Each morning and evening Iskender walked upon the sandhills until he
met with some one coming from the Mission who could give him the latest
tidings of the Emîr. His mother spied him once from her house-door,
and indulged in furious gesticulations to the effect that he must fly
for his life. When he gave no heed she shook her fist at him, and
opened her mouth wide to utter something, the sense of which was lost
in the distance. She even came to his lodging, stealthily as of wont,
and implored him never to walk again so near the Mission. It stopped
her breath, and caused her deathlike palpitations to behold him there.
The hatred of those children of abomination was so rank against him,
that they might hurt his body. At the least they would wound his soul
with indignities which she could not bear to think of for her boy.
"Hilda is the only one of them with any kindness; and she, I know, is
always in the sickroom; she never now goes out beyond the garden. The
mother of George is absent; the preacher Ward has gone again. The
others! They are known for devils, and they hate thee! What madness
in thee to approach their house!"
When Iskender only laughed, she wrung her hands despairingly, and asked
her Maker for deliverance from such a madman. Her apprehensions
proved, however, quite unfounded.
The ladies Carûlîn and Jane were touched by Iskender's solicitude, and
noticed him when passing on the road. Costantîn 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 khawâjah, 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 Lûndra on hearing of his dear one's illness. It
seems that thy sometime patron was ordered by the physicians to visit
Masr, his health being weak. Growing weary of that land, where he knew
no one, and wishing to extend his travels, he came on here and made the
friends we know. This uncle, who is his nearest relative, cared not
whither he went, so only that he was gaining health and strength; but
hearing that his beloved lay at death's door, he hastened hither, mad
with grief and rage. The Father of Ice has received from him a
thousand costly telegrams, which demonstrate sufficiently his mind's
disorder. It were well for thee to keep out of his way, for he will
certainly vow thy destruction when he has heard the story."
After this warning Iskender saw no more of Asad for three days, the
clergyman-designate being called upon to help in the housework. But he
continued to walk near the Mission at sunrise and sunset; and at last,
one evening, going there as usual, he found Asad sitting, Frank-wise,
on a chair before the gate, devouring chunks of the sweetment called
baclâweh, which the cook had given him. Espying the son of Yâcûb from
afar, the friendly youth sprang up in great alarm and waved him off
with frantic gestures, sweets in hand.
"Allah preserve thee, O Iskender; go back, O rash one! Did not I tell
thee not to come again? Only to approach the house is certain death.
The uncle of the poor sick man has sworn to drink thy blood, or at all
events to beat thee senseless, in payment for the way thou didst
beguile his nephew." Asad sat down again upon the chair, and ate
another mouthful, then pursued: "The young man now is so much better
that he is able, with assistance, to pace the garden. Yesterday it was
the Sitt Hilda who supported him; but to-day it is the furious uncle,
and the Sitt Hilda has red eyes. The uncle thinks her not well-born
enough, or else too poor, to mate with his dear nephew. The young man
has tired himself with pleading; but the old man locks his heart. And
I am glad, for I myself would not object to marry Hilda when I am in
holy orders. She is plump and shy and has fresh ripe-fruit cheeks that
I should like to bite. Thou thyself didst love her once, I am aware;
and Allah knows thou mightst in the end have enjoyed her by the
exercise of a little self-control, by waiting humbly, as I do, till
they made a priest of thee. At least, if I succeed in getting her, the
Father of Ice, to whom she is like a daughter, will no longer be able
to despise me, and keep me in dependence."
In spite of his first announcement of tremendous danger, Asad detained
Iskender by the gate for nearly an hour, talking with him openly in
full sight of the house. His discourse was chiefly of women,
concerning whom he developed ideas purely cynical. He said that the
daughters of the country were the more appetising, but that he himself
would choose a daughter of the English to increase his consequence. If
she possessed wealth or good looks, so much the better; but she must be
English, and of an honourable house. As an English missionary, with an
English wife of good family, how he would lord it here on a stipend of
two hundred pounds a year! Iskender, being deep in thought of
something else, made an excellent listener. Asad presented him with a
small piece of baclâweh.
"At what hour does the Emîr take his pleasure in the garden?" Iskender
asked at parting from that child of promise; leaving Asad to suppose he
put the question out of caution, to the end that he himself might shun
the Mission at that hour.
"Between the fourth and fifth after noon," was the reply. "But avoid
the house altogether, if thy life is precious to thee! The foe, I tell
thee, is a seasoned warrior, a drinker of blood from his birth."
From all that Asad had let fall, two facts shone forth: that the Emîr
was mad in love with the Sitt Hilda, and that he was oppressed by his
cruel uncle. Iskender mused on these, seeing a chance to help him and
obtain forgiveness.