Is it not the law?' 'But,' said I, 'if his wealth were thine,
there would be herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep, and carpets spread,
and the banquet-tables, and great orchards.' But she stubbornly shook
her head. 'Where the eagle built shall not the young eagle nest? How
should God meet me in the way and bless him who stood not by his birth
right? The plot of ground was the lad's, and all that is thereon. I pray
thee, mock me not.' God knows I did not mock her, for her words were
wisdom. So did it work upon me that, after many days, I got for the lad
his own again, and there he is happier, and his mother happier, than the
Governor in his palace. Later I did learn some truths from the shepherd,
the messenger, and the beggar, and the woman with the child; but chiefly
from the woman and the child. The material value has no relation to the
value each sets upon that which is his own. Behind this feeling lies the
strength of the world. Here on this hill of Bagdad I am thinking these
things. And, Luke, I would have thee also think on my story of the woman
and the child. There is in it a lesson for thee."

When Luke Claridge first read this letter years before, he had put
it from him sternly. Now he heard it with a soft emotion. He took the
letter from Faith at last and put it in his pocket. With no apparent
relevancy, and laying his hand on Faith's shoulder, he said:

"We have done according to our conscience by Davy--God is our witness,
so!"

She leaned her cheek against his hand, but did not speak.

In Soolsby's hut upon the hill David sat talking to the old chair-maker.
Since his return he had visited the place several times, only to find
Soolsby absent. The old man, on awaking from his drunken sleep, had been
visited by a terrible remorse, and, whenever he had seen David coming,
had fled into the woods. This evening, however, David came in the dark,
and Soolsby was caught.

When David entered first, the old man broke down. He could not speak,
but leaned upon the back of a chair, and though his lips moved, no sound
came forth. But David took him by the shoulders and set him down, and
laughed gently in his face, and at last Soolsby got voice and said:

"Egyptian! O Egyptian!"

Then his tongue was loosened and his eye glistened, and he poured out
question after question, many pertinent, some whimsical, all frankly
answered by David. But suddenly he stopped short, and his eyes sank
before the other, who had laid a han