
her pupil.
When Archag was presented to her, in accordance to all the rules
of good society, she held out two fingers with an indifferent air,
looked him over from head to foot, murmured a, "How do you do?" and
turned her back on him.
But the doctor and his wife quickly put Archag at his ease. They
had a deep feeling of gratitude toward him, for they knew that to
him they owed the life of their only son. Mrs. Rossinian asked him a
multitude of questions about his family, to which he replied without
embarrassment. Miss Pritchard asked him if it was very hot at Van,
and without waiting for his reply, declared that she could never get
used to the heat of Aleppo.
"I bear it, I bear it," said she plaintively, "but how I do miss our
dear London fogs."
Then she began to sing the praises of her native land. She was off
on her favorite hobby, and no one paid much attention to what she
said. She sat opposite Archag, who thus had a good opportunity to
study her singular coiffure, a sort of tower made up of braids of
hair, both natural and false, and adorned with puffs and rings and
curls. This structure was crowned with a large bow of ribbon, which
varied in color, according to the season; the dark shade, worn during
the day, gave place to rose-color, pale green or yellow for dinner;
on Sundays it was pure white, black in Holy Week, and blue at Christmas
and Easter, as a symbol of hope.
The lady, off at full tilt in praise of England, felt a little
uncomfortable with those two eyes fastened obstinately upon her,
and retaliated by staring back at Archag:
"Young man," said she, "why do you stare at me like that? Do you take
me for a show-window?"
And poor Archag was so disconcerted by this sally that he did not
open his mouth again during dinner.
The next morning Nejib began taking his friend about to see the sights
of Aleppo; the bazaar, the citadel, and the Dshami Zakarja (the
Mosque of Zacarias) where is still shown the so-called tomb of the
father of St. John Baptist. Aleppo, surnamed by the Arabs Esh-shehba
(the gray city) is one of the most ancient cities of the world, for
according to the Egyptian inscriptions it was already in existence
two thousand years before the time of Christ. The prophet Ezekiel
calls it Helbon (Chapter xxvii, 18). The Arabs gained possession in
the year 634 of our era, and gave it the name of "Haleb." Under their
sway the city grew and prospered; though more than once destroyed,
as it was by Tamerlane in the year 1400, each time it has risen from
its ashes. To-day it plays an important part in commercial life, for it
is from Aleppo that the caravans set out for Kurdistan and Mesopotamia.
I must admit that Archag took very little interest in the ruins of
the Arab tombs; he liked better to walk about the great city and
look at the show-windows of the great European shops, or to take a
ride in the automobile. Almost every evening he went to the railway
station to see the train from Beyrout come in. He felt a childish
delight in watching the powerful locomotive approach, puffing clouds
of smoke, slacken its speed, and then come to a stop close beside the
platform. He used to feel of the heavy wheels, examine the boiler, and
ask questions of the engineer. Nejib would finally have to take him
by the arm and drag him away by main force, or he would have stayed
in the station all night. With the exception of Miss Pritchard, who
continued to regard him as some sort of curious animal, every one was
very kind to him. Winnie treated him as if he were a big brother;
Archag told her stories from old Armenian legends, and the young
girl's happiest hours were those which she spent with the boys.