"And besides," added Harry, "justice is justice all the world over, and
crime should not prosper. Richard Burke, your brother, died at his home
in Ireland. He had made two wills, one leaving the bulk of his fortune
to his step-son, Stephen Philipson, and another, and later one, made on
the occasion of Philipson turning out badly, leaving him a modest
allowance, and bequeathing the bulk of his fortune between his sister
and Reginald Kavanagh. This will, which would make my mother and
Beatrice comfortable, as they have been brought up to esteem comfort,
was not to be found; neither was the other. A dishonest clerk, forced
to fly the country because a forgery he had committed must soon be
discovered, stole them both out of the lawyer's office where he was
employed, for the purpose of levying a sum for giving them to one or the
other of the parties interested. But the police were too close on his
traces, and he had to fly without a chance of making use of either
document. He was an Egyptian, and went home; but not feeling safe at
Alexandria or Cairo, and having connections in the Soudan, he came to
this country. If both wills are destroyed, part of the property comes
to you."
"And the cause has need of funds!" exclaimed the sheikh. "But how shall
we find this dog?"
"I saw him the other day in the bazaar; his name is Daireh."
"Daireh, the money-lender, against whom I have had so many complaints,
but who always manages to have the law on his side?"
"The very same."
The Sheikh Burrachee clapped his hands; an attendant came. "Bring
hither Daireh, the Egyptian usurer," said the sheikh; "and keep him
guarded in the outer court."
The Arab inclined his head and departed without a word.
It may seem to you that Harry Forsyth had recovered his wits very
rapidly, and this, indeed, was the case. Up to a certain point his
progress had been very slow, but that once passed he had come to himself
almost at a bound. But as for his clear statement to his uncle, that he
had prepared beforehand with great care, writing it out and learning it
by heart, feeling that it was necessary to be as concise as possible.
A thoughtful expression came over the Sheikh Burrachee's face, quite
different from the wild faraway look which now ordinarily characterised
it.
"And so Richard is dead," he murmured to himself; "and Mary has known
poverty in a land where there is no kindness for the poor; where all is
hard and cold, and people can no longer love or even hate. And this
fellow has robbed her. By my beard he shall smart for it!"
When the sheikh swore by his beard the matter was serious, and if Daireh
had heard him he would not have walked along between the guards who
arrested him with so impudent an air. He had so often been had up, and
had got the best of his accusers, that he felt quite safe. For he knew
well the customs which had the force of laws in the country, and took
care not to violate them, though straining every point to his advantage.
And the Sheikh Burrachee was just, and however much he might sympathise
with the complainant, would not allow his judgment to be affected by his
feelings.
It was indeed a rough-and-ready justice, not always consistent, and such
as would not meet entire approval from any civilised persons; he went on
the principle that when he could not do what he would, he did what he
could, to set things straight according to his judgment and the evidence
before him, adopting the habits of the people with whom he had
identified himself, who had not the horror of physical pain--for
others--or the employment of it to elicit truth, which we have.
He rose from the divan by the garden where he had been sitting with
Harry, and, beckoning to the latter to follow him, proceeded to the
outer and larger hall, where he took his seat, with his nephew at his
side. And hardly had he done so when Daireh was brought in. He
salaamed with a confident air, which expressed, "Who will find me
tripping? It would take a clever fellow to do that. They are willing
enough to agree to my terms when they want to borrow, but when I claim
my own, there is all this bother and outcry, and I am dragged before the
sheikh forsooth!"