t to know the truth; and if there is anything you hold sacred, before
I ask, you must swear by what is holiest to answer me, not as if I were
a silly girl, but as if I were the Supreme judge at the last day.--Do
you hear?"

"This is very solemn," said Orion. "And you must allow me to observe
that there are some questions which do not concern us alone, and if
yours is such...."

"No, no," replied Katharina, "what I mean concerns you and me alone."

"Then I see no reason for refusing," he said. "Still, I may ask you a
favor in return. It seems to me no less important than it did to you, to
know what a great man like the patriarch finds to talk about, and since
I place myself at your commands...."

"I thought," said the girl with a smile, "that your first object would
be to discharge some small portion of your debt to me; however, I expect
no excessive magnanimity, and the little I heard is soon told. It cannot
matter much to you either--so I will agree to your wishes, and you, in
return, must promise...."

"To speak the whole truth."

"As truly as you hope for forgiveness of your sins?"

"As truly as that."

"That is well."

"And what is it that you want to know?"

At this she shook her head, exclaiming uneasily:

"Nay, nay, not yet. It cannot be done so lightly. First let me speak;
and then open the door, and if I want to fly let me go without saying
or asking me another word.--Give me that chair; I must sit down." And
in fact she seemed to need it; for some minutes she had looked very
pale and exhausted, and her hands trembled as she drew her handkerchief
across her face.

When she was seated she began her story; and while her words flowed on
quickly but without expression, as though she spoke mechanically, Orion
listened with eager interest, for what she had to tell struck him as
highly significant and important.

He had been watched by the patriarch's orders. By midnight Benjamin
had already been informed of Orion's visit to Fostat, and to the Arab
general. Nothing, however, had been said about it beyond a fear lest he
had gone thither with a view to abjuring the faith of his fathers and
going over to the Infidels. Far more important were the facts
Orion gathered as to the prelate's negotiations with the Khaliff's
representative. Amru had urged a reduction of the number of convents and
of the monks and nuns who lived on the bequests and gifts of the pious,
busied in all kinds of handiwork according to