CHAPTER X.
After the great excitement of the night Paula had thrown herself on herbed with throbbing pulses. Sleep would not come to her, and so at rathermore than two hours after sunrise she went to the window to close theshutters. As she did so she looked out, and she saw Hiram leap into aboat and push the light bark from the shore. She dared neither signalnor call to him; but when the faithful soul had reached open water helooked back at her window, recognized her in her white morning dressand flourished the oar high in the air. This could only mean that hehad fulfilled his commission and sold her jewel. Now he was going to theother side to engage the Nabathaean.
When she had closed the shutters and darkened the room she again laydown. Youth asserted its rights the weary girl fell into deep, dreamlessslumbers.
When she woke, with the heat drops on her forehead, the sun was nearlyat the meridian, only an hour till the Ariston would be served, theGreek breakfast, the first meal in the morning, which the family eattogether as they also did the principal meal later in the clay. She hadnever yet failed to appear, and her absence would excite remark.
The governor's household, like that of every Egyptian of rank, wasconducted more on the Greek than the Egyptian plan; and this was thecase not merely as regarded the meals but in many other things, andespecially the language spoken. From the Mukaukas himself down to theyoungest member of the family, all spoke Greek among themselves, andCoptic, the old native dialect, only to the servants. Nay, many borrowedand foreign words had already crept into use in the Coptic.
The governor's granddaughter, pretty little Mary, had learnt to speakGreek fluently and correctly before she spoke Coptic, but when Paulahad first arrived she could not as yet write the beautiful languageof Greece with due accuracy. Paula loved children; she longed for someoccupation, and she had therefore volunteered to instruct the littlegirl in the art. At first her hosts had seemed pleased that she shouldrender this service, but ere long the relation between the Lady Neforisand her husband's niece had taken the unpleasant aspect which it wasdestined to retain. She had put a stop to the lessons, and the reasonshe had assigned for this insulting step was that Paula had dictated toher pupil long sentences out of her Orthodox Greek prayerbook. This, itwas true, she had done; but without the smallest concealment; and thepassages she had chosen had contained nothing but what must elevate thesoul of every Christian, of whatever confession.
The child had wept bitterly over her grandmother's fiat, though Paulahad always taken the lessons quite seriously, for Mary loved her oldercompanion with all the enthusiasm of a half-grown girl--as a childof ten really is in Egypt; her passionate little heart worshipped thebeautiful maiden who was in every respect so far above her, and Paula'sarms had opened wide to embrace the child who brought sunshine into thegloomy, chill atmosphere she breathed in her uncle's house. ButNeforis regarded the child's ardent love for her Melchite relation asexaggerated and morbid, imperilling perhaps her religious faith; and shefancied that under Paula's influence Mary had transferred her affectionsfrom her to the younger woman with added warmth. Nor was this ideawholly fanciful; the child's strong sense of justice could not bear tosee her friend misunderstood and slighted, often simply and entirelymisjudged and hardly blamed, so Mary felt it her duty, as far as in herlay, to make up for her grandmother's delinquencies in regard to theguest who in the child's eyes was perfection.
But Neforis was not the woman to put up with this demeanor in a child.Mary was her granddaughter, the only child of her lost son, and no oneshould come between them. So she forbid the little girl to go to Paula'sroom without an express message, and when a Greek teacher was engagedfor her, her instructions were that she should keep her pupil as muchas possible out of the Syrian damsel's way. All this only fanned thechild's vehement affection; and tenderly as her grandmother wouldsometimes caress her--while Mary on her part never failed in dutifulobedience--neither of them ever felt a true and steady warmth of hearttowards the other; and for this Paula was no doubt to blame, thoughagainst her will and by her mere existence.
Often, indeed, and by a hundred covert hints Dame Neforis gave Paula tounderstand that she it was who had alienated her grandchild; therewas nothing for it but to keep the child for whom she yearned, at adistance, and only rarely reveal to her the abundance of her love. Atlast her life was so full of grievance that she was hardly able to beinnocent with the innocent--a child with the child; Mary was not slow tonote this, and ascribed Paula's altered manner to the suffering causedby her grandmother's severity.
Mary's most frequent opportunities of speaking to her friend werejust before meals; for at that time no one was watching her, and hergrandmother had not forbidden her calling Paula to table. A visit toher room was the child's greatest delight--partly because it wasforbidden--but no less because Paula, up in her own room, was quitedifferent from what she seemed with the others, and because they couldthere look at each other and kiss without interference, and say whatever they pleased. There Mary could tell her as much as she dared of theevents in their little circle, but the lively and sometimes hoydenishlittle girl was often withheld from confessing a misdemeanor, or evenan inoffensive piece of childishness, by sheer admiration for one who toher appeared nobler, greater and loftier than other beings.
Just as Paula had finished putting up her hair, Mary, who would rushlike a whirlwind even into her grandmother's presence, knocked humblyat the door. She did not fly into Paula's arms as she did into those ofSusannah or her daughter Katharina, but only kissed her white arm withfervent devotion, and colored with happiness when Paula bent down toher, pressed her lips to her brow and hair, and wiped her wet, glowingcheeks. Then she took Mary's head fondly between her hands and said:
"What is wrong with you, madcap?"
In fact the sweet little face was crimson, and her eyes swelled as ifshe had been crying violently.
"It is so fearfully hot," said Mary. "Eudoxia"--her Greekgoverness--"says that Egypt in summer is a fiery furnace, a hell uponearth. She is quite ill with the heat, and lies like a fish on the sand;the only good thing about it is..."
"That she lets you run off and gives you no lessons?"
Mary nodded, but as no lecture followed the confession she put her headon one side and looked up into Paula's face with large roguish eyes.
"And yet you have been crying!--a great girl like you?"
"I--I crying?"
"Yes, crying. I can see it in your eyes. Now confess: what hashappened?"
"You will not scold me?"
"Certainly not."
"Well then. At first it was fun, such fun you cannot think, and I do notmind the heat; but when the great hunt had gone by I wanted to go tomy grand mother and I was not allowed. Do you know, something veryparticular had been going on in the fountain-room; and as they allcame out again I crept behind Orion into the tablinum--there are suchwonderful things there, and I wanted just to frighten him a little; wehave often played games together before. At first he did not see me,and as he was bending over the hanging, from which the gem was stolen--Ibelieve he was counting the stones in the faded old thing--I just jumpedon to his shoulder, and he was so frightened--I can tell you, awfullyfrightened! And he turned upon me like a fighting-cock and--and he gaveme a box on the ear; such a slap, it is burning now--and all sorts ofcolors danced before my eyes. He always used to be so nice and kind tome, and to you, too, and so I used to be fond of him--he is my uncletoo--but a box on the ears, a slap such as the cook might give to theturnspit--I am too big for that; that I will certainly not put up withit! Since my last birthday all the slaves and upper servants, too, havehad to treat me as a lady and to bow down to me! And now!--it was justhere.--How dare he?" She began to cry again and sobbed out: "But thatwas not all. He locked me into the dark tablinum and left--left me...."her tears flowed faster and faster, "left me sitting there! It was sohorrible; and I might have been there now if I had not found a goldplate; I seized my great-grandfather--I mean the silver image of Menas,and hammered on it, and
screamed Fire! Then Sebek heard me and fetchedOrion, and he let me out, and made such a fuss over me and kissed me.But what is the good of that; my grandfather will be angry, for in myterror I beat his father's nose quite flat on the plate."
Paula had listened, now amused and now grave, to the little girl'sstory; when she ceased, she once more wiped her eyes and said:
"Your uncle is a man, and you must not play with him as if he were achild like yourself. The reminder you got was rather a hard one, nodoubt, but Orion tried to make up for it.--But the great hunt, what wasthat?"
At this question Mary's eyes suddenly sparkled again. In an instant allher woes were forgotten, even her ancestor's flattened nose, and with amerry, hearty laugh she exclaimed:
"Oh! you should have seen it! You would have been amused too. Theywanted to catch the bad man who cut the emerald out of the hanging. Hehad left his shoes and they had held them under the dogs' noses andthen off they went! First they rushed here to the stairs; then to thestables, then to the lodgings of one of the horse-trainers, and I keptclose behind, after the terriers and the other dogs. Then they stoppedto consider and at last they all ran out at the gate towards the town. Iought not to have gone beyond the court-yard, but--do not be crosswith me--it was such fun!--Out they went, along Hapi Street, across thesquare, and at last into the Goldsmith's Street, and there the wholepack plunged into Gamaliel's shop--the Jew who is always so merry. Whilehe was talking to the others his wife gave me some apricot tartlets; wedo not have such good ones at home."
"And did they find the man?" asked Paula, who had changed colorrepeatedly during the child's story.
"I do not know," said Mary sadly. "They were not chasing any one inparticular. The dogs kept their noses to the ground, and we ran afterthem."
"And only to catch a man, who certainly had nothing whatever to do withthe theft.--Reflect a little, Mary. The shoes gave the dogs the scentand they were set on to seize the man who had worn them, but whom nojudge had examined. The shoes were found in the hall; perhaps he haddropped them by accident, or some one else may have carried them there.Now think of yourself in the place of an innocent man, a Christianlike ourselves, hunted with a pack of dogs like a wild beast. Is it notfrightful? No good heart should laugh at such a thing!"
Paula spoke with such impressive gravity and deep sorrow, and her wholemanner betrayed such great and genuine distress that the child lookedtip at her anxiously, with tearful eyes, threw herself against her, andhiding her face in Paula's dress exclaimed: "I did not know that theywere hunting a poor man, and if it makes you so sad, I wish I had notbeen there! But is it really and truly so bad? You are so often unhappywhen we others laugh!" She gazed into Paula's face with wide, wonderingeyes through her tears, and Paula clasped her to her, kissed her fondly,and replied with melancholy sweetness:
"I would gladly be as gay as you, but I have gone through so much tosadden me. Laugh and be merry to your heart's content; I am glad youshould. But with regard to the poor hunted man, I fear he is my father'sfreedman, the most faithful, honest soul! Did your exciting hunt driveany one out of the goldsmith's shop?"
Mary shook her head; then she asked:
"Is it Hiram, the stammerer, the trainer, that they are hunting?"
"I fear it is."
"Yes, yes," said the child. "Stay--oh, dear! it will grieve you again,but I think--I think they said--the shoes belonged--but I didnot attend. However, they were talking of a groom--a freedman--astammerer...."
"Then they certainly are hunting down an innocent man," cried Paulawith a deep sigh; and she sat down again in front of her toilet-table tofinish dressing. Her hands still moved mechanically, but she was lost inthought; she answered the child vaguely, and let her rummage in her opentrunk till Mary pulled out the necklace that had been bereft of its gem,and hung it round her neck. Just then there was a knock at the door andKatharina, the widow Susannah's little daughter, came into the room.The young girl, to whom the governor's wife wished to marry her tall sonscarcely reached to Paula's shoulder, but she was plump and pleasant tolook upon; as neat as if she had just been taken out of a box, with afresh, merry lovable little face. When she laughed she showed a gleamingrow of small teeth, set rather wide apart, but as white as snow; andher bright eyes beamed on the world as gladly as though they had nothingthat was not pleasing to look for, innocent mischief to dream of. Shetoo, tried to win Paula's favor; but with none of Mary's devoted andunvarying enthusiasm. Often, to be sure, she would devote herself toPaula with such stormy vehemence that the elder girl was forced to berepellent; then, on the other hand, if she fancied her self slighted,or treated more coolly than Mary, she would turn her back on Paula withsulky jealousy, temper and pouting. It always was in Paula's power toput an end to the "Water-wagtails tantrums"--which generally had theircomic side--by a kind word or kiss; but without some such advancesKatharina was quite capable of indulging her humors to the utmost.
On the present occasion she flew into Paula's arm, and when her friendbegged, more quietly than usual that she would allow her first to finishdressing, she turned away without any display of touchiness and tookthe necklace from Mary's hand to put it on herself. It was of fineworkmanship, set with pearls, and took her fancy greatly; only theempty medallion from which Hiram had removed the emerald with his knifespoiled the whole effect. Still, it was a princely jewel, and when shehad also taken from the chest a large fan of ostrich feathers she showedoff to her play-fellow, with droll, stiff dignity, how the empress andprincesses at Court curtsied and bowed graciously to their inferiors. Atthis they both laughed a great deal. When Paula had finished her toiletand proceeded to take the necklace off Katharina, the empty setting,which Hiram's knife had bent, caught in the thin tissue of her dress.Mary disengaged it, and Paula tossed the jewel back into the trunk.
While she was locking the box she asked Katharina whether she had metOrion.
"Orion!" repeated the younger girl, in a tone which implied thatshe alone had the right to enquire about him. "Yes, we came upstairstogether; he went to see the wounded man. Have you anything to say tohim?"
She crimsoned as she spoke and looked suspiciously at Paula, who simplyreplied: "Perhaps," and then added, as she hung the ribbon with the keyround her neck: "Now, you little girls, it is breakfast time; I am notgoing down to-day."
"Oh, dear!" cried Mary disappointed, "my grandfather is ailing andgrandmother will stay with him; so if you do not come I shall have tosit alone with Eudoxia; for Katharina's chariot is waiting and she mustgo home at once. Oh! do come. Just to please me; you do not know howodious Eudoxia can be when it is so hot."
"Yes, do go down," urged Katharina. "What will you do up herebyyourself? And this evening mother and I will come again."
"Very well," said Paula. "But first I must go to see the invalids."
"May I go with you?" asked the Water wagtail, coaxingly stroking Paula'sarm. But Mary clapped her hands, exclaiming:
"She only wants to go to Orion--she is so fond of him...."
Katharina put her hand over the child's mouth, but Paula, with quickenedbreath, explained that she had very serious matters to discuss withOrion; so Katharina, turning her back on her with a hasty gestureof defiance, sulkily went down stairs, while Mary slipped down thebannister rail. Not many days since, Katharina, who was but justsixteen, would gladly have followed her example.
Paula meanwhile knocked at the first of the sickrooms and entered it assoftly as the door was opened by a nursing-sister from the convent ofSt. Katharine. Orion, whom she was seeking, had been there, but had justleft.
In this first room lay the leader of the caravan; in that beyond was thecrazy Persian. In a sitting-room adjoining the first room, which,being intended for guests of distinction, was furnished with royalmagnificence, sat two men in earnest conversation: the Arab merchant andPhilippus the physician, a young man of little more than thirty, talland bony, in a dress of clean but very coarse stuff without any kindof adornment. He had a shrewd, pale face, out of which a pai
r ofbright black eyes shone benevolently but with keen vivacity. His largecheek-bones were much too prominent; the lower part of his face wassmall, ugly and, as it were, compressed, while his high broad foreheadcrowned the whole and stamped it as that of a thinker, as a fine cupolamay crown an insignificant and homely structure.
This man, devoid of charm, though his strongly-characterizedindividuality made it difficult to overlook him even in the midst of adistinguished circle, had been conversing eagerly with the Arab, who,in the course of their two-days' acquaintance, had inspired him with aregard which was fully reciprocated. At last Orion had been the theme oftheir discourse, and the physician, a restless toiler who could not likeany man whose life was one of idle enjoyment, though he did full justiceto his brilliant gifts and well-applied studies, had judged him far morehardly than the older man. To the leech all forms of human life weresacred, and in his eyes everything that could injure the body or soul ofa man was worthy of destruction. He knew all that Orion had brought uponthe hapless Mandane, and how lightly he had trifled with the hearts ofother women; in his eyes this made him a mischievous and criminal memberof society. He regarded life as an obligation to be discharged by workalone, of whatever kind, if only it were a benefit to society as awhole. And such youths as Orion not only did not recognize this, butused the whole and the parts also for base and selfish ends. The oldMoslem, on the contrary, viewed life as a dream whose fairest portion,the time of youth, each one should enjoy with alert senses, and onlytake care that at the waking which must come with death he might hope tofind admission into Paradise. How little could man do against the ironforce of fate! That could not be forefended by hard work; there wasnothing for it but to take up a right attitude, and to confront and meetit with dignity. The bark of Orion's existence lacked ballast; in fineweather it drifted wherever the breeze carried it, He himself had takencare to equip it well; and if only the chances of life should freight itheavily--very heavily, and fling it on the rocks, then Orion might showwho and what he was; he, Haschim, firmly believed that his characterwould prove itself admirable. It was in the hour of shipwreck that a manshowed his worth.
Here the physician interrupted him to prove that it was not Fate, asimagined by Moslems, but man himself who guided the bark of life--but atthis moment Paula looked into the room, and he broke off. The merchantbowed profoundly, Philippus respectfully, but with more embarrassmentthan might have been expected from the general confidence of his manner.For some years he had been a daily visitor in the governor's house, andafter carefully ignoring Paula on her first arrival, since Dame Neforishad taken to treating her so coolly he drew her out whenever he had theopportunity. Her conversations with him had now become dear and evennecessary to her, though at first his dry, cutting tone had displeasedher, and he had often driven her into a corner in a way that was hardto bear. They kept her mind alert in a circle which never busied itselfwith anything but the trivial details of family life in the decayedcity, or with dogmatic polemics--for the Mukaukas seldom or never tookpart in the gossip of the women.
The leech never talked of daily events, but expressed his views as toother and graver subjects in life, or in books with which they were bothfamiliar; and he had the art of eliciting replies from her which he metwith wit and acumen. By degrees she had become accustomed to his boldmode of thought, sometimes, it is true, too recklessly expressed; andthe gifted girl now preferred a discussion with him to any other form ofconversation, recognizing that a childlike and supremely unselfish soulanimated this thoughtful reservoir of all knowledge. Almost everythingshe did displeased her uncle's wife, and so, of course, did her familiarintercourse with this man, whose appearance certainly had in it nothingto attract a young girl.--The physician to a family of rank was there tokeep its members in good health, and it was unbecoming in one of themto converse with him on intimate terms as an equal. She reproachedPaula--whose pride she was constantly blaming--for her unseemlycondescension to Philippus; but what chiefly annoyed her was that Paulatook up many a half-hour which otherwise Philippus would have devotedto her husband; and in him and his health her life and thoughts werecentred.
The Arab at once recognized his foe of the previous evening; but theysoon came to a friendly understanding--Paula confessing her folly inholding a single and kindly-disposed man answerable for the crimes of awhole nation. Haschim replied that a right-minded spirit always cameto a just conclusion at last; and then the conversation turned on herfather, and the physician explained to the Arab that she was resolvednever to weary of seeking the missing man.
"Nay, it is the sole aim and end of my life," cried the girl.
"A great mistake, in my opinion," said the leech. But the merchantdiffered: there were things, he said, too precious to be given up forlost, even when the hope of finding them seemed as feeble and thin as arotten reed.
"That is what I feel!" cried Paula. "And how can you think differently,Philip? Have I not heard from your own lips that you never give up allhope of a sick man till death has put an end to it? Well, and I cling tomine--more than ever now, and I feel that I am right. My last thought,my last coin shall be spent in the search for my father, even without myuncle and his wife, and in spite of their prohibition."
"But in such a task a young girl can hardly do without a man's succor,"said the merchant. "I wander a great deal about the world, I speak withmany foreigners from distant lands, and if you will do me the honor,pray regard me as your coadjutor, and allow me to help you in seekingfor the lost hero."
"Thanks--I fervently thank you!" cried Paula, grasping the Moslem's handwith hearty pleasure. "Wherever you go bear my lost father in mind; I ambut a poor, lonely girl, but if you find him..."
"Then you will know that even among the Moslems there are men..."
"Men who are ready to show compassion and to succor friendless women!"interrupted Paula.
"And with good success, by the blessing of the Almighty," replied theArab. "As soon as I find a clue you shall hear from me; now, however,I must go across the Nile to see Amru the great general; I go in allconfidence for I know that my poor, brave Rustem is in good hands,friend Philippus. My first enquiries shall be made in Fostat, rely uponthat, my daughter."
"I do indeed," said Paula with pleased emotion. "When shall we meetagain?"
"To-morrow, or the morning after at latest."
The young girl went up to him and whispered: "We have just heard of aclue; indeed, I hope my messenger is already on his way. Have you timeto hear about it now?"
"I ought long since to have been on the other shore; so not to-day, butto-morrow I hope." The Arab shook hands with her and the physician, andhastily took his leave.
Paula stood still, thinking. Then it struck her that Hiram was now onthe further side of the Nile, within the jurisdiction of the Arab ruler,and that the merchant could perhaps intercede for him, if she were totell him all she knew. She felt the fullest confidence in the old man,whose kind and sympathetic face was still visible to her mind's eye,and without paying any further heed to the physician she went quicklytowards the door of the sick-room. A crucifix hung close by, and the nunhad fallen on her knees before it, praying for her infidel patient, andbeseeching the Good Shepherd to have mercy on the sheep that was notof His fold. Paula did not venture to disturb the worshipper, who waskneeling just in the narrow passage; so some minutes elapsed before theleech, observing her uneasiness, came out of the larger room, touchedthe nun on the shoulder, and said in a low voice of genuine kindness:
"One moment, good Sister. Your pious intercession will be heard--butthis damsel is in haste." The nun rose at once and made way, sending awrathful glance after Paula as she hurried down the stairs.
At the door of the court-yard she looked out and about for the Arab, butin vain. Then she enquired of a slave who told her that the merchant'shorse had waited for him at the gate a long time, that he had just comegalloping out, and by this time must have reached the bridge of boatswhich connected Memphis with the island of Rodah and, beyond the
island,with the fort of Babylon and the new town of Fostat.