ng enough to reach the Patriarch's throne if
not. . . . But no, it was impossible! the mere thought of such a thing
made her blood run cold. Still, still. . . . And how graciously the
Moslem leader had talked with him!--Merciful Heaven! If he were to turn
apostate from the holy Christian faith, like so many reprobate Egyptians,
and subscribe to the wicked doctrines of the Arabian false prophet! It
was a tempting creed for shameless men, allowing them to have half a
dozen wives or more without regarding it as a sin. A man like Orion could
afford to keep them, of course; for the abbess had said that every one
knew that the great Mukaukas was a very rich man, though even the chief
magistrate of the city could not fully satisfy himself concerning the
enormous amount of property left. Well, well; God's ways were past
finding out. Why should He smother one under heaps of gold, while He gave
thousands of poor creatures too little to satisfy their hunger!

By the end of this torrent of words the two women had reached the house;
and not till then was Paula clear in her own mind: Away, away with the
passion which still strove for the mastery, whether it were in deed
hatred or love! For she felt that she could not rightly enjoy her
recovered freedom, her new and quiet happiness in the pretty home she
owed to the physician's thoughtful care, till she had finally given up
Orion and broken the last tie that had bound her to his house.

Could she desire anything more than what the present had to offer her?
She had found a true haven of rest where she lacked for nothing that she
could desire for herself after listening to the admonitions of Philip
pus. Round her were good souls who felt with and for her, many
occupations for which she was well-fitted, and which suited her tastes,
with ample opportunities of bestowing and winning love. Then, a few steps
through pleasant shades took her to the convent where she could every day
attend divine service among pious companions of her own creed, as she had
done in her childhood. She had longed intensely for such food for the
spirit, and the abbess--who was the widow of a distinguished patrician of
Constantinople and had known Paula's parents--could supply it in
abundance. How gladly she talked to the girl of the goodness and the
beauty of those to whom she owed her being and whom she had so early
lost! She could pour out to this motherly soul all that weighed on her
own, and was received by her