hy eyebrows, from the deep cavities beneath which his dark eyes
seemed literally to flash. His nose was aquiline, his cheek-bones
prominent. His hands were small, but strong and nervous, with little
flesh upon them, and the fingers were long and shapely.

When Harry was seated he resettled himself on the sofa, and, keeping his
eyes fixed on the lad, placed the amber mouth-piece of a long spiral
tube connected with a narghile which was smouldering on the floor to his
lips, and the gurgling sound was once more produced. But to Harry's
astonishment, no cloud issued from his uncle's mouth; like a law-abiding
factory chimney, he appeared to consume his own smoke. Then,
deliberately removing the amber tube which he held in his hand, he
said--

"And you are my sister's son? I like your looks, and my heart yearns
towards you. Pity that she did not wed with one of her own land, so
that you might not have had the blood of the accursed race in your
veins. But it was the will of the All-Powerful, and what can we avail
against fate?"

What these words meant Harry could not imagine. Were not his parents of
the same land and race? His mother was Irish and his father English,
and he had no more idea of Irish, Scotch, Welsh, or English being of
different races than of the inhabitants of Surrey and Essex being so.
They were all Englishmen he had always thought. His bewilderment was by
no means diminished when, after this speech, and without again putting
the stem of his narghile near his mouth, his uncle raised his head and
poured out a volume of smoke, which it would have taken the united
efforts of a couple of Germans about five minutes to produce. He was
quite veiled by the cloud, through which the gleam of his eyes seemed to
Harry to have an almost supernatural effect.

"You are nearly seventeen years of age, and will soon be leaving
school," he resumed. "What are they going to do with you then?"

"I have not quite made up my mind what profession I should like," said
Harry, somewhat hesitatingly. "I am fond of drawing, and like being out
of doors, and so I have thought at times of getting articled to a civil
engineer."

"Ay, ay; to aid the march of civilisation, as the cant phrase goes; to
bring nations closer together, that they may cut one another's throats
when they meet. To make machines do the work by which men earn their
living, and so first drive them into cities, and then starve them. Or,
perhaps, you wi