e
attorney was under the painful necessity of asking him to stay home.
Nay, the young Syrian was discharged. Or to put it in a term adequate
to the manner in which this was done, he was "fired." Now, Khalid
betakes him back to his cellar, and thrumming his lute-strings, lights
up the oppressive gloom with Arabic song and music.

-----

[1] A monastery in Mt. Lebanon, a sort of Bedlam, where the
exorcising monks beat the devil out of one's head with clouted
shoes.--EDITOR.

[2] And the doctors here practise in the name of science what
the exorcising monks practise in the name of religion. The poor
devil, or patient, in either case is done to death.--EDITOR.

CHAPTER VIII

WITH THE HURIS

From the house of law the dervish Khalid wends his way to that of
science, and from the house of science he passes on to that of
metaphysics. His staff in hand, his wallet hung on his shoulder, his
silver cigarette case in his pocket, patient, confident, content, he
makes his way from one place to another. Unlike his brother dervishes,
he is clean and proud of it, too. He knocks at this or that door,
makes his wish known to the servant or the mistress, takes the crumbs
given him, and not infrequently gives his prod to the dogs. In the
vestibule of one of the houses of spiritism, he tarries a spell and
parleys with the servant. The Mistress, a fair-looking, fair-spoken
dame of seven lustrums or more, issues suddenly from her studio, in a
curiously designed black velvet dressing-gown; she is drawn to the
door by the accent of the foreigner's speech and the peculiar cadence
of his voice. They meet: and magnetic currents from his dark eyes and
her eyes of blue, flow and fuse. They speak: and the lady asks the
stranger if he would not serve instead of begging. And he protests, "I
am a Dervish at the door of Allah." "And I am a Spirit in Allah's
house," she rejoins. They enter: and the parley in the vestibule is
followed by a tete-a-tete in the parlour and another in the
dining-room. They agree: and the stranger is made a member of the
Spiritual Household, which now consists of her and him, the Medium and
the Dervish.

Now, this fair-spoken dame, who dotes on the occult and exotic,
delights in the aroma of Khalid's cigarettes and Khalid's fancy. And
that he might feel at ease, she begins by assuring him that they have
met and communed many times ere now, that they have been friends under
a preceding and