in Baghdad?" I answered. Still, I
told him my ailments.

When I had finished he said:

"I perceive that you suffer more from your mind than from your body. Be
so good, now, as to repeat to me the tale of your life, of which I have
already heard something. Tell me especially of those parts of it which
have to do with the lady Heliodore, daughter of Magas, of your blinding
by Irene for her sake, and of your discovery of her in Egypt, where you
sought her disguised as a beggar."

"Why should I tell you all my story, sir?"

"That I may know how to heal you of your sickness. Also, General Olaf, I
will be frank with you. I am more than a mere physician; I have certain
powers under the Caliph's seal, and it will be wise on your part to open
all your heart to me."

Now I reflected that there could be little harm in repeating to this
strange doctor what so many already knew. So I told him everything, and
the tale was long.

"Wondrous! Most wondrous!" said the grave-voiced physician when I had
finished. "Yet to me the strangest part of your history is that played
therein by the lady Martina. Had she been your lover, now, one might
have understood--perhaps," and he paused.

"Sir Physician," I answered, "the lady Martina has been and is no more
than my friend."

"Ah! Now I see new virtues in your religion, since we Moslems do not
find such friends among those women who are neither our mothers nor our
sisters. Evidently the Christian faith must have power to change the
nature of women, which I thought to be impossible. Well, General Olaf, I
will consider of your case, and I may tell you that I have good hopes of
finding a medicine by which it can be cured, all save your sight, which
in this world God Himself cannot give back to you. Now I have a favour
to ask. I see that in this room of yours there is a curtain hiding the
bed of the servant who sleeps with you. I desire to see another patient
here, and that this patient should not see you. Of your goodness will
you sit upon the bed behind that curtain, and will you swear to me on
your honour as a soldier that whatever you may hear you will in no way
reveal yourself?"

"Surely, that is if it is nothing which will bring disgrace upon my head
or name."

"It will be nothing to bring disgrace on your head or name, General
Olaf, though perhaps it may bring some sorrow to your heart. As yet I
cannot say."

"My heart is too full of sorrow to hold more," I answered.

Then h