"
"What is murder, friend?"
"It is such a crime as that of Mahommed yonder, who killed--"
David interposed. "I do not wish to know his crime. That is no affair
between thee and me."
Nahoum fingered his beads meditatively. "It was an affair of the
housetops in his town of Manfaloot. I have only mentioned it because I
know what view the English take of killing, and how set thou art to have
thy household above reproach, as is meet in a Christian home. So, I took
it, would be thy mind--which Heaven fill with light for Egypt's
sake!--that thou wouldst have none about thee who were not above
reproach, neither liars, nor thieves, nor murderers."
"But thee would serve with me, friend," rejoined David quietly. "Thee has
men's lives against thy account."
"Else had mine been against their account."
"Was it not so with Mahommed? If so, according to the custom of the land,
then Mahommed is as immune as thou art."
"Saadat, like thee I am a Christian, yet am I also Oriental, and what is
crime with one race is none with another.
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