minary puff of his chibouque, to be convinced that there
was no fear of its being extinguished, before he said,

'So there was a fine pilgrimage last night; the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre lighted up from sunset to sunrise, an extra guard in the
court, and only the Spanish prior and two brethren permitted to enter.
It must be 10,000 piastres at least in the coffers of the Terra Santa.
Well, they want something! It is a long time since we have had a Latin
pilgrim in El Khuds.'

'And they say, after all, that this was not a Latin pilgrim,' said
Barizy of the Tower.

'He could not have been one of my people,' said the Armenian, 'or he
never would have gone to the Holy Sepulchre with the Spanish prior.'

'Had he been one of your people,' said Pasqualigo, 'he could not have
paid 10,000 piastres for a pilgrimage.'

'I am sure a Greek never would,' said Barizy, 'unless he were a Russian
prince.'

'And a Russian does not care much for rosaries unless they are made of
diamonds,' said Pasqualigo.

'As far as I can make out this morning,' said Barizy of the Tower, 'it
is a brother of the Queen of England.'

'I was thinking it might be that,' said Pasqualigo, nettled at his
rival's early information, 'the moment I heard he was an Englishman.'

'The English do not believe in the Holy Sepulchre,' said the Armenian,
calmly.

'They do not believe in our blessed Saviour,' said Pasqualigo, 'but they
do believe in the Holy Sepulchre.'

Pasqualigo's strong point was theology, and there were few persons in
Jerusalem who on this head ventured to maintain an argument with him.

'How do you know that the pilgrim is an Englishman?' asked their host.

'Because his servants told me so,' said Pasqualigo.

'He has got an English general for the principal officer of his
household,' said Barizy, 'which looks like blood royal; a very fine man,
who passes the whole day at the English consulate.'

'They have taken a house in the Via Dolorosa,' said Pasqualigo.

'Of Hassan Nejed?' continued Barizy of the Tower, clutching the words
out of his rival's grasp; 'Hassan asked five thousand piastres per
month, and they gave it. What think you of that?'

'He must indeed be an Englishman,' said Scheriff Effendi, taking his
pipe slowly from his mouth. There was a dead silence when he spoke; he
was much respected.

'He is very young,' said Barizy of the Tower; 'younger than the Queen,
which is one reason why he is not on the throne, for in En