ross-legged by the wall, puffing slowly at a narghileh, his mother
opposite to him, in the same posture, also with a narghileh, not
smoking for the moment, but leaning forward with one hand out, talking
eagerly. A saucer-lamp stood on the floor between them, among remnants
of the feast; it caused their faces to look ghastly, lighted thus from
below, and sent their shadows reeling up the wall. The woman declaimed
untiringly with gestures of demonstration, and the man kept acquiescing
by a nod which set the tassel of his fez in motion.

The dull sententiousness of the dragoman and his mother's shrill, rash
judgments were alike irritating to Iskender. They claimed to
understand the foreigners perfectly; and in truth they knew enough of
the foibles of the lords of gold to secure to themselves a livelihood.
They had never, either of them, loved a Frank.

CHAPTER III

Next morning Iskender was disturbed at daybreak by the movements of his
mother in the house. With her black locks all dishevelled, she was
putting out his grandest clothes and dusting them in the feeble
lamp-light.

"Though shalt wear this sweet suit which thy father left thee," she
croaked out when she knew he was awake. "That and thy new tarbush and
the great umbrella. Wallah, thou wilt fill men's eyes. Now rise, and
make haste with thy washing."

He rose accordingly and, having dedicated his works to God, dipped a
hand-bowl in the earthen jar which served as cistern, and carried it
out on to the sand before the threshold. There the rising colour of
the dawn bewitched him; he was reminded of a certain trumpet-flower
which bloomed at Easter on the Mission walls--a flower with purple
petals and the gleam of gold in its heart; and, all on fire to register
the rare impression, he left his bowl of water on the sand and
re-entered the house to fetch his book and paint-box. But his mother
tried to wrest them from him, cursing him for a maniac, and before he
could shake her off the colours of the sky had changed completely. The
little disappointment made life vain. In a pet, he overturned the
basin of water, robbed of the heart to wash his face and hands. Then,
as his mother still kept screaming for him, he went indoors and donned
the clothes which she had laid ready. Even then she would not let him
be, but pulled and patted at the garments till he lost his temper, and
made a rush for the door. A horrified shriek recalled him. The
umbrella!