then, so truly rewarded here?" asked David quietly.

"The Prince saw merit at last when he chose your Excellency for
councillor."

"How shall I show merit, then, in the eyes of Nahoum Pasha?"

"Even by urging the Prince to give me place under him again. Not as
heretofore--that is thy place--yet where it may be. I have capacity. I
can aid thee in the great task. Thou wouldst remake our Egypt--and my
heart is with you. I would rescue, not destroy. In years gone by I
tried to do good to this land, and I failed. I was alone. I had not the
strength to fight the forces around me. I was overcome. I had too little
faith. But my heart was with the right--I am an Armenian and a Christian
of the ancient faith. I am in sorrow. Death has humbled me. My brother
Foorgat Bey--may flowers bloom for ever on his grave!--he is dead,"--his
eyes were fixed on those of David, as with a perfectly assured
candour--"and my heart is like an empty house. But man must not be idle
and live--if Kaid lets me live. I have riches. Are not Foorgat's riches
mine, his Palace, his gardens, his cattle, and his plantations, are they
not mine? I may sit in the court-yard and hear the singers, may listen
to the tale-tellers by the light of the moon; I may hear the tales of
Al-Raschid chanted by one whose tongue never falters, and whose voice
is like music; after the manner of the East I may give bread and meat
to the poor at sunset; I may call the dancers to the feast. But what
comfort shall it give? I am no longer a youth. I would work. I would
labour for the land of Egypt, for by work shall we fulfil ourselves,
redeem ourselves. Saadat, I would labour, but my master has taken away
from me the anvil, the fire, and the hammer, and I sit without the door
like an armless beggar. What work to do in Egypt save to help the land,
and how shall one help, save in the Prince's service? There can be no
reform from outside. If I laboured for better things outside Kaid's
Palace, how long dost thou think I should escape the Nile, or the
diamond-dust in my coffee? The work which I did, is it not so that it,
with much more, falls now to thy hands, Saadat, with a confidence from
Kaid that never was mine?"

"I sought not the office."

"Have I a word of blame? I come to ask for work to do with thee. Do I
not know Prince Kaid? He had come to distrust us all. As stale water
were we in his taste. He had no pleasure in us, and in our deeds he
found only stones of stumbling. He