hich he
owed many a pleasant hour, not only over the draughts-board.

All these things might indeed be the wages of Satan; but if indeed it
were so, he--George the Mukaukas--would show the Evil One that he was
no servant of his, but devoted to the Saviour in whose mercy he trusted.
With what fervent gratitude to the Almighty was his soul filled for
the return of such a son! Every impulse of his being urged him to give
expression to this feeling; his terrors and gratitude alike prompted
him to spend so vast a sum in order to dedicate a matchless gift to the
Church of Christ. He viewed himself as a prisoner of war whose ransom
has just been paid, as he handed to the merchant the tablet with the
order for the money; and when he was carried to bed, and his wife was
not yet weary of thanking him for his pious intention, he felt happier
and more light-hearted than he had done for many years. Generally he
could hear Paula walking up and down her room which was over his; for
she went late to rest, and in the silence of the night would indulge
in sweet and painful memories. How many loved ones a cruel fate had
snatched from her! Father, brother, her nearest relations and friends;
all at once, by the hand of the Moslems to whom he had abandoned her
native land almost without resistance.

"I do not hear Paula to-night," he remarked, glancing up as though he
missed something. "The poor child has no doubt gone to bed early after
what passed."

"Leave her alone!" said Neforis who did not like to be interrupted in
her jubilant effusiveness, and she shrugged her shoulders angrily. "How
she behaved herself again! We have heard a great deal too much about
charity, and though I do not want to boast of my own I am very ready to
exercise it--indeed, it is no more than my duty to show every kindness
to a destitute relation of yours. But this girl! She tries me too far,
and after all I am no more than human. I can have no pleasure in her
presence; if she comes into the room I feel as though misfortune had
crossed the threshold. Besides!--You never see such things; but Orion
thinks of her a great deal more than is good. I only wish she had been
safe out of the house!"

"Neforis!" her husband said in mild reproach; and he would have reproved
her more sharply but that since he had become a slave to opium he had
lost all power of asserting himself vigorously whether in small matters
or great.

Ere long the Mukaukas had fallen into an uneasy