Out of the East came the light. Thy
Church has preserved the faith. It is still like a lamp in the mist and
the cloud in the East. Thou saidst but now that thy heart was with my
purpose. Shall the truth that I would practise here not find an island in
this sea--and shall it not be the soul of Nahoum Pasha?"
"Have I not given my word? Nay, then, I swear it by the tomb of my
brother, whom Death met in the highway, and because he loved the sun, and
the talk of men, and the ways of women, rashly smote him out of the
garden of life into the void. Even by his tomb I swear it."
"Hast thou, then, such malice against Death? These things cannot happen
save by the will of God."
"And by the hand of man. But I have no cause for revenge. Foorgat died in
his sleep like a child. Yet if it had been the hand of man, Prince Kaid
or any other, I would not have held my hand until I had a life for his."
"Thou art a Christian, yet thou wouldst meet one wrong by another?"
"I am an Oriental." Then, with a sudden change of manner, he added: "But
thou hast a Christianity the like of which I have never seen.
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