eat thing to have gained the Patriarch of Lebanon,' said
the lady; 'I always felt that, as long as that man was against you, the
Maronites never could be depended on. And yet these arms; after all,
they are of no use, for you would not think of insurrection!'

'No; but they can quarrel with the Druses, and cut each other's throats,
and this will make the mountain more unmanageable than ever, and the
English will have no customers for their calicoes, don't you see? Lord
Palmerston will arraign the minister in the council. I shall pay off
Aberdeen for enclosing the Archbishop's letter to Guizot. Combination
upon combination! The calico merchants will call out for a prince of the
house of Shehaab! Riza will propose me; Bourqueney will not murmur, and
Sir Canning, finding he is in a mess, will sign a fine note of words
about the peace of Europe and the prosperity of Lebanon, and 'tis
finished.'

'And my father, you have seen him?'

'I have seen him,' said the young Emir, and he cast his eyes on the
ground.

'He has done so much,' said Eva.

'Ask him to do more, Rose of Sharon,' said Fakredeen, like a child about
to cry for a toy, and he threw himself on his knees before Eva, and kept
kissing her robe. 'Ask him to do more,' he repeated, in a suppressed
tone of heart-rending cajolery; 'he can refuse you nothing. Ask him, ask
him, Eva! I have no friend in the world but you; I am so desolate.
You have always been my friend, my counsellor, my darling, my ruby, my
pearl, my rose of Rocnabad! Ask him, Eva; never mind my faults; you
know me by heart; only ask him!'

She shook her head.

'Tell him that you are my sister, that I am his son, that I love you
so, that I love him so; tell him anything. Say that he ought to do it
because I am a Hebrew.'

'A what?' said Eva.

'A Hebrew; yes, a Hebrew. I am a Hebrew by blood, and we all are by
faith.'

'Thou son of a slave!' exclaimed the lady, 'thou masquerade of humanity!
Christian or Mussulman, Pagan or Druse, thou mayest figure as; but spare
my race, Fakredeen, they are fallen----'

'But not so base as I am. It may be true, but I love you, Eva, and you
love me; and if I had as many virtues as yourself, you could not love
me more; perhaps less. Women like to feel their superiority; you are
as clever as I am, and have more judgment; you are generous, and I am
selfish; honourable, and I am a villain; brave, and I am a coward; rich,
and I am poor. Let that satisfy you, and do