en
at work, so he said with stern resolution:

"The matter shall be enquired into, and in the name of Jesus Christ,
to whom the stone already belongs, I will never rest nor cease till the
criminal is in my hands."

"And in the name of Allah and the Prophet," added the Arab, "I will
aid thee, if I have to appeal for help to the great chief Amru, the
Khaliff's representative in this country.--A word was spoken here just
now that I cannot and will not forget. And the tone you have chosen to
adopt, young man, seems to spring from the same fount: the old fox, you
think, put a false gem of impossible size into the hanging, and has had
it stolen that his fraud may not be detected when a jeweller examines
the work by daylight. This is too much! I am an honest man, Sirs, and I
am fain to add a rich one; and the man who tries to cast a stain on the
character I have borne through a long life shall learn, to his ruing,
that old Haschim has greater and more powerful friends to back him than
you may care to meet!"

As he uttered this threat the merchant's eyes glistened through tears;
it grieved him to be unjustly suspected and to be forced to express
himself so hardly to the Mukaukas for whom he felt both reverence and
pity. It was clear from the tone of his speech that he was in fact a
determined and a powerful personage, and Orion interrupted him with the
eager enquiry: "Who has dared to think so basely of you?"

"Your own mother, I regret to say," replied the Moslem sadly, with an
oriental shrug of distress and annoyance--his shoulders up to his ears.

"Forget it, I beg of you," said the governor. "God knows women have
softer hearts than men, and yet they more readily incline to think evil
of their fellow-creatures, and particularly of the enemies of their
faith. On the other hand they are more sensitive to kindness. A woman's
hair is long and her wits short, says the saw."

"You have plenty to say against us women!" retorted Neforis. "But
scold away--scold if it is a comfort to you!" But she added, while she
affectionately turned her husband's pillows and gave him another of
his white pillules: "I will submit to the worst to-day for I am in the
wrong. I have already asked your pardon, worthy Haschim, and I do so
again, with all my heart."

As she spoke, she went up to the Arab and held out her hand; he took it,
but lightly, however, and quickly released it, saying:

"I do not find it hard to forgive. But I find it impos