AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 MARMADUKE PICKTHALL 
 
 :**■
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE 
 
 
 ,v3 

 
 AS OTHERS SEE US
 
 NEW NOVELS 
 
 EXPERIENCE Catherine cotton 
 
 BIG PETER ARCHIBALD MARSHALL 
 
 PENDER AMONG THE 
 
 RESIDENTS forrest reid 
 
 THE CROSS-CUT 
 
 COURTNEY RYLEY COOPER 
 
 THE BEST GIFT OF ALL 
 
 ROWAN GLEN 
 
 THE PIT-PROP SYNDICATE 
 
 FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS
 
 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 by 
 MARMADUKE PICKTHALL 
 
 
 LONDON : 48 PALL MALL 
 W. COLLINS SONS & CO. LTD. 
 
 GLASGOW MELBOURNE AUCKLAND
 
 
 Copyright, 1922 
 
 Manufactured in Great Britain
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 All the stories in this book are of the time before 
 the war but leading up to it. Those who loved the 
 British Empire in the East, as Englishmen in former 
 days imagined it, will understand, for they have shared 
 the author's progress towards disillusion as illustrated 
 in the Eastern stories here. Goodwill and geniality 
 towards Eastern peoples could hardly flourish in the 
 shadow of the Czardom which still lies over England's 
 Eastern policy. May it be lifted and goodwill return I 
 
 M. P. 
 
 Blackboys, Sussex, 
 March r, 1922.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT I 
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 3° 
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 49 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES 7 1 
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 86 
 
 MELEK 103 
 
 UNOFFICIAL 120 
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 137 
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 154 
 
 THE HAILSTORM I7I 
 
 HIS MAJESTY 187 
 
 THE DERELICT 201 
 
 REHOBOTH 215 
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 23O 
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 248 
 
 THE RISING TIDE 26l 
 
 vu

 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 
 
 This is the true history of the Kefr Ammeh incident 
 which greatly disconcerted some of the English governors 
 of Egypt, though no notice of it found its way into the 
 newspapers. A number of fellahin were tortured by 
 the omdeh (headman) of a place of some importance 
 out of sheer devotion, as it seemed, to Mr Sandeman, 
 the English inspector for the district. To the authorities 
 the case appeared inexplicable. To me, who had been 
 able to observe affairs at Kefr Ammeh from the 
 Egyptian no less than the English point of view, the 
 " incident," however startling, appeared not unnatural 
 seeing the strange popularity which Mr Sandeman 
 enjoyed there and the almost mystic awe which he 
 inspired in the inhabitants. He was, in fact, a kind of 
 fetish for the population, and that for reasons of which 
 he personally had no knowledge, reasons quite in- 
 dependent of his rank as an official. The key to under- 
 standing of the situation came into my possession quite 
 by accident, three months before George Sandeman's 
 appointment to the district, when I visited Kefr Ammeh 
 for amusement at the season of the Mdlid of the local 
 saint. On the first night of the fair I chanced to stroll 
 into a circus-tent, where I was privileged to witness a 
 most strange performance. 
 
 The ring was lighted by the flare of five tall cressets 
 set at irregular intervals on its circumference. The 
 large tent was crowded. Men and women of the poorer 
 sort, with swarms of children, sat or sprawled upon the 
 ground around the ring. Behind them rose a mist of 
 black robes, white turbans, and brown faces, tier on tier,
 
 2 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 from which there came the steadfast gleam of teeth and 
 eyeballs. The audience was hushed, devouring with 
 its thousand eyes the antics of some clever tumblers 
 and a few conventional displays of horsemanship. 
 Then came the clown, and there were murmurs of 
 delight, since he was known to be the pearl of all his 
 time for drollery. After mimicking an omdeh, a 
 shawish and an Egyptian judge, oppressors of the poor, 
 amid much laughter, he put his hand into the placket of 
 his baggy trousers and fished up a wig of tow which he 
 adjusted to his head. He then rubbed some red dust 
 upon his face until it wore the colour of pomegranate- 
 bloom, put on a Frankish collar and an old pith helmet 
 brought to him by an attendant, took in his hand a cane 
 and began to strut up and down stiffly with elbows 
 raised, opening his mouth very wide and saying : 
 " Wow ! Wow ! " at frequent intervals. 
 
 During his toilet you could have heard a pin drop 
 in the tent ; but now as he marched to and fro with 
 that strange cry, a sigh arose : " What is he now ? O 
 Lord, inform us quickly : What is this ? " and some 
 one cried in accents of delight : " The name of God be 
 round about us ! He is become a ghoul — a sinful 
 ghoul ! " 
 
 A doll was thrown into the ring. With a shout : "It 
 is my son ! " the clown pounced on it and clasped it to 
 his breast. He laid it upon one of two chairs which had 
 been placed in readiness while he himself took seat upon 
 the other, saying : " Rest thou there, my son, until 
 they bring thee meat and milk and vegetables, all duly 
 stale from having been enclosed in tins for many years ! " 
 And then the fun became so furious that those who 
 witnessed the performance had no time to guess its 
 meaning. Man after man came in, upon his feet, and 
 the ghoul, with curses, made him go down on his hands 
 and knees. " It is for your good," he cried. " We wish 
 to see you all made equal under us. We teach you 
 good behaviour. We are a just race." 
 
 At length three men came in at once. As fast as one
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 3 
 
 of them went down obediently upon his hands and 
 knees, his brothers rose up on their feet, until the ghoul 
 grew so infuriated that his mind flew from him and he 
 knew not where he stood. Retreating backwards to 
 his seat wow-wowing loudly, he mistook the chair, sat 
 down upon his child and squashed it flat. 
 
 " Wan ! Wah ! My son is dead ! " he roared, holding 
 up the doll for all to see. Then from the mighty crowd 
 there came a shout of laughter with cries of " May our 
 Lord have mercy on him, O thou foolish monster ! " 
 
 " Bring water ! " cried the ghoul beside himself. 
 " Bring water, sprinkle and revive my son. No, no ! 
 It will do harm. It is not filtered. Hi, there, you 
 doctors ! Bring my son to life or I will cut your heads 
 off!" 
 
 "0 atheistic monster!" roared the crowd. "Canst 
 thou not see that thy misfortune is from God ? " 
 
 " Down on all fours, beasts that you are ! " he cried. 
 " Convey my son with honour to the hospital ! " 
 
 They answered : " It is useless, khawagah ! He 
 is truly dead ! " 
 
 The ghoul then seized a chair and killed the doctors 
 with it, which done, he once more gave attention to his 
 child. His brick-red face became convulsed with grief ; 
 he opened his great mouth and howled " Wow ! Wow ! ' 
 He stamped his feet and tore his wig of tow. Then the 
 men who had been killed rose up and fetched an open 
 coffin such as Muslims use. " No, no ! " he bellowed 
 on beholding it. " Go fetch a tin. All meat must be 
 preserved in tins or it goes bad." 
 
 They changed the coffin for a kerosene tin into which 
 they thrust the doll, then ran away with it, the ghoul 
 pursuing them with shouts : " The lid ! Where is the 
 lid ? My son will spoil ! " Just as they were leaving 
 the arena they flung away the tin, the doll fell out, the 
 ghoul, with " Wow ! Wow ! " seized his child in one 
 hand, the tin in the other, and ran out after them ; the 
 play was ended. 
 
 The audience drew a deep sigh of regret. There
 
 4 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 followed argument in whispers as to its significance. 
 Some one said : " It was an Englishman." " No," 
 came the answer, " it was nothing of the seed of Adam, 
 but a cursed ghoul with some resemblance to an English- 
 man." A third exponent cried : " It was an atheist, 
 and all the evil which befell him comically, was from 
 God." 
 
 Kefr Ammeh, as I learnt, had no acquaintance with 
 the English, though but a stone's throw from the town 
 there stood a government rest-house where Englishmen 
 occasionally came and spent a night. The sole exceptions 
 were the omdeh, who had met with their inspectors, 
 and the custodian of the rest-house aforesaid, a pious 
 sheykh devoid of curiosity, who told his beads and gave 
 scant heed to men who came and went. The watchman 
 had not seen the clown's performance, but the omdeh 
 had ; and when the crowd emerged at length into the 
 street of tents, alight and noisy underneath the stars, 
 the latter was beset with eager questions. Was the 
 tow-haired, red-faced creature with the curious voice 
 an Englishman, as some were saying, or a ghoul ? 
 
 A ghoul, most certainly, the omdeh said, the English 
 being men of regal bearing, remarkable above all things 
 for self-restraint. Yet some of the visitors to the fair 
 from distant places vowed that the clown had played 
 the English to the life. The men of Kefr Ammeh took 
 the omdeh's word for it. What they had seen had been 
 a ghoul most certainly ; and the inadvertent squashing 
 of his offspring, the derision which he met with in the 
 end, had been the due reward of tyranny and atheism. 
 It had been a moral tale unfolded comically, in the true 
 Egyptian manner ; and the fact that all points of its 
 application were not absolutely clear made it the more 
 attractive to the rustic audience, most of whom re- 
 visited the circus on the second evening of the fair, 
 to see it and learn from it. 
 
 The clown portrayed the omdeh, the shawish, the 
 judge, exactly as before; but when the people clamoured, 
 some for the ghoul and others for the Englishman, he
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 5 
 
 ran away with shaking of the head. The clamour went 
 on vainly for some time. At length a juggler sprang 
 into the ring playing with balls of light until their 
 flying glitter attracted all those eyes, when murmurs 
 ceased. Afterwards it was known that the Egyptian 
 government official who had been sent to overlook the 
 fair, informed of the performance of the previous night, 
 had put a stop to it. This high-handed action fixed the 
 clown's play permanently in the public memory. Men 
 grieved for the suppression of a little drama which (as 
 they said) combined amusement with religious teaching. 
 They mourned their ghoul, and spoke much of him in 
 the weeks which followed, laying stress upon the fact, 
 as stated by the omdeh, that he had borne not the 
 remotest likeness to an Englishman, to show the great 
 injustice of suppressing him. 
 
 And then George Sandeman arrived at Kefr Ammeh. 
 
 Some children were at play one evening on the dust- 
 heaps which extend between the government rest-house 
 — a white, one-storied building in the open fields — and 
 the little mud-built town adorned with palm-trees, 
 when a foreigner, emerging from the rest-house, came 
 upon them suddenly, exclaiming : — 
 
 " Where is the house of the omdeh ? " 
 
 The children all with one accord fell down upon their 
 hands and knees. 
 
 " Security, O khawagah ! Guarantee but my security 
 and I will show thee," cried one braver than the rest. 
 
 " Be not afraid ! " the Frank replied ; on which the 
 guide ran off as one who flees from danger. The 
 children's game was at an end. They followed awe- 
 struck. 
 
 A man who passed the stranger in a narrow place, 
 stood staring after the tall, white-clad figure strutting 
 along so stiff with elbows raised. He exclaimed : "I 
 seek refuge in Allah from Satan the Stoned," and 
 followed the weird apparition to the omdeh's house, 
 which presently became a place of concourse. First one 
 and then another of the village notables kept dropping
 
 6 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 in till the reception room was full ; while at the doorway 
 women, children and the poorer men gathered and stared 
 intently at the foreigner. Was he, or was he not in truth 
 their ghoul ? He had removed his mushroom hat 
 which had enforced the likeness, and laid it down on 
 the divan beside him. His hair was not like tow in 
 texture, but it was of a light colour, and, ruffled as it was 
 just then, recalled the wig of tow the clown had worn. 
 His face was very red, though in repose the eagerly 
 desired resemblance almost vanished. But when he 
 opened his great mouth and showed his teeth and laughed 
 their ghoul was present. The Englishman's " Ha ! 
 Ha ! " which sent a shudder down the spine of every 
 listener, was as near as could be to the mountebank's 
 " Wow ! Wow ! " He bellowed every word as if his 
 hearers had been deaf. 
 
 The omdeh used him with the greatest reverence, 
 receiving with expressions of delight the information 
 (conveyed in most peculiar Arabic) that he was English 
 and had been commanded to reside at Kefr Ammeh for 
 some months ; but while making much of him as host 
 to guest, he stole dismayed, inquiring glances at his 
 face. Another laugh, " Wow ! Wow ! " rang forth, 
 and meaning looks were interchanged all round the 
 room. But it was when, in reply to a polite remark to 
 the effect that English people were the lords of justice, 
 he declared without the least demur that that was so, 
 and added : " If we seem like tyrants sometimes it is 
 for your good," that strong suspicion leapt to certainty 
 and exultation reigned in every heart. A murmur of 
 applause went up from the group of common people 
 at the door, which group had now become a crowd 
 which overflowed the little courtyard of the omdeh's 
 house. On the hush which followed this betrayal of 
 emotion came a child's cry : " my mother, lift me up 
 that I may see the ghoul ! " 
 
 The Englishman at length took leave with loud 
 expressions of goodwill, so loud as to seem menacing to 
 all who heard them. A troop of little boys and girls
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 7 
 
 adhered to him with no worse object than to gaze upon 
 his wondrous face. He told them to begone, and beat 
 those nearest to him, when, seeing they annoyed His 
 Grace, a village watchman dispersed them with his 
 quarter-staff. The watchman wished to guard His 
 Honour to the rest-house, but the Englishman com- 
 manded him to go back whence he came and, when he 
 tried remonstrance, used obscene expressions such as 
 the worst of men in cities bandy, threatening, moreover, 
 to chastise him to the point of death. 
 
 The town was thrilled and deeply interested, with 
 the feeling one would have supposing some remembered 
 dream came true in every detail. Inquiry of the cook 
 at the rest-house, when he came to do his shopping in 
 the suk next morning, elicited the fact that the khawagah 
 ate tinned foods and never drank a drop of water which 
 had not been filtered. When this was known some 
 women let their voices flutter forth in joy-cries, as is 
 usual on occasions of festivity. The Englishman was 
 certainly their ghoul. From that day forth he was 
 assured of popularity. Though he was seen to be 
 uncouth, devoid of manners as of understanding, and 
 likely to prove dangerous at unawares, the people loved 
 him and would crowd to gaze on him, hugging to their 
 hearts the blest assurance that they saw his whole 
 significance more truly than he did himself. 
 
 The Englishman was as strong as a camel and less 
 sensitive, for he would ride like mad upon his business 
 in the heat of noon, would exert himself sometimes with 
 scarce a break from the third hour till sunset ; and 
 when he had by chance an idle day did not repose, but 
 rode his horse for pleasure for an hour or so, returning 
 from which pastime he would change his clothes and 
 presently come forth upon the dust-heaps to fatigue 
 himself still more. Armed with some curious sticks, 
 he would take stand with legs apart and smite with all 
 his strength a small white ball, pursuing it from place
 
 8 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 to place until he lost it ; when he would proceed to 
 search for it for hours beneath the burning sun, assisted 
 by the village youngsters, who were accustomed to 
 observe his labours from some spot of shade, from which 
 the offer of a coin alone could tempt them. If they 
 came too close he beat them with his club, and cursed 
 them in abominable language. They feared the beatings, 
 but the language interested them. Their dreamy, serious 
 eyes were always fixed upon his face, and in the earnest- 
 ness of their attention they would mimic all uncon- 
 sciously the strange grimaces which he made when 
 bludgeoning the small white ball, which he seemed to 
 look on as a sinful thing, his enemy. 
 
 He had a small white dog with black ears and a stumpy 
 tail which attended him whenever he went out on foot, 
 adhering to him like his shadow, walking when he walked, 
 stopping when he stopped, always at his heel. This 
 dog he loved above all other living creatures. When 
 walking with it in the town, or out among the fields, he 
 carried in his hand a monstrous whip, wherewith he was 
 prepared to flay the pariah dogs if they attacked it. 
 He spoke to it in gentle tones as to his soul's beloved, 
 and once, when boys began to tease it and it gave a 
 squeak, he beat and cursed the culprits so unmercifully 
 that all the children who beheld the sight fell down 
 before him. 
 
 " Whoso touches my dog," he roared, " I will hang 
 him and his parents and defile their graves." 
 
 The children thought : "His dog is as his son. 
 Please God, he will ere long sit down on it " — a con- 
 tingency which seemed the less remote because the dog 
 invariably kept so close behind him. All animals 
 appeared to have his sympathy, except the pariah dogs 
 aforesaid, which he persecuted. A boy had stuck a 
 knife into a donkey to accelerate its pace : he flew in a 
 great rage, chastised the boy and stole the knife. A man 
 had lost his temper with a sullen mule : he lost his 
 temper with the man, and threatened him with death 
 and hell. Neither the mule nor the ass was his property,
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 9 
 
 nor could the manner of their treatment, by any way of 
 thinking, be esteemed his business. But it was apparent 
 that he could not help himself. At sight of beasts 
 oppressed his mind flew from him, and in his madness 
 he oppressed the sons of Adam. The men of Kefr 
 Ammeh shrugged their shoulders, perceiving that the 
 illness was upon him from the hand of God. The wise 
 among them whispered that in regions where a beast 
 is king one must expect dumb beasts to be preferred to 
 men. The Berberine cook and butler at the rest-house 
 told how the Englishman would take the small white 
 dog upon his knees, and let it freely lick his face and 
 hands ; how it slept in the same room with him and 
 shared his meals. 
 
 The ghoul, the small white dog and the small white 
 ball had for the fellahin the charm of something magical, 
 a mystery whose true significance was known to God 
 alone. The children knew the ball, having all handled 
 it, and they believed it to be made of human bones and 
 skin pressed tight together. But a man, Selim Ghandur, 
 who happened to encounter it upon the dust-heaps, 
 declared with oaths that it was made of solid and 
 essential fire. It had brought him near to death, but 
 while he said the necessary prayers, writhing in awful 
 anguish on the ground, the ghoul came to him with his 
 mouth wide open, laughing " Wow ! Wow ! " and 
 thrust a dollar on him. The ghoul was not a miser, very 
 certainly. He rewarded all who did him service, and, 
 having persecuted any one, would, when his wrath 
 subsided, give him money. His intention, it was clearly 
 seen, was not iniquitous. He often visited the omdeh's 
 house, and honoured other houses when implored to 
 do so. His awful voice and his blood-curdling laugh 
 lost something of their terrors as they grew familiar. 
 The omdeh, who had much to do with him as an official, 
 pronounced him very simple, even brutal, in his methods, 
 and very, very easy to deceive ; though, while deceiving 
 him, a man well knew that, did he but suspect a fraud, 
 his vengeance would be terrible and all-destroying — 
 a.o.s.u. B
 
 io AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 a knowledge which imparted zest to the shy game. 
 He was, upon the whole, extremely popular, and thanks 
 to his discerned capacity for wholesale murder if en- 
 raged, respected. The fellahin were circumspect in 
 their behaviour towards him, for none could tell before- 
 hand what small thing would raise his fury, or whether 
 he might not go mad spontaneously. 
 
 One evening there arrived two other Englishmen 
 upon a visit to the rest-house. The loud wow-wowing 
 of their welcome could be heard afar. Thereafter, at 
 the third hour of the night, most frightful sounds 
 alarmed the waking town. A roaring as of wild beasts, 
 in a solemn cadence, lasted for several minutes at a 
 time ; then came a moment's hush, then a fresh outburst. 
 The people thronged the roofs and listened, stiff with 
 fright. 
 
 " Perhaps," the children whispered, " our ghoul has 
 sat down on his son, the small white dog ! " The sweet 
 conjecture was passed on from roof to roof. The men 
 said : " He could hardly make that noise alone — not 
 even he ! Two others of his kind arrived at sunset. 
 The probability is that they have drunk strong drink 
 until they have become intoxicated, and thus roar in 
 madness." 
 
 "If they are drunk, then make fast every door ; 
 remove the women to a place of safety ! " counselled one 
 old man, a member of the omdeh's household, raising 
 his hands in anguish to the stars. " They will presently 
 break forth to slay and ravish. I remember, years ago 
 when I was in the army, how the Circassian and Albanian 
 officers would thus sit up and drink until their wits 
 forsook them ; then, rushing out, would chase us with 
 their swords, calling us (saving your presence) Nile 
 mud and the accursed dung of Pharaoh. They would 
 even run into the streets abusing all they met." 
 
 " Merciful Allah ! " cried the omdeh, who forthwith 
 despatched a runner to the rest-house to inquire if there 
 was any danger of a massacre. The two Berberines, the 
 cook and butler of the Englishman, assailed with such
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT n 
 
 a question, laughed contemptuously. In the manner of 
 experienced stablemen explaining to some nincompoop 
 the ways of horses, they told the messenger that English- 
 men were most benevolent when thus elated. The 
 dreadful roaring was the mode of singing in their country. 
 They would roar till there was no more voice left in them, 
 and then betake themselves like lambs to bed. This 
 information, carried straightway to the omdeh, some- 
 what relieved the apprehensions of the people ; but 
 few were they in Kefr Ammeh who deemed it safe to 
 go to bed that night. 
 
 From the English point of view George Sandeman 
 was not abnormal. He sported all the small inanities 
 and irritating tricks of manner, varying with the mode 
 from year to year, which mark the youthful Englishman 
 of good society. A man with men, a gentleman with 
 women, he dressed well without foppery, adorned his 
 rather jerky conversation with the latest slang, and 
 was in some demand for dances in the Cairo season. 
 
 He having failed in the initial step to various careers, 
 one of his uncles, who was in the Cabinet, had forced 
 him into the Egyptian Civil Service, much to the 
 annoyance of the British lord of Egypt, who hated to 
 submit to private influence. Sandeman was put into 
 positions especially designed to prove his incapacity. 
 But somehow he survived successive ordeals. He did 
 not love his work ; his whole delight was in field-sports 
 and in the pleasures of the town ; yet he did not do 
 badly. It had become apparent that the government 
 would have to keep him after all, about the time when 
 he was sent to Kefr Ammeh. Once there, his unexpected 
 popularity, reported in high quarters, was set down to 
 tact as an administrator, and his name was made. 
 
 " It's a rummy thing," he told me when I spent an 
 evening with him at the rest-house, " but I believe the 
 beggars somehow take to me. And I like them too in a 
 way. Can understand how a chap like you, who's read
 
 12 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 'em up, can find them interesting, and all that. Do, 
 myself, in a way. They're all right if you know how to 
 handle 'em. I go in and call on 'em and have a talk — 
 treat 'em like human beings ; but they jolly well know 
 I won't stand cheek or any nonsense from 'em. That's 
 the way. They're tricky, though ; you can't see into 
 them." 
 
 As an example of their trickiness or their opacity, 
 I know not which, he told me how the omdeh had sent 
 round one night, when he and two other Englishmen 
 were singing school songs after dinner, to ask if there 
 was any danger of a massacre. 
 
 " Now was that innocence or was it cheek ? I ask you. 
 What ? When the cook came in and told us, splitting 
 his sides with laughter, I felt pretty small. Didn't sing 
 much after that, I can assure you ! We had, of course, 
 been kicking up a most infernal row, enough to frighten 
 people who had never heard that kind o' thing. But 
 I'm not so sure that message wasn't meant for cheek. 
 D — d cheek, if it really was sarcastic. What ? Yet 
 he's a dear old thing, and quite a pal o' mine. They're 
 rummy beggars." 
 
 He sat in silence for a minute, stroking the fox-terrier 
 upon his lap, wrestling, it seemed, with some elusive 
 thought. 
 
 " I tell you what, old man," he said at length. " I 
 shall have to write a book about 'em some day. Started 
 notes already. I come across some rummy things down 
 here. I don't say I should ever print the stuff, but it'd 
 be amusin' just to see what I could do. Keep me from 
 going mad in this damned hole." 
 
 I praised the notion highly, being always eager to 
 encourage the first shy movements of a mind in healthy 
 flesh. He added : " I believe I've got upon the track of 
 something — pretty big discovery, it seems to me — 
 about the beggars." 
 
 He seemed desirous to be plied with questions. I, 
 therefore, begged him, with effusion, to confide in 
 me.
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 13 
 
 " You won't crib my notion ? You've got to promise 
 that before I tell you. Well, it may be nothing really — 
 just an accident, or some other feller may have spotted 
 it before — but I believe these beggars aren't quite men 
 like we are — a bit nearer to the monkeys, Darwin and 
 all that. What put me on the track was this — a rummy 
 thing ! If you talk to any of their youngsters a bit 
 sharply, raise a stick to them or anything of that sort, 
 it's ten to one they'll go down on all fours. As if " — 
 he puffed at his cigar with zeal, manifestly struggling 
 with a tough abstraction — " as if they felt safer, more 
 at home, once they could get their hands on the ground. 
 As if — some instinct, don't you know ? — and all that ! 
 I never saw a man do it but once, and then he may have 
 done it for a purpose, for he tried to lick my boots. But 
 the little kiddies do it nearly always — nearer to nature. 
 What ? It's a queer thing." 
 
 He went on talking of the " beggars," as he called 
 them, till we went to bed, which did not happen until 
 after midnight. We met at breakfast the next morning, 
 and then said good-bye, Sandeman going to his daily 
 work, while I set off upon my journey to another rest- 
 house. 
 
 I did not meet George Sandeman again until the 
 following winter, when he was much in Cairo, having 
 some relatives and hosts of friends among the fashion- 
 able visitors. Then, as it happened, we met rather 
 often in attendance on a certain English family in which 
 there was a very pretty girl. I may as well confess I 
 offered marriage to the damsel, only to learn that she 
 adored George Sandeman — a predilection which I cannot 
 for my life explain except by the old adage about 
 youth attracting youth. We remained good friends, 
 however, and by her contrivance I was wheedled into 
 something more than toleration for my favoured rival. 
 In English society I must say that the said George 
 appeared to great advantage, being evidently in his 
 element, which I was not. I felt much more at home in 
 Kefr Ammeh.
 
 14 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " How is your book getting on ? " I asked one after- 
 noon, when I found him having tea alone at one of the 
 little tables in the hall of the club. 
 
 " Oh, that ! " was the reply. " I still jot down a note 
 occasionally. But I may tell you that I've chucked 
 the great discovery — all rot ! I bet you knew that 
 at the time, you secretive old beast — and wouldn't 
 tell a feller ! " He laughed without a trace of 
 animosity. 
 
 " Their dropping down like that was simply cheek. 
 I guess you twigged that — eh ? I caught them grinning 
 once or twice. That was enough. I've put a stop to it 
 for good and all. God knows what made 'em take to it. 
 The only thing that I can think of 's this : You know 
 I'm devilish fond of my small dog. The children 
 started teasing just once. I let 'em know that I'd 
 jolly well hang, draw and quarter the whole lot of 'em, 
 with their fathers and grandfathers — and so I would, by 
 Jove — if anybody touched my dog again. Well, to 
 rag me in return for that, the beggars made believe that 
 I was only fond of beasts — a bit of a beast myself, no 
 doubt — and so dropped down like that for mercy — 
 kind of sarcastic business, don't you see ? What first 
 gave me a hint that they were not so simple as I used 
 to think was the old omdeh sending round that night 
 about our singing. Made me feel exceeding small, that 
 did. So damned sarcastic ! He's a dignified old boy. 
 God knows what they think of us, or what they see us 
 like with those queer eyes of theirs. I must say I should 
 like to know for once." 
 
 I told him that he seemed to me to be developing, how- 
 ever tardily, the faculty of abstract thought — beginning 
 to " take notice," as our nurses say. He flicked a 
 crumb of toast at me, and then continued : — 
 
 " They really are quite decent in some ways. About 
 my shooting, for instance. There's good sport around 
 the place. They give me leave to go just where I like, 
 and clear the ground of kids and cattle for me. I have 
 one really ripping gun, and always make a point of
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 15 
 
 cleaning it myself. You should see the beggars eye it ! 
 They've got a legend that it kills with every shot. I 
 believe they think I worship that and my small dog. 
 I have to row them sometimes just to keep 'em in their 
 place, but on the whole I find 'em jolly decent. Only 
 don't go saying that to Joan or her mamma. They're 
 always fishing for an invitation to come down and see 
 me. No place for women, as you know. Do put them 
 off ! I shouldn't know what to do with 'em " — he 
 blushed profusely — " should feel ashamed, an utter 
 worm before the beggars. Can't explain. You might 
 come down and look me up sometimes. Come the first 
 week next month. Our Molid will be on, and if there's 
 ever going to be fun in Kefr Ammeh, you'll behold it 
 then." 
 
 I could not reply definitely to the invitation on the 
 spur of the moment, but after a few days I wrote 
 accepting it. 
 
 Alighting at Masturah station about ten o'clock one 
 morning, I succeeded in procuring donkeys for my 
 servant and myself and rode along the dykes to Kefr 
 Ammeh. From afar I saw a line of tents much longer 
 than the face the town presented, shining out against 
 a palm-grove to the southward ; discerned the flutter 
 of innumerable small red flags and heard the hive-like 
 murmur of the fair. Sandeman seemed pleased to see 
 me. We had luncheon and then sat and talked till four 
 o'clock, when we went out to pay a call upon the chief 
 official of the fair. The crowd within the canvas town 
 was dense, and Snap, the small white dog, was at his 
 master's heels. He ought not to have been there, but 
 we did not discover his attendance until it was too late 
 to send him home. I noticed children calling out 
 " Isnab ! " alluringly, and saw some of them stoop to 
 pet the dog. They belonged to Kefr Ammeh. Strangers, 
 who knew not Snap, were less considerate. Twice he 
 received a kick which set him yelping, and Sandeman
 
 16 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 turned round and used atrocious language. Wherever 
 the man learnt it I could never guess. 
 
 " That's one thing I do hate about the beggars, and 
 one good reason why I won't have Joan down here. 
 They're so damned cruel. It never seems to strike 
 them that dumb beasts can feel," he told me as we 
 shouldered through the press. Our goal was the marquee 
 set up by the provincial government in honour of the 
 Muslim saint who sleeps at Kefr Ammeh, who slept 
 there as a Christian saint before the Muslim conquest, 
 and as a god of ancient Egypt long before the birth of 
 Christendom. One end of the marquee was open to the 
 crowd ; at the other, in the place of honour on a long 
 divan, sat the representative of government, a black- 
 bearded effendi, receiving the respectful compliments of 
 divers notables. The atmosphere was reverent as in a 
 church ; till Sandeman with loud " Ha, ha ! " strode 
 in out of the sunlight, Snap at his heels, shook the official 
 violently by the hand, nodded to all the company, which 
 rose to greet him, and flopped down comfortably in the 
 place of greatest honour, where Snap immediately 
 jumped up beside him. The other visitors were mildly 
 scandalised by the apparition of a dog on the divan 
 above them ; the representative of the provincial 
 government betrayed alarm ; until the omdeh of Kefr 
 Ammeh, rising in his place, explained that Snap was not 
 as other dogs which never wash but wander to and fro, 
 eating all manner of abomination. This dog, he said, 
 performed ablutions twice a day, lived in a house, slept 
 in a bed, and fed on bread and milk and beans and 
 onions. In all respects he was his master's soul. 
 
 The representative of the provincial government, 
 thus reassured, and anxious to propitiate the soul of 
 Sandeman, gave the dog a sweetmeat with his honour- 
 able hand, while all the notables showered praises on 
 him. We drank a cup of coffee and some water, and 
 ate sickly sweetstuff, while musicians squatting in the 
 tent-mouth made a merry din ; then Sandeman sprang 
 up abruptly, wrung the great man's hand once more,
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 17 
 
 touched his hat to all the others and marched out with 
 Snap behind him. 
 
 I had overtaken him before I realised that half the 
 men who had been sitting in the tent were coming with 
 us, anxious, no doubt, to pay their court to one so 
 arrogant. Those who were not fortunate enough to 
 gain a place beside him attached themselves to me as 
 we proceeded on our homeward way. Among these was 
 the omdeh of the place, a fine old man in splendid 
 silken raiment, who at once began to pour into my ear 
 the praise of Sandeman. 
 
 The town, nay, all the country, were His Honour's 
 servants. He was so strong and yet so generous, of 
 such a brilliant and far-seeing mind and yet benevolent. 
 Of a verity he was the marvel of his time for might and 
 justice. A perfect Englishman, and all was said ! All 
 Kefr Ammeh loved him as men love the water-brooks. 
 Would I be good enough to find out from His Excellency 
 whether there was anything displeasing to him in the 
 place ; and afterwards let him (the omdeh) know, that 
 he might have it altered. The population was, alas, 
 uncivilised, however much devoted to His Grace, and 
 might offend through ignorance of good behaviour. 
 He (the omdeh) would far rather lose his right hand, 
 he declared with vehemence, than that anything should 
 happen to aggrieve that prince of Englishmen. There 
 had been no disorder, praise to Allah, since his coming ; 
 but naturally there existed in the place a few bad 
 characters, who might by some unhappy outbreak 
 smirch its fame. One of the outlying hamlets, Mit 
 Gamus, was a veritable hornet's nest of fearless brigands. 
 He therefore begged me, as a personal favour, to per- 
 suade His Highness not to come into the fair again like 
 this incognito, but with outrunners and attendants as 
 became his state. Thus he would be guarded from the 
 rude touch of the crowd, and the sweetest, most delight- 
 ful of all little dogs would be secured from hurt. 
 
 I called to Sandeman to stop and listen, and bade the 
 omdeh make his own request. He did so, but with
 
 18 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 evident reluctance, and in broken phrases which con- 
 trasted strongly with the eloquence of his discourse to 
 me. While he frequently declared his love for Sandeman, 
 I saw that he was very much afraid of him. All the 
 bystanders supported his petition, talking baby Arabic 
 intelligible to the perfect Englishman. 
 
 " Does Your Honour think of visiting the fair to- 
 night ? Let him but order, and we will provide a score 
 of men happy and proud to be his guard of honour." 
 
 " Who told you that I thought of visiting the 
 fair to-night ? " snapped Sandeman. He murmured : 
 " Beastly cheek ! " beneath his breath. " Why should 
 I come out when I am comfortable in the house ? — 
 They seem to think their beastly fair attractive," he 
 remarked aside. I told him that I thought the omdeh 
 had some fear of trouble with the crowd. 
 
 " Oh, that's another matter. Then we'll come, you 
 bet ! But don't you tell 'em that," said Sandeman with 
 glee. I told the omdeh and the other notables that 
 His Honour felt no great desire to see the fair again. 
 They seemed relieved, and parted from us with a storm 
 of blessings. 
 
 " Seems quiet enough," observed my friend some 
 four hours later, as we moved once more amid the 
 multitude, under the flare of torches, deafened by a 
 thousand discords. " Let's turn in somewhere, see a 
 show or two. This place looks promising. Come on, 
 old man ! " 
 
 He paid down money at a wicket and we passed into 
 a crowded circus-tent. Our entrance was unheeded by 
 the audience, all intent just then upon the antics of a 
 clown who held the ring alone. I recognised the jester 
 of my former visit, and tried desperately to get Sandeman 
 out again under pretext of the foulness of the atmo- 
 sphere. But in a trice he had become absorbed in the 
 performance as completely as the fellahin around us. 
 
 " That's our omdeh to the life ! Look, just below us 
 in the third row, there's the man himself, and all his 
 family enjoying it as much as any one ! " he whispered,
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 19 
 
 and then forgot me and the world together for a 
 while. 
 
 Having finished his performance of the omdeh, the 
 clown put on a wig of tow, an old pith helmet, and a 
 Frankish collar, hung something like a pipe between 
 his teeth, took in his hand a whip and swaggered up and 
 down with elbows raised, now exclaiming, " Wow ! 
 Wow ! " now looking back and whistling for a dog. 
 
 " That's me ! That's devilish good ! The cunning 
 beggars ! " came from Sandeman, entranced, and 
 presently his laugh rang out above the others. That 
 betrayed us. I caught the omdeh's gaze directed at us, 
 and never have I seen such mortal terror in an old man's 
 face. He sprang up on his seat and shrieked to the 
 buffoon to stop, calling him evil names and cursing his 
 religion. Not content with that, he scrambled down 
 into the arena with remarkable agility for one so old, 
 and flung himself upon the jester with intent to kill. 
 Many of the audience followed his example, while others 
 called aloud on Allah and the local saint. Sandeman 
 wanted to go down into the melee and protect the clown. 
 I deterred him by main force and dragged him from 
 that pandemonium out into the street of tents, telling 
 two soldiers who were standing by the door to stop the 
 riot. We waited till the noise within had quite subsided, 
 when the omdeh came rushing out like a madman, 
 flung himself at Sandeman's feet and told him that the 
 clown was captured and awaited judgment. Sandeman 
 swore horribly and told him not to be a fool, which 
 made the old man look more scared than ever as we 
 moved away. 
 
 " What silly fools the beggars are ! " sighed Sande- 
 man, " spoiling the best part of the show like that ! 
 Whatever do they think I am — an ogre? What? 
 Of course it was cheek of the feller, but I thought it 
 damned amusin'. No need to half kill the joker, 
 anyhow ! Surprisin' beggars ! Absolutely mad, of 
 course. I sometimes feel as if I were bewitched, changed 
 somehow, not myself at all, the way the beggars look
 
 20 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 at me ! Can't grasp their point of view, you see. 
 It's pretty maddening. Makes one downright 
 homesick. I've had enough of this. Let's get in- 
 doors." 
 
 My friend was nearly crying with vexation. I told 
 him that in my opinion the beggars, as he called them, 
 were afraid of him, and suggested that the frightful 
 language he employed habitually might peradventure 
 have something to do with it. 
 
 " Oh, that ! They're used to that. They like it ! " 
 he made light rejoinder, and went on to enlarge upon the 
 subject of the homesickness which seized him sometimes 
 when alone with them. He told me the whole history 
 of his love for Joan, which dated from his sixteenth 
 year, described his home, his earliest recollections, his 
 first ride to hounds and other private matters in a 
 sentimental tone. There dwelt in truth a very honest, 
 simple soul beneath his self-assertive outward shell. 
 After midnight, in his study in the rest-house, he 
 described to me the height of his ambition : " Two thou- 
 sand a year. You can't ask a girl to marry you on less, 
 and a little country house — I know the very place I 
 want in Devon — among trees, you know — I love the drip 
 of trees after a shower — with decent shooting and a few 
 good neighbours — and Joanie ! I should be a king, by 
 Jove ! And here I am in this damned furnace of a 
 country, acting nursery governess to a lot of bally 
 monkeys. But there, the beggars are all right. I'm 
 feeling down." 
 
 At this point he had paused with one hand on his 
 brow, the other stroking Snap, who lay upon his knees 
 as usual, when a droning, nasal chant, uplifted suddenly, 
 assailed our ears. Coming from just outside the house, 
 it startled me. 
 
 " My old Ghafir," said Sandeman. " He's at his 
 prayers. Whenever I wake up at night I hear that 
 noise. It's damned pathetic, the religion of these 
 beggars. Fine, I call it ! — He's a rum old boy. God 
 knows who pays him for his job. He's never had a sou
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 21 
 
 from me, I know. I've a jolly good mind to give him 
 something now." 
 
 He went to the window and called to the Ghafir. The 
 man came running. " Ghafir ! A sovereign for you ! 
 Catch ! Have you got it ? " 
 
 " Praise be to God," replied a drowsy voice out of 
 the darkness. That old night-watchman, who had kept 
 the rest-house from its first foundation, was never seen 
 again in Kefr Ammeh. 
 
 The Ghafir had all his life been saving money, little 
 by little, for the purpose of that pilgrimage to Mecca 
 which, being pious, he accounted life's true aim. I 
 gathered this, with other matters incidental to this 
 story, afterwards from an Egyptian friend in Kefr 
 Ammeh, who had been my host on more than one 
 occasion of my visiting the place. The sovereign he 
 received from Sandeman that night made up the sum 
 which he had put before him as the minimum required 
 for his long journey. He had hoped to set forth in 
 another year or two. This godsend made it possible to 
 start at any time ; and, as it wanted but a week of the 
 departure of the yearly pilgrimage, he resolved at once 
 to break the fetters of his worldly calling. By dawn 
 he had made up a bundle of his few belongings, with 
 which upon his back, and staff in hand, he set out for 
 the railway station at the peep of day. Wrapped in the 
 praises of the Lord, he stepped out gladly, never turning 
 to look back at the white house which he had guarded 
 faithfully for fifteen years. About a mile from his own 
 place, passing the hamlet known as Mit Gamus just as 
 the sun was rising, he met some young men going 
 forth to work. One of them, who was leading two 
 white water-buffaloes, hailed him by name, inquiring : 
 " Whither away ? " 
 
 He answered with a phrase which told them that he 
 was a pilgrim. The young men asked him who would 
 guard the rest-house in his absence. He replied that
 
 22 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 Allah knew ; the house was in His keeping ; all was 
 well. At that those young men exchanged lightning 
 glances, and sped him on his way with hearty blessings. 
 
 Beside a sakieh they stood and watched him trudging 
 on, a plume of dust uprising from his heels ; then one of 
 them remarked : " The praise to Allah. The gun which 
 never misses is without a guardian. Meet in the palm- 
 grove at the fall of night. We must devise a stratagem." 
 Another cried : " The stratagem is found already. Lo, 
 the watchmanship is vacant, and we alone have know- 
 ledge of the fact ! Let one of us become the watchman 
 till our end is gained." 
 
 " Dost thou consent to play the part, O Mustafa ? " 
 
 " At thy pleasure," answered Mustafa, a swarthy 
 youth, a kind of servant to the previous speaker, who 
 was called the Sheykh Ridwan. " If thou desire it I 
 will go to-night and be Ghafir." 
 
 " Capital ! " exclaimed Ridwan. " Thou wilt make 
 friends with the two servants and learn from them the 
 habits of the Englishman. We shall await thee here 
 to-morrow at this hour, for thy report." 
 
 The Sheykh Ridwan, aged seventeen, was a romantic 
 dreamer. He had battened upon tales of strange 
 adventure till the sober facts of life appeared unreal 
 to him. He saw that quiet countryside as wonderland, 
 and planned, while he performed his daily tasks, such 
 exploits as had earned renown for brave and wily ones 
 of old. Those exploits, being always well rewarded in 
 the chap-books, he thought would lead perforce to high 
 preferment and his recognition as the choicest spirit of 
 the age. A mighty talker, of some eloquence upon his 
 favourite subject, possessing, he alone of all his entour- 
 age, the power to read aloud from printed books ; 
 being, moreover, the son of a rich farmer, he had infected 
 with his views a group of youths of his own age. They 
 formed a band, united by most horrid vows. They 
 pricked themselves with knives to get inured to pain ; 
 they prowled by night in order to get used to darkness. 
 They thought of exploits which might make them
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 23 
 
 famous, and if they heard of any treasure greatly 
 guarded, would instantly devise some plan to get at it, 
 with no idea of theft, but simply that mankind might 
 recognise their dauntless guile. On the few occasions of 
 their action hitherto they had succeeded ; but when, 
 as happened naturally, they bragged of their success, 
 the men whom they had hoodwinked made complaint 
 against them to the father of the Sheykh Ridwan, 
 whose anger gave the youths a sense of failure through 
 injustice. 
 
 " When AH El Masri performed his clever rogueries at 
 the court of Er-Rashid," said young Ridwan with bitter- 
 ness, " those whom he tricked sought only to outwit 
 him in return and, when they failed, became his servants 
 and admirers. But these low dogs come fawning to my 
 father. They have neither heart nor liver. May they 
 perish utterly ! " 
 
 Therewith he swore to be revenged on them. Their 
 names were entered in the black book of the band, 
 and never mentioned without solemn execration. Any 
 game at their expense was counted fair. It was this 
 admixture of revengeful spite with their romance which 
 made the band the growing terror of the neighbourhood. 
 The father of Ridwan, although indulgent to his son, 
 alluded sometimes to the English as relentless rulers, 
 without indulgence for the sports of youth, who would 
 not scruple to arrest the band in its entirety and cast it 
 into prison if they came to know of it ; and since the 
 coming of the English ghoul to Kefr Ammeh, the omdeh, 
 through the fear of him, had threatened action. 
 
 The band had seen the clown's performance in the 
 circus ; they had seen the Englishman, the small white 
 ball and the small white dog at play upon the dust- 
 heaps many times. Moreover, two of them had served 
 the ghoul when he went out to shoot, and so beheld the 
 wondrous gun which never missed. But while the other 
 fellahin surveyed the prodigy with awestruck eyes, as 
 a mystery whose inner meaning would never be revealed 
 in this low world, Ridwan's small gang, intoxicated
 
 24 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 with romance, beheld him as a potent lord and possible 
 magician — in fact, the only monster in the country. 
 To overcome him by some stratagem would mean for 
 them the moral lordship of the district. Ridwan's most 
 cherished daydream was to picture the Englishman, 
 outwitted by his skill, bestowing on him rank and 
 honours as did monarchs of old days ; and his disciples, 
 taking fire from him as usual, saw in the English ghoul 
 their road to glory. 
 
 At first their mind had been to carry off the small 
 white dog, returning it after a while politely with a full 
 description of the stratagem they had employed to 
 gain it. But from the moment when they saw the gun 
 which never missed, cupidity usurped the place of 
 sportiveness. With such a gun the band would be 
 invincible. And now, in the departure of the old 
 Ghafir, they saw their opportunity to get possession of 
 it. Mustafa, after his first night as watchman at the 
 rest-house, brought them hopeful news. He had been 
 accepted as the new Ghafir without a question. The 
 Berberine cook, with whom alone he had held conversa- 
 tion, had asked him what had happened to the old 
 Ghafir, and, hearing he was gone upon the pilgrimage, 
 had given praise to God. He had learnt from the said 
 cook that the khawagah was going to the capital to spend 
 a night ; Selim the waiter would attend him thither, 
 and the cook was thinking surreptitiously of going to 
 Dumyatt to see some friends. He had asked Mustafa 
 to give food and water to the small white dog at sunset 
 for fear lest it should die and he (the cook) be blamed ; 
 had asked him, too, to see that it was kept indoors lest 
 it should stray, when equal blame would be his 
 portion. 
 
 " To-morrow, then, towards midnight ! " cried Ridwan 
 emotionally. 
 
 At the time appointed the band approached the 
 rest-house, armed with pistols, quarter-staves and rusty 
 scimitars. First they crawled about the dust-heaps 
 on their bellies for an hour to make quite sure that no
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 25 
 
 one of the village watchmen lurked in that direction. 
 Then they stole up to the house. 
 
 Mustafa waited with the door-key in his hand. He 
 opened for them and they entered, shuddering, in super- 
 natural awe of their own daring. They closed the 
 house door, lit a candle they had brought with them, and 
 set out to explore the house. The small white dog, 
 aroused from sleep, flew at them, barking, till in their 
 terror they struck hard and made it dumb. For long 
 they could not find the gun, search as they would. 
 At last a queer-shaped case which they had passed 
 repeatedly was made to open. It contained the treasure. 
 With that in hand they went away again, creeping till 
 they were out of earshot of the house, when they 
 careered with horrid yells across the plain, in terror of 
 themselves, such awful malefactors ! 
 
 The Berberine cook returned next morning from 
 Dumyatt to find the small white dog a lifeless corpse 
 and the gun stolen. He praised the Lord, then gashed 
 his forehead with a knife, likewise his arm, and bandaged 
 up the wounds. He then ran weeping to the omdeh's 
 house, where in the courtyard he fell down and rubbed 
 his visage in the mire, exclaiming : — 
 
 " Woe ! Oh, woe ! The house is broken open. The 
 soul of the khawagah. the beautiful, the priceless little 
 snow-white dog, is foully slain. I fought with twenty. 
 I was wounded, overcome. I am but now awakened from 
 the swoon. O Allah! What to do? O Lord, relieve me !" 
 
 At that cry, the omdeh, the watchmen, and all the 
 elders came together. They hurried out across the 
 dust-heaps to the scene of the crime. The rest-house 
 soon became the centre of a wailing crowd. When the 
 omdeh, in tears, appeared in the doorway holding 
 reverently in his arms the body of the small white 
 dog, there were cries of mourning as upon the death of 
 true believers. " Woe ! Woe ! O cruel day ! " the 
 people moaned. " Behold us ruined, shamed and made 
 a dunghill. The good khawagah will no longer smile 
 on us. His goodness will be changed to fury. This 
 A.o.s.u. c
 
 26 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 priceless little dog was as his son, and innocent of all 
 offences." 
 
 " Wallahi, I will have the lives of all concerned ! " 
 exclaimed the omdeh in a frenzy. " See that this corpse 
 be buried with all honour, as one that was the soul of 
 our good lord. I go to telegraph the dreadful tidings 
 to the mudiriyeh. What can I do ? My face is blackened 
 till the Day of Judgment. I feel that I shall not recover 
 from this great calamity. Nothing worse than a murder 
 has been committed in my jurisdiction hitherto, and 
 now some devils have assailed our lords the English. 
 I must hasten to the telegraph. O High Protector ! " 
 In tears he ran away across the dust-heaps. In answer 
 to the omdeh's telegram to the mudir there came this 
 message : " Inexpressibly horrified. Use all means to 
 discover and arrest the miscreants. Am telegraphing 
 to the noble victim of the wicked plot." 
 
 Immediately upon receipt of this command, the 
 omdeh and the elders formed a court of law and sum- 
 moned witnesses. The Berberine cook, under interro- 
 gation, mentioned the new night-watchman and his 
 likeness. The man described was recognised as Mustafa, 
 a well-known member of the band of Sheykh Ridwan. 
 Exalted by his wrath and fear above all ties of neighbour- 
 hood, the omdeh forthwith sent the village watchmen 
 with orders to arrest not only the aforesaid Mustafa, 
 but also Sheykh Ridwan and all his house. The gang 
 which had intimidated a whole countryside was cap- 
 tured easily and brought to trial in an hour. The 
 father of the Sheykh Ridwan strove hard to intercede 
 for him, offering vast sums of money for his liberation ; 
 but the omdeh raised his arms to Heaven, crying : 
 " Allah witness, I am helpless to befriend thee now. 
 The crime is too excessive. All the land is moved with 
 it. The Government will wipe out Kefr Ammeh and sow 
 the ground thereof with salt as a memorial, if before sun- 
 set it is not avenged." 
 
 " But what proof have you that any of these lads 
 are guilty ? " roared the father of Ridwan.
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 27 
 
 " They shall confess their guilt before thee," said 
 the omdeh grimly ; and he ordered Mustafa to be 
 brought forward. 
 
 Ridwan, that high-strung youth, was weeping bitterly, 
 which made Mustafa, who loved him as his eyes, more 
 resolute in keeping silence under question. 
 
 " What, O son of a dog ? " thundered the omdeh. 
 " Thou wilt not speak ? Thou floutest me ? Wait only ! 
 We will find a way to make thee speak. Here, watch- 
 men, take those three dogs who are grinning there, and 
 give them each ten stripes with the nailed whip." 
 
 " By Allah, we know nothing of the matter," howled 
 the prisoners ; all saving Mustafa, who in his obstinacy 
 seemed of stone. On him the omdeh's wrath was con- 
 centrated. " Ha, I will make thee speak ! " he cried once 
 more. 
 
 " Put out his eyes ! " bellowed the crowd. " Tear 
 off his finger-nails. Pull out his tongue to make him 
 speak and save our lives ! " 
 
 The omdeh, though he paid no heed to their advice, 
 still thought it an occasion on which modern dilatory 
 methods might be put aside. Mustafa was slightly 
 tortured. His frame went rigid and his eyes turned 
 over in his head, but not a word escaped him. Such 
 fortitude destroyed the patience of the crowd. They 
 spat upon him where he lay upon the ground. 
 
 " Where is the gun which never missed ? Inform me!" 
 shrieked the omdeh. 
 
 " Who slew with felon hand the small white dog? 
 Inform me straightway ! " 
 
 Mustafa compressed his lips and seemed to sneer. 
 
 " Then thou shalt forfeit thy right hand ! " the 
 omdeh cried. " My patience and my mercy are ex- 
 hausted. The trial has already lasted for three hours. 
 Here, make him kneel ! Bring out the bucket of hot 
 pitch. Now, worst of malefactors, if thou confess not 
 thou wilt lose thy hand of honour. Speak, I say ! " 
 
 But Mustafa maintained a rigid silence. 
 
 The execution was just over when Sandeman thrust
 
 28 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 his way through the crowd, which had been too much 
 absorbed in gazing at the horrid sight to notice any one 
 who came behind it. 
 
 The surprise at his sudden reappearance, the cries 
 of sorrow and condolence, the indescribable confusion 
 which arose when they discovered that the anger in his 
 face was for the justice done upon his foe, prevented 
 any one from thinking of the unfortunate Mustafa, who 
 had swooned away ; till Sandeman himself commanded 
 them to carry the poor creature gently to the rest-house, 
 and to fetch a doctor. 
 
 " He is a wretch unworthy of Your Honour's notice ! " 
 wailed the crowd. " He murdered in cold blood Isnab, 
 our chief delight ! " 
 
 At ten o'clock that night, Sandeman came into my 
 flat at Cairo in a half-hysterical condition and told me 
 the amazing story : how his own omdeh had flogged 
 three men and cut off one man's hand, in presence of a 
 crowd and with the popular approval, all for pure love, 
 as it appeared, of him (George Sandeman) and horror 
 at the death of poor dear Snap ! What in the world 
 was he to do ? 
 
 "Rummy beggars ! Unaccountable beggars ! " he 
 kept muttering. " I'm deadly sick about it, yet I want 
 to laugh. It hurts, I tell you. This business does for 
 my career out here. I lose the best part of my income 
 and all hope of Joanie. ... If you'd seen what I saw ! 
 I can't make out the beggars. God knows what kind 
 of a beast they think I am. When I was doing what I 
 could for the poor devil, a chap came up to me, as 
 pleased as Punch because he'd found a golf ball. Seemed 
 to expect me to rejoice exceedingly ! What does go on 
 in their confounded heads ? " 
 
 Late as it was, I called a cab and took him off to see 
 the chief of his department who, by good fortune, was 
 at home and able to receive us. I was the spokesman. 
 Having heard the story to an end, he ordered Sandeman 
 a glass of brand}', ere pronouncing : — 
 
 " I cannot see that you are in any way to blame for
 
 THE KEFR AMMEH INCIDENT 29 
 
 this occurrence, Mr. Sandeman. The only criticism of 
 your conduct which I have to make is that you ought to 
 be at Kefr Ammeh at this minute and not here. You 
 ask me what you are to do ? Use your own judgment. 
 You seem to have unbounded influence in Kefr Ammeh. 
 Strictly speaking, I suppose we ought to make what is 
 called an 'example' of your omdeh, but the case is 
 quite unusual, in no sense exemplary. ... I should 
 think that you might let the matter rest, if rest it will. 
 But I will take advice upon the subject. Good-night." 
 
 I had to support Sandeman to the cab in wating. 
 He seemed dazed and did not speak till we had driven 
 off. 
 
 *' Well, thank the Lord ! " he sighed at length. " I 
 breathe >&gain. It's jolly decent of him not to go for 
 me. . . . Poor little Snap ! I used to say I'd kill the 
 man who teased him even ; but when I saw that feller's 
 hand chopped off . . . Damned plucky feller ! . . . 
 He shall never want while I'm alive. . . . Don't tell 
 Joanie anything about this business, mind ... I'll go 
 down and frighten 'em a bit, and then proclaim a general 
 amnesty. It was the thought of punishment for the 
 affair that turned me sick. They're like dumb animals, 
 at times ; they aren't responsible. And, say what you 
 like, old man, they are ingratiatin' beggars ! What ? "
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 
 
 A STORY OF EGYPT 
 
 Six youths were tramping in a wedge formation along 
 a dyke which stretched across the plain as far as eye 
 could see in both directions between the fields of cotton 
 and of sugar-cane, of corn and fodder-grass and bright 
 green clover, with here a grove of palms upstanding 
 like plumed lances and there a village like a cake of 
 mud upon the landscape. The foremost was Suleyman 
 Derwish ; Mahrus and Hamdi, sons of Yusuf, walked 
 behind him at each shoulder, the other three behind 
 them in a row, keeping as close as might be to avoid 
 their dust. The six had been released from prison that 
 same morning ; they had been walking since the fourth 
 hour of the day now near its end ; and lo ! at last their 
 village was in sight. Hamdi the son of Yusuf improvised 
 a song of gladness, which the others punctuated with a 
 ready chorus. 
 
 " O abode of our delight ! What save the thought of 
 thee has been to us instead of water in the desert of our 
 absence, cheering our hearts what time we did hard 
 labour — we, the oppressed, pure innocents — with those 
 who live in dungeons and in cells. There were others 
 of God's creatures, swollen with pride, who ordered us 
 about like dogs and carried guns to shoot us. We 
 laughed ' Ha, ha ! ' at all their tyranny ; the work 
 seemed light to us, the food most excellent, because of 
 thy sweet memory, O native place, gladdening our 
 hearts like running water and the song of birds." 
 
 " Aye, by Allah ! Say, O girls, have you forgotten 
 the brave lads who gave you joy ? " 
 
 " There is a smell of myrrh about thee, dear native 
 
 30
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 31 
 
 place, a smell of camphor also and of burning dung. 
 I die of the remembrance which thy perfume wakens — 
 the thought of the great deeds which we performed in 
 thee. The miser and the foul oppressor knew and 
 feared us. The love of us was in all joyful hearts. The 
 heart of every maid went out to us. We were the 
 gallants of our time, the brave adventurers ! Say 
 truth, girls, have you not mourned for us ? " 
 
 " Aye, by Allah ! Say, girls, have you forgotten 
 the brave lads who gave you joy ? " 
 
 " Alas, our enemies set snares for us. They bought 
 with gold the tongue of one who knew our counsels. 
 We were taken, spat upon, insulted and dragged before 
 the judge, the foul oppressor, who cast us into prison 
 for long months. The doves, the very palm-trees, 
 mourned for us ; but we were dauntless, thinking of 
 the home-coming and of the vengeance we would wreak 
 on our most wicked foes. And now we come ! We 
 come ! O sweet-lipped girls, O straight-backed girls, 
 behold us ! " 
 
 " Aye, by Allah ! Say, girls, have you forgotten 
 the brave lads who gave you joy ? " 
 
 The last chorus was bawled loudly by all six. An 
 answer came to it upon the evening breeze, so faint 
 that they stood still to listen with lips parted. Hands 
 shading eyes from the darts of the setting sun, they 
 scanned the distance of the road before them. 
 
 A little crowd was waiting at the foot of the mound 
 on which the village and its palm-trees stood uplifted. 
 The joy-cries of the women could be heard, incessant, 
 thrilling. The young men sobbed, then broke into a run ; 
 and in ten minutes every youth was in his mother's 
 arms, with father, sisters, wife around him, shouting 
 blessings. To celebrate the triumph of their safe return, 
 a procession was then formed, marching to the quaver 
 of reed pipes and soft, insistent beat of little drums, 
 which led them three times round the village before 
 going in. 
 
 The ilat-roofed houses and the palm-trunks stood out
 
 32 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 black upon the sunset sky. The dogs all started barking, 
 and the cooing of the doves took on an anxious sound. 
 Their going was attended by a noisy swarm of children. 
 At one point of the circuit, where the sunset light shone 
 red on blind mud walls, the merry-makers came upon a 
 group of elders of the village set in circle on a dust-heap. 
 Astonished by the sudden noise of concourse, some of 
 the old men were about to scramble to their feet, but 
 the omdeh, who was present, bade them pay no heed to 
 the disturbance. He himself continued smoking his 
 nargileh placidly and talking as if no one save his 
 cronies were in sight, though the procession paused 
 before him for a moment making louder noise. When 
 the crowd came round a second time, the council of the 
 elders showed the same unconsciousness — an attitude 
 which so offended the proud spirit of Suleyman Derwish 
 that, on the third occasion of their passing by the seated 
 group, he stopped and shouted to the omdeh : — 
 
 " Say, Sheykh, hast thou no blessing for poor, ill- 
 used men released from servitude ? " 
 
 The sheykh surveyed him coldly before answering : — 
 
 " I have this word for thee, O son of rashness ! Thou 
 hast beheld the consequence of brigandage. Receive 
 the lesson wisely and with reverence, and in the future 
 keep to honest work." 
 
 " What trade shall I pursue ? Advise me, my lord !" 
 returned the rogue with mockery, for the reply enraged 
 him. " Till thou, Sheykh, didst throw me into 
 prison, I was a gay, light-hearted youth, without male- 
 volence. But now, by thy instruction, I am grown a 
 man, and my intention henceforth is to work in earnest. 
 What sayest thou to the business of a shroud-maker ? 
 And wilt thou be my customer, Sheykh ? All men 
 must die — the praise to Allah! — so the trade is constant." 
 
 A burst of smothered laughter from the crowd 
 acclaimed this sally. The procession thereupon re- 
 sumed its way, passing in among the houses and dis- 
 persing. The music died, and night enwrapped the 
 village.
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 33 
 
 Under cover of the night, a man with face well- 
 hooded in a shawl stole from the shadow of the omdeh's 
 house and, flitting through the alleys like a ghost, 
 approached the dwelling of Suleyman Derwish. He 
 fell down on the threshold of the room in which the 
 brigand was at supper with his family, and lay there, 
 writhing, while he murmured : — 
 
 " Forgiveness, for the love of Allah, and security ! 
 I had no wish to do that deed of shame. They bribed, 
 they threatened, they corrupted me. Since thy betrayal 
 by my tongue, my conscience has not known one hour 
 of peace ; at every meal my belly has afflicted me with 
 awful pains ; I have not had one wink of sleep on any 
 night ! Thou art and ever wast my soul's beloved ! 
 I wished to make atonement, but too late. Ask all thy 
 house here present, if I speak not truth ! Peradventure 
 they may not have noticed it, but things were so ! " 
 
 The suppliant was a short man past the prime of 
 life and rather stout, with face much lined, and little 
 anxious eyes. His robe of very good material proclaimed 
 him of superior station to the youth whose pardon he 
 so humbly sought. In point of fact he was the omdeh's 
 son-in-law, a man comparatively wealthy and of good 
 position. Though he spoke in whispers, every word 
 was clearly audible amid the hush which followed his 
 appearance on the threshold. 
 
 " Is it indeed thyself, Hasan, son of treason, O false 
 friend ? " exclaimed Suleyman Derwish with bitter 
 scorn. " Thou who didst reveal our secrets for a 
 bribe, and bear such spiteful witness against men who 
 trusted thee ? And comest thou to me with talk of 
 pardon ? 
 
 " Now Allah witness, I have made atonement," 
 whined the prostrate one. " Are my sufferings nothing ? 
 Are my tears, my inward torments nothing ? And my 
 lack of sleep of nights ? Wallahi, every word I say is 
 the extreme of truth ! — are these all nothing in thy 
 thinking, my soul ? " 
 
 " Thou didst make me childless all this while ! "
 
 34 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 exclaimed the mother of Suleyman. " For that may 
 everlasting torments be thy portion ! " 
 
 " Thou didst widow me for many weary months," 
 exclaimed the brigand's wife. " For that may all thy 
 offspring perish horribly ! " 
 
 " Nay, curse him not," put in the old man of the 
 house. " He comes here as a suppliant, he clasps our 
 threshold. He was the author of a deed of darkness, 
 and while our soul was absent in the prison we slew him 
 daily in our thoughts. But now our soul has been 
 restored to us — the praise to Allah ! — it behoves us to 
 show mercy and not pride, lest the Most Merciful with- 
 draw from us his favour ! " 
 
 " For the love of Allah, hear him, hear thy father ! " 
 moaned the wretch. 
 
 " Well, before Allah, I forgive thee what is past, O 
 Hasan ! " Suleyman Derwish at length vouchsafed 
 disdainfully. " That means that we forego our lawful 
 vengeance in thy case. But look well to thy footsteps in 
 the days to come." 
 
 " O lord of bounty ! O most generous youth ! " 
 suspired the grateful Hasan. " Let me kiss thy feet ! " 
 
 He was in the act of crawling forward to perform 
 that duty when the noise of men approaching made him 
 spring up suddenly and with a hurried blessing disappear 
 into the night. Three of the village elders hailed the 
 house. On being pressed to enter, they complied, filling 
 the place of honour in the little room. They had come 
 to offer an apology for their apparent coldness out 
 there upon the dust-heaps, on the passage of the festal 
 train. They had been restrained from manifesting 
 their unbounded raptures by the presence of the omdeh, 
 who, for his part, viewed the merry-making as a 
 personal affront, since it was he who, in the course of 
 duty, had caused Suleyman and his five friends to be 
 arrested and sent up for trial. 
 
 " Allah witness, we all love thee as our eyes ! " 
 murmured the spokesman of the three with nods and 
 coaxing smiles. " We desire thy welfare above all
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 35 
 
 things. He arrested thee and cast thee into prison, so 
 thou hast a grudge against him — it is natural. But, 
 we ask thee, is it wise to flout him openly — the headman 
 of the place in which thou hast to dwell ? Thou puttest 
 us, who are thy friends and his subordinates, in a 
 position the reverse of comfortable. When we defer 
 to him, as is our duty, thou wilt say, ' They wish me ill.' 
 When we smile on thee, as our heart bids us, he, in his 
 turn, will say, ' They are my enemies.' Think better of 
 the matter, we beseech thee, for our sakes ! His pride 
 is deeply wounded. Go to him and ask his pardon. 
 It is no shame for youth to ask forgiveness of old age." 
 
 These sentiments were much applauded by the 
 people of the house, all save Suleyman himself, who 
 answered sullenly : — 
 
 ' I ask pardon of Allah. I will not ask the omdeh's 
 pardon, to see him triumph in my self-abasement, 
 thinking : 'The prison life has broken his proud spirit.' 
 Never ! I have now seen the world and talked with 
 those who know the law, the new law of the English 
 which is harder upon him than upon us. I know the 
 limits of his power to harm me. He can cause me to be 
 sent to prison once again. WTiat matter ? Prison life is 
 not unpleasant. But if he overstep the bounds of his 
 authority by but a hair's breadth, then I have power to 
 drag him to the judgment and have him sent to prison 
 in his turn. For me the prison is a merry jest ; for him, 
 disgrace. Now tell me, which is stronger, he or I ? " 
 
 The elders plucked their beards and shrugged their 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Well, may our Lord preserve thee ! " were their 
 spokesman's parting words. Wdien out of earshot of the 
 brigand he made haste to add : " May Allah quicken our 
 intelligence to see where power resides at any moment 
 and adhere to it." 
 
 Suleyman Derwish had many other visitors that 
 night; some, like Sheykh Hasan, coming to implore his 
 pardon for their past hostility ; others, like the elders, 
 to remonstrate with him lovingly upon his rudeness
 
 36 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 towards the lawful headman of the place. In the 
 intervals of serious talk, the gossip of the village on the 
 one hand, the prison on the other, was retailed ; while 
 Suleyman himself consumed much coffee which, following 
 on great fatigue, excited him. He had come back as a 
 monarch to his own ; the whole world sought his favour. 
 He condescended to his people, boasting of the justice 
 he was going to do, the vengeance he was going to 
 take upon his enemies. Successive visitors observed his 
 bearing with despair, behind the mask of deference 
 which they assumed through fear. They had all hoped 
 for him to die in gaol. Yet here he had returned with 
 his companions, more arrogant than ever and more 
 ripe for mischief. Were prisons then no longer hells 
 on earth ? Were they made pleasant places as these 
 rogues asserted? Then let the Government reserve 
 them for the law-abiding and the timid, that these 
 might have some refuge from the bullies, who hence- 
 forth, very certainly, would rule the world. 
 
 The omdeh too had many visitors that night. Men 
 went from the one house to the other without shame, 
 esteeming it the merest prudence to conciliate both 
 parties to a feud, where both seemed powerful. In the 
 omdeh's house at midnight one made moan : " O Lord 
 have mercy on us ! This tiger-cub was bound and caged 
 and we were safe. What miscreants have now released 
 the brute for our destruction ? We deemed ourselves 
 well rid of him. Who dreamt that he would presently 
 return in health and spirits, brave as of old and thirsting 
 for revenge ! At once, on his arrival, he insulted our 
 beloved chief. Yet if we frown on him he will destroy 
 our houses. God Most High, instruct us what to do ! " 
 
 The omdeh, for all answer, shrugged and turned 
 away. He hated time-servers — mere reptiles who 
 have no conception of the law of God nor any vision of 
 the Day of Judgment. Their consciences were those of 
 lizards, not of men. He, the omdeh, had been insulted 
 grossly in his own village, yet these men, his colleagues, 
 sharing in his honour, spoke of smiling on the rebel as
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 37 
 
 a thing of course. Ah, had this incident but happened 
 in old days, before the English theorists devised their 
 code of laws for Egypt, he, the responsible, despotic 
 omdeh, would have known what to do ! But such a 
 thing could not have happened in those days. For 
 years he had beheld disorder on the increase, not in one 
 village only, but in all the land. 
 
 When all the rest had gone his daughter came to him 
 complaining of the conduct of her husband, the Sheykh 
 Hasan. 
 
 " He is with those gaol-birds," she reported, " feasting 
 and making merry. O Lord ! That I should bear the 
 shame of such a dog. I went and spied. One glance ! 
 It was enough. Suleyman Derwish was boasting — 
 May God notice and degrade him ! He said that thou 
 art now as dirt before him, since he knows the law ; 
 that he will henceforth order matters as he chooses ; 
 and if thou or thy watchmen lay a finger on him he will 
 summon thee before the judge and have thee punished. 
 O my father, show thy strength upon him, or I die of 
 shame ! " 
 
 A little before noon upon the morrow, after one hour's 
 travel and some three hours spent in waiting in a crowded 
 ante-room, the omdeh was admitted to the presence of 
 the chief official of the province, who sat enthroned at a 
 great desk, with two assessors seated at a lower level. 
 
 " Thou art the Sheykh Paris Abd-ur-Fahman, Omdeh 
 of Mashrutah, is it not so ? " questioned one of these. 
 " And thou bringest tidings of importance to His 
 Excellency ? State thy business ! " 
 
 The sheykh with downcast eyes described the home- 
 coming to his village of six brigands, who had spent 
 eight months in prison with hard labour as the just 
 reward of many crimes they had committed ; the 
 insult put upon him by their chief ; the way the people 
 drew away from him, the omdeh, and cringed in fear 
 before those shameless boys. 
 
 " Of old, before the legal code came into force, my 
 fear was on my people, and we lived in peace," he stated
 
 38 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 in conclusion. " If one did wrong I punished him in 
 such a manner as to silence murmurs. The peace and 
 order of the village were upon my head, and in return 
 my jurisdiction was made absolute. The people knew 
 that there was no appeal against my judgment. At 
 first when the new code was introduced, the people 
 knew it not and, bred up to obedience, still deferred to 
 me; but now the rising generation becomes turbulent, 
 having learnt that my authority is circumscribed by 
 law. They know that it extends to this point and no 
 further. They come up impudently to the boundary 
 line, and mock me in the hope to make me overstep it. 
 And therewithal, although effective power is now denied 
 me, the Government still blames me for the misbehaviour 
 of such rascals as much as formerly when I possessed 
 that power. Is this justice, is it reason, O my lord ? 
 Since the code and not the omdeh has the power to-day, 
 the code with its police, and not the omdeh with his 
 watchmen, should keep order in the villages. Now I 
 have laid my case before Your Excellency. What can 
 I do to reassert my dignity, to save myself from further 
 insult ? I ask you, in the cause of all authority." 
 
 The old man stood with eyes downcast, hands hidden 
 in his flowing sleeves, awaiting the reply of his 
 superior. 
 
 " What can any of us do but trust in God ? The 
 code is on us all. We are quite helpless. Thy objections, 
 being altogether vain, appear to me unworthy of a man 
 of sense. They do but make us rage and beat our heads 
 against a wall ! " The voice of the mudir was musical 
 and friendly. The omdeh for the first time dared to 
 look at him. He saw a portly personage with beard of 
 iron-gray, whose face evinced good nature and good 
 sense. 
 
 The sheykh responded to the strain of humour in the 
 great man's tone. " Allah forbid," he murmured with 
 a smile, " that I should criticise the code itself, O my 
 dear lord ! It is no doubt perfect of its kind. I do but 
 say of it as Caracush remarked of the cat which Ali the
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 39 
 
 Jester made of wool and showed to him : ' It is a cat, 
 a fine cat, yet there is something lacking.' Of the code 
 I say it is a code, a fine code, but it does not work. It 
 is — I crave forgiveness, my lord, for speaking plainly 
 in Your Excellency's presence — a thing imagined by 
 ingenious men, and not at all the work of God, which is 
 to say, a natural growth in this our land." 
 
 The great man laughed aloud, his two assistants 
 echoing the mirthful noise, and, leaning over towards 
 the omdeh, said : — 
 
 " Now, by my beard, thou speakest truth, and neatly 
 too ! Thy thought is mine in private. Be sure I will 
 remember thee and try to help thee." 
 
 The omdeh of Mashrutah made his reverence. 
 Scarcely had he left the presence when the English 
 inspector of the province stalked into the room, the air 
 of bustle common to his kind detracting somewhat 
 from his dignity. 
 
 " Who was that who just went out ? " he questioned 
 sharply. He was always asking questions, and the 
 mudir, accustomed to his ways, replied : — 
 
 " The omdeh of Mashrutah." 
 
 " What was his business with thee ? " 
 
 " He came to make complaint of certain difficulties — 
 the usual tale." 
 
 Therewith the governor recounted briefly, in a tone 
 of ridicule, the omdeh's griefs, adding : " This omdeh is 
 an ignorant, old-fashioned person. He cannot see the 
 beauty of a legal code which robs him personally of so 
 much prestige." 
 
 He used that tone to gratify the Englishman, whom 
 he regarded as of course a lover of the code. He was 
 amazed when the inspector answered : — 
 
 " He is right. The oode is not entirely a success. 
 Here, in the country districts, crime is on the increase. 
 It is on that very business I have come to see you. 
 There is a new decree. Henceforth we may deport our 
 village brigands, whenever we can catch them, without 
 public trial. Only the charges need be verified."
 
 40 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 The mudir and his assistants exchanged lightning 
 glances, expressive both of rapture and dismay. 
 
 " But, my lord," the mudir murmured gently, 
 " do you mean to say that we may kidnap malefactors ? " 
 
 " Precisely," snapped the business-like inspector. 
 
 " The praise to Allah ! But are such measures legal ? 
 The Ministry has always laid such emphasis on strict 
 adherence to the forms of law." 
 
 "It is efficiency before all things. Where pure 
 legality proves inefficient, we must supplement it. 
 A law is to be passed immediately, and we have per- 
 mission to anticipate that law where need arises." 
 
 The inspector, always in a hurry, then marched out, 
 leaving the mudir to stare hard at his two assistants, 
 first one and then the other, with round eyes of glee. 
 At length he let his mirth have way, exclaiming : 
 " Praise to God for this efficiency ! The Lord preserve 
 it to us all our days ! For it has overcome the paralysing 
 law, and made us government officials men again. But 
 what a long way round they take to come to fact. 
 In order to correct the code which was to banish tyranny, 
 they institute a tyranny far greater than was ever 
 known before the code existed. For what man living 
 but prefers a flogging from the omdeh to banishment 
 for life without a warning ? " 
 
 Meanwhile the omdeh of Mashrutah journeyed home- 
 ward. It in some degree allayed the perturbation of his 
 mind to know that he possessed the sympathy of his 
 superior. He had recovered something of his old serenity 
 when, astride of his white donkey with its coloured trap- 
 pings, he drew near his village. But in the palm-grove 
 he beheld Suleyman Derwish sitting with several of his 
 gang, much as the omdeh had been sitting with the 
 elders on the previous evening when the procession 
 formed in honour of those rogues annoyed him. For 
 impudence, the young men remained seated even as 
 the old had done, pretending not to see the omdeh as he 
 passed. The habit of respect was strong upon them, 
 adding a touch of awkwardness to their impertinence.
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 41 
 
 They nudged one another when the old man wished 
 them a good-evening, but returned no answer. 
 
 The omdeh's rage returned upon him at their rudeness. 
 The bad manners, even more than the rebellion, jarred 
 on one who was himself the very pink of courtesy. For 
 the welfare of God's people here on earth, for the honour 
 of Islam, there must be chastisement. Were mere lads 
 to grow up lawless and uncouth, the slaves of their own 
 lusts, for lack of proper discipline, merely because it 
 pleased the English to set up an unnatural law instead 
 of order ? No, a thousand times. He had rather earn 
 the censure of the Government, had rather end his 
 days in prison than have his conscience kill him for 
 neglect of his plain duty. He would do right in spite of 
 all the whims of all the English. At worst they could 
 but punish his old body, while God, his Lord and theirs, 
 would guard his soul. 
 
 Alighting at his house, he called the watchmen and 
 ordered them at once to catch Suleyman Derwish and 
 his companions, naming the spot where he had seen 
 them sitting in the palm-grove. A chance mention of 
 his visit to the mudiriyeh gave them to suppose that 
 he had orders from the governor. He then commanded 
 his own servants to unearth the great kurbag — a mon- 
 strous whip — which had not seen the light for many 
 years. This whip was held before him by a serving- 
 man when the rebellious youths were dragged into 
 his presence, struggling and protesting violently with 
 tremendous threats. He quietly commanded that they 
 should be stripped and bound, and each receive five 
 lashes. At that they shrieked for mercy, cursed and 
 prayed, flinging themselves upon the ground and 
 foaming at the mouth like madmen. 
 
 The gateway of the yard was full of frightened faces. 
 When all was ready for the execution the omdch made 
 a little speech in mild, paternal tones. And then the 
 whip, uplifted in a watchman's hands, descended on 
 the bare back of Suleyman Derwish, then on the back of 
 Hamdi, son of Yusuf, then on the back of Mustafa, and 
 a.o.s.u. D
 
 42 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 so on, going up and down the line in measure, with 
 " Heyli ! Bismillah ! " at every stroke, till every one 
 had eaten his five lashes. 
 
 There were agonising shrieks and groans as well from 
 the spectators as the actual sufferers. And then the 
 victims were released, a writhing crew. Their relatives 
 rushed forward and sustained them. 
 
 " It is against the law ! We shall complain of thee, 
 O bloody tyrant ! Thou shalt be beaten, thou thyself, 
 and put in prison — that I promise thee ! " blubbered 
 Suleyman, supported by his weeping wife and sisters. 
 He alone of all the gang had fight left in him. 
 
 " Go, do what pleases thee ! " replied the omdeh 
 suavely. " But be polite or thou shalt eat another 
 flogging." 
 
 The old man was majestic. None dared meet his 
 eyes. When the victims and their friends had fled, 
 men fell down and embraced his feet, proclaiming him 
 the saviour of the land. His eyes ranged over the in- 
 constant crowd with vast contempt and just a hint of 
 pride, for which he asked God's pardon. He had a 
 strong, half humorous desire to make these also taste 
 the great kurbag. The English might degrade him now, 
 might cast him into prison, even kill him, if they chose. 
 He was indifferent to life henceforward, having had his 
 hour. Meanwhile Suleyman and his supporters, with a 
 crowd of sympathisers, boys and girls, had rushed out of 
 the village, mad with rage and grief, and taken refuge 
 in a field of sugar-cane. 
 
 "0 Lord, befriend us!" wailed their leader. "We 
 are dishonoured, flouted, in the sight of all. Escaped 
 but yesterday from cruel tyranny, we were rejoicing 
 in the company of those who love us, most peacefully 
 inclined and harming no man, when this shame befell ! " 
 
 " Wallahi, our hearts bleed," his comrades moaned. 
 " O Allah, witness our extremity ! We, the bravest, 
 the most self-respecting of mankind to be so treated ! 
 We writhe ! We burn ! Wah ! Wah ! " 
 
 " Now listen, all of you ! " exclaimed "Suleyman with
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 43 
 
 fierce decision. " I swear that I will never more lie 
 down to sleep nor close my eyes till I have taken steps 
 to humble to the dust this vile oppressor, and have made 
 him taste the pains which I now suffer. He has done 
 a thing illegal. The mudir allowed it ; but the English 
 care no more for the mudir than for a dung-beetle. I 
 will make petition to the English, who will drag our 
 persecutor to the judge. Then will we testify against 
 him, saying : ' This horrible old man, this worst of 
 tyrants, did seize on us when we were sitting quiet in the 
 shade, and for sheer lust of cruelty did flog us till our 
 blood bade fair to inundate the village.' When they 
 behold him in the culprit's place, degraded, spat upon, 
 all people will support our tale with acclamation." 
 
 " And I will say," chimed in another, weeping lament- 
 ably : " O judge, so cruel was that causeless flogging 
 that one man of our number died. I am that man. I 
 feel it certainly. God knows I shall not live another 
 day." 
 
 " We must be careful what we say before the judge," 
 exclaimed the sister of Suleyman, a girl renowned for 
 wit. " Our stories must agree at every point. Every 
 word must be made true beforehand by rehearsal, for 
 judges and the people of the courts are cunning devils, 
 who catch poor righteous folk in nets of questions." 
 
 At once, and weeping though they all still were, the 
 mournful group assumed the likeness of a court of law. 
 The sister of Suleyman became the judge, and one by one 
 the witnesses appeared before her and were questioned. 
 She prompted their replies, corrected, schooled them, 
 weeding out discrepancies, until she had their testimony 
 solid as the testimony of one man. By then their tears 
 were dried and hope prevailed. 
 
 ' I hasten to the capital this night," declared Suley- 
 man Derwish. Some of the girls returned into the 
 village to fetch food. They brought back news to their 
 companions waiting in the patch of cane. The omdeh, 
 being asked point-blank by what authority he had 
 ordained the flogging, had confessed that he had acted
 
 44 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 on his own responsibility, against the orders of the 
 governor, whom he had seen that day. The tidings were 
 received with howls of joy. 
 
 " Then I will go to the mudir," declared Suleyman 
 Derwish with satisfaction. " It is much nearer, and our 
 vengeance will be felt at once. Come with me all of 
 you and bear the witness which we have prepared and 
 verified ! " 
 
 They waited in the patch of sugar-cane till it was 
 night, and then set out with song to keep up their courage 
 in the darkness, the men repeating doggedly the name 
 of Allah. 
 
 It was still night when they reached the chief town 
 of the province, but the muezzins were already calling 
 up the dawn, which soon appeared. They went into a 
 mosque to rest awhile, partaking of the food which they 
 had brought with them. Then they repaired to the 
 government offices, where Suleyman inquired for the 
 mudir. He was told that His Excellency was busy for 
 the moment, being closeted with the English inspector. 
 At that the girls trilled forth their joy-cries ; all was 
 glee. The degradation of the omdeh was assured. 
 
 The sentries and attendants, judging from their noise 
 and numbers that the matter was important, sent in 
 word to the mudir, who soon received them. 
 
 " What means this concourse ? What is your com- 
 plaint ? " His Excellency asked, in some dismay as they 
 poured in. 
 
 " A terrible complaint, O lord of justice ! The law 
 is set at naught ; oppression has come back upon the 
 land ; poor honest men are flogged to death, impaled 
 and mutilated daily. In our own village, in Mash- 
 rutah . . ." 
 
 At mention of that name the mudir exchanged 
 portentous glances with the Englishman who sat beside 
 him ; while Suleyman went on to tell his story. No 
 sooner had he finished, than another of the suppliants 
 took up the parable in order, as had been arranged. But 
 the mudir commanded silence.
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 45 
 
 " What is thy name, O buck ? " he asked of the first 
 speaker. 
 
 " Suleyman Dervvish, thy servant, my lord." 
 
 Again the governor exchanged looks with the 
 Englishman. 
 
 " What is thy calling ? " 
 
 " I am a farmer." 
 
 "Thou liest, dog, thou art a brigand ! We keep the 
 record of such persons. Turn it up ! " 
 
 A scribe, who sat beneath His Excellency, at that 
 command produced a monstrous book, opened it at a 
 certain place and laid it before the governor for his 
 perusal. 
 
 " Here are some hundred charges to thy name. For 
 three years thou hast been a scourge and nuisance to the 
 countryside. Thou art but yesterday returned from 
 prison, and to-day thou comest hither with complaints ! 
 What means all this ? " 
 
 "It is some other, surely, O my lord. The name is 
 common. I am not a malefactor. The omdeh beat 
 me near to death without a cause." 
 
 Suleyman Derwish began his story once again with 
 fear of death upon him from the great man's frown. 
 The others as a chorus whined their preconcerted 
 testimony, till soldiers came and laid hands upon some 
 of them, when there were howls of fear and bitter 
 wailing. 
 
 The omdeh of Mashrutah sat that evening in the 
 courtyard of his house watching the antics of his little 
 grandson, who was playing with some discs of cow- 
 dung, calmly expecting the conclusion of his dignified, 
 respected life. He knew that his enemies had gone to 
 the mudir ; and conscious as he was of disobedience to 
 the code, conscious as he also was of rectitude, he never 
 thought of moving to defend himself, but merely waited 
 for the soldiers who should take him to the gaol. He 
 felt no fear, indeed looked forward to his trial with a 
 sort of eagerness, meaning to speak his mind upon the 
 state of Egypt once for all in public upon that occasion.
 
 46 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 He was thinking of the very words to be employed when 
 certain of the elders came in hurriedly and told him : — 
 
 " Our enemies return. They seem dejected. Suley- 
 man Derwish is not among them." 
 
 The omdeh neither moved nor spoke. He waited. 
 Presently the sound of wailing grew apace, the court- 
 yard was invaded by a crowd of men and girls, dusty 
 and footsore, most of them with tear-stained faces. 
 A girl — it was the sister of Suleyman Derwish — stood 
 forth and said : — 
 
 " We have a grief against thee. Hitherto we had 
 esteemed thee a just man, if stern ; but now we know 
 thee for no better than an infidel. Thou wentest 
 yesterday to the mudir and he informed thee of a new 
 device for getting rid of brave, unruly youths out of the 
 villages. Thou earnest home and thou didst cause 
 Suleyman and his companions to be flogged. But thou 
 didst not inform them of the reason of thy sudden con- 
 fidence. Thou didst lie to them for their destruction, 
 saying that the flogging was against the will of the 
 mudir ; luring them on to make complaint to the 
 authorities. They went to the mudir, and as a con- 
 sequence Suleyman Derwish, my brother, Mahrus and 
 Hamdi, sons of Musa Yusuf, Mustafa the hunchback, 
 and young Ali are banished and enslaved for life. Now 
 we put the question to thee. Hast thou acted justly ? 
 Was not the flogging quite enough without the banish- 
 ment ? " 
 
 " By Allah, right is with her," cried the elders of the 
 village, while the common crowd gave forth an ugly 
 snarl. 
 
 The omdeh knew he was in danger of his life. Once 
 before — and only once — in all the years of his long 
 pilgrimage on earth had he heard a village murmur as 
 one man with rage, and then a family of twenty souls had 
 been exterminated. Still he felt no fear, although the 
 crowd was surging forward, and men were shouting : — 
 
 " Drag him out upon the dust-heaps ! " 
 
 He drew his little grandson to his side and held him
 
 CROSS-PURPOSES 47 
 
 close for safety while he gazed hard at the sky between 
 the palm-trunks, blue-green above the dark mud wall, 
 and tried to realise exactly what had happened. 
 
 " Answer, O Sheykh," the people yelled at him. 
 " Answer the charge or we will kill thee like a fly ! " 
 
 His family and the more zealous of the watchmen 
 gathered round for his protection. Already they were 
 struggling with the foremost of the crowd, while he 
 reviewed the wonders of his life. He had seen with 
 equanimity the spread of Frankish influence in the 
 valley of the Nile. The train, the telegraph, the tele- 
 phone — he had beheld them all without the least surprise. 
 What had surprised him was the atheism of the Franks 
 in face of such discoveries, which made him all the more 
 extol the Power of God. It was this atheism only that he 
 hated in the works of Europe. When the English came 
 he had perceived their good intentions, but shuddered 
 at their errors, the result of atheism. They seemed to 
 think it more important that the people of the country 
 should resemble them in haste and greed of gain, 
 should be governed in their manner and adopt their 
 tricks for saving time than that they should lead the 
 life of thinking and believing men. He had deplored 
 but not resented all their interference with the villages. 
 But now, as he surveyed their latest blunder, the life- 
 long patience of his soul gave way, and from his heart 
 he cursed them. He scarcely heard the clamour of the 
 crowd, though men were shouting : " Kill him ! " and 
 a fierce fight was raging close at hand. His sole defenders 
 were the people of his household and three watchmen. 
 The elders of the village, his old cronies, were among 
 the crowd. All at once his mind returned to earth. 
 He stood up and demanded silence. There came a hush 
 of curiosity. He cried : — 
 
 ' I swear by Allah, before all here present, by the 
 beard of the Prophet, by my life, by my salvation, that 
 I knew nothing of the thing with which that girl has 
 charged me till she spoke of it. I flogged those youths 
 because I could no longer bear their insults to my old
 
 48 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 gray beard. I knew that in so doing I transgressed the 
 law, but was content to bear the punishment of that 
 transgression. I never dreamt that they would banish 
 men for life without a trial — they who prate of justice 
 and equality. Alas, that I should live to see such 
 tyranny ! I go to-morrow early to the mudiriyeh, and 
 if the youths are not released on my petition, I shall 
 at once resign the post of omdeh of this village." 
 
 " Our Lord reward thee and prolong thy life, 
 Sheykh ! " 
 
 The crowd surged forward, friendly in a trice. The 
 elders of the village stood once more beside their chief, 
 trying to look as if they had not left him. One of 
 them whispered in his ear : " It is enough, O dear one ! 
 Thou hast cleared thyself. Pledge not thy soul too far, 
 I do beseech thee. We do not want those devils back a 
 second time, when Allah in His mercy has relieved us 
 of them. Praise be to Him who made the English 
 think of something sensible at last ! Those malefactors 
 ruined business in the district." 
 
 " You are pupils of the English ! " said the omdeh 
 grimly. " As for me, I am old-fashioned. Let me go 
 my way."
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 
 
 The P. & 0. steamship Marmora was half-way on her 
 voyage from Port Said to Naples. I lay in a deck-chair 
 in the shade with a book upon my knees, between Tom 
 Harris, a young cub in the Irrigation Department, and 
 Sir Charles Duclay, K.C.M.G., one of the rulers of 
 Egypt and a famous Orientalist ; each of whom likewise 
 lay in a deck-chair and had a book upon his knees. 
 We were all three tired of reading, yet found nothing 
 in particular to say to one another at the moment. 
 Beyond the awning under which our chairs were 
 stretched there was nothing to be seen but burning sky 
 and tumbled sea — a sea which seemed opaque in its 
 commotion and very nearly black as I surveyed it out 
 of half-closed eyes, beneath the brim of a straw hat 
 tipped forward till it touched my nose. Not far from 
 us two groups of men and girls were playing at deck 
 quoits. Behind us somewhere, a seemingly exciting 
 match at bull-board was in progress. Coming from 
 Egypt, we were out of all the fun ; the Anglo- Indians 
 quietly ignoring us, looking right through us when we 
 moved within their range of vision, and generally 
 seeming to regard us as some kind of " natives." We 
 lay and read or sauntered up and down and talked, 
 with thought of the next meal as of a coming great 
 event. 
 
 We were lying side by side in silence, blinking at the 
 restless sea, when an Anglo-Indian lady, neither young 
 nor lovely, came along the deck. She seized upon an 
 empty chair not far from us and began to fold it, evidently 
 v,i hing to transport it to some other place. Duclay, 
 as swift and graceful in his movements as a panther, 
 was beside her in a trice. He was carrying the chair 
 
 49
 
 50 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 in the direction pointed out to him, she seeming much 
 embarrassed and, I thought, annoyed at his politeness, 
 when an elderly man in khaki supervened and took it 
 from him, with a curt : "Thank ye. Much obliged. . . . 
 Where do you want it put, my dear ? " 
 
 " Over there by Mrs. Mallinson, if you will be so good, 
 dear." 
 
 The couple took no further notice of Duclay, who 
 instantly rejoined us, chuckling. 
 
 " That was pretty cool, I must say," murmured Harris 
 drowsily. 
 
 " They thought I wished to scrape acquaintance with 
 them," explained Duclay. " They're old inhabitants, 
 and we're new-comers. It's the same wherever there 
 are English people." 
 
 He was silent for a minute, then remarked abruptly : — 
 
 " We are a lot of priceless hypocrites, we 
 English ! " 
 
 " Speak for yourself," growled Harris, half asleep. 
 
 " We ourselves are so accustomed to swallowing the 
 grain of salt which makes belief in our perfections pos- 
 sible that we forget to warn the peoples before whom 
 we pose of the need for that facilitating condiment. 
 The mind of Orientals — of Egyptians, anyhow — is 
 as literal as A B C — intensely and enthusiastically 
 literal. Our mind, on the other hand, is hyperbolical, 
 doggedly and dully so, so much so that we go through 
 life without an inkling of it. Imagine a man gassing 
 about generosity, the abstract virtue, to another man 
 who thinks he means to give him money in a minute ! 
 It was all right while we simply took and held by force. 
 That was a simple proposition understanded of the 
 Oriental. But when we got on to the magnanimous lay : 
 'conquest for the benefit of the conquered,' 'government 
 for the benefit of the governed,' and began this preach- 
 ing and protesting business, our literal-minded friend 
 began to worry. His bright and singularly knowing eye 
 was on us. He was perplexed and in the end enraged 
 by our hypocrisy ; more particularly since we joined
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 51 
 
 with Russia — a move which gave the show away com- 
 pletely. I can tell you a story of a man I know — a 
 native — who was sentenced the other day to ten years' 
 penal servitude, which illustrates exactly what I mean. 
 If it won't bore you ? " 
 
 " It will," snapped Harris, who had turned his back 
 to us. " Don't talk of Egypt. I want to wipe out the 
 whole beastly country for the next three months. Oh, 
 for a good Scotch mist and heather under me ! " 
 
 But Duclay had addressed himself to me, and I was 
 glad to listen. He turned half over towards me in his 
 chair, was restless for a moment while he sought a com- 
 fortable pose, and then began. 
 
 " Two years ago I spent the whole of April at the Mena 
 House, recovering from an attack of sunstroke, the 
 result of my own carelessness when up at Haifa on a 
 visit. My wife had gone to England to her mother, who 
 was ill, leaving me practically homeless for the time. 
 I was fit for nothing, and forbidden by the doctor to 
 do more than sit about and blink at life ; which made 
 me irritable. The everlasting sunlight was a night- 
 mare. I hated that damned sand and those confounded 
 pyramids as something that was driving me insane. 
 If it had not been for an American woman, unattached 
 and skittish, who happened to be staying in the hotel, 
 I should probably have died of simple boredom. She 
 chose to play the ministering angel, and did her best to 
 keep my pulses going. I was sitting out with her one 
 afternoon in the veranda when one of the sufragis came 
 and handed me a visiting card. It was that of a native 
 professor in the School of Law — a very intelligent man 
 whom I have known for years. Above his name was 
 scrawled in English : ' To introduce Abbas Lutfi 
 Suleyman, my pupil and your very great admirer.' 
 It was not the first time he had sent promising young 
 men for my inspection, knowing as he did my curiosity 
 about young Egypt.
 
 52 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " Excusing myself to Madame, I dragged myself along 
 the veranda, meaning to have the interview indoors, 
 but I had not got half-way before the same sufragi met 
 me, followed by about the finest specimen of Eastern 
 manhood that it has ever been my luck to meet. Even 
 a Frangi suit of cheap material, a high collar, a garish 
 tie and a pair of yellow boots too large for him, could 
 not disguise his fine proportions and his grace of move- 
 ment. Though his colouring was rather dark for an 
 Egyptian, there was no reminder of the negro in his 
 face. His lips were not too full, his nose was aquiline, 
 his eyes were large and really beautiful. He seemed to 
 me the pure Arabian type, entirely nervous in the same 
 way that your thoroughbred Arab horse is nervous. 
 The finest of those horses always strike me as alight. 
 Well this man seemed alight as he ran forward and 
 tried to kiss my hand. 
 
 " ' I am so happy, sir,' he said in tolerable English. 
 ' This is the brightest day in all my life. At last I am 
 permitted to be near to one of those noble and good men 
 who have brought civilisation and all blessings to our 
 poor dear Egypt. I am but a young student, sir, but I 
 do love the English more than I can tell. I think, sir, 
 I would gladly die for them.' 
 
 " He said this with a beatific smile as, having put a 
 stop to the hand-kissing business, I made him take a 
 chair beside me at a little table ; tapping on which I 
 ordered coffee to be brought at once. You know what a 
 fool one feels when slapped in the face with compliments 
 of that description. Many men I know get downright 
 rude on such occasions, thinking it all humbug, which 
 it seldom is. Any one can tell the ring of a false com- 
 pliment. We fail to make allowance for the capacity 
 of young people of these sunstruck races for enthusiasm 
 over anything and anybody. It always seemed to me a 
 cruel shame for us to snub and terrify our wild admirers. 
 Still I feel as foolish as another under admiration, and 
 that man's admiration was a scorching fire. 
 
 " I laughed and said that we had tried to do a little for
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 53 
 
 the good of Egypt, not at all for the beaux yeux of 
 the Egyptians, but because it suited our ambition and 
 convenience. 
 
 " ' Ah, don't say that, sir ! ' he cried out ecstatically, 
 with tears of real enthusiasm in his eyes. ' I know well 
 the generous w T ork which you have done here. In my 
 childhood I did learn it at the school from books, and 
 since then I have seen it with my eyes — the noble work. 
 You make everybody be polite to everybody. You say, 
 there shall be no more rudeness, no more beating, no 
 more fighting and low insults ; if anybody rude he shall 
 be punished. Civilisation. So we all become as brothers ; 
 so we go ahead. Many people do not understand your 
 gracious goodness. I teach them that the English are 
 their noble friends. It is in my thinking ' — here he 
 touched his forehead — ' to write one mighty book in 
 praise of all the English, that those fools may learn 
 how devilish silly they have been.' 
 
 " I objected that our praises could not fill a book, 
 that criticism of our conduct would be more acceptable. 
 He did not seem to hear my interruption, but went on 
 exclaiming : — 
 
 ' They shall see and know ! I will instruct them. It 
 is in my thinking to devote my life to this great service 
 for my country : to extol the English ! ' 
 
 " From his coming to me with an introduction I at first 
 supposed that, like every other student, he was after 
 government employment. I presently remarked as 
 much ; informing him that the only way of gaining such 
 employment was the high-road of competitive examina- 
 tion. With another beatific smile, he answered : — 
 
 ' I have no desire for an employment. All I wish is 
 to write the beautiful sweet thoughts which come into 
 my mind about the English, our too noble benefactors. 
 I will write them and make everybody glad, and so 
 grow famous.' 
 
 I was in the presence of a genuine enthusiasm — one 
 might call it mania, for I suppose a clever doctor could 
 have cured him of it. As a child at school he had learnt
 
 54 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 by heart those text-books, inspired by adulation of the 
 conqueror, which glorify our work for Egypt, conveying 
 the idea that we are angels sent from Heaven to benefit 
 the world in general and the Nile valley in particular. 
 Regarding education as a magic thing, and everything 
 he saw in print as gospel truth at that age, he accepted 
 that ideal view of us without the grain of salt desirable, 
 and preached it to his parents and the other villagers 
 who, not having had the benefit of modern schooling, 
 hung for instruction on his infant lips. What strikes me 
 as most wonderful — indeed miraculous — is that, as he 
 grew up, his enthusiasm did not weaken. It was doubt- 
 less owing to the circumstance that he had not personally 
 had to do with any Englishman until the day he came 
 to me, except young Vardon of the School of Law — a 
 weak-eyed and benignant creature. Thus he had reached 
 the age of two and twenty, in a country overridden by 
 the English, without a doubt of our angelic character ! 
 
 " I asked if he was going to practise law. He answered, 
 No. His one idea was to present his radiant vision of 
 the English and their way of progress intelligibly to his 
 fellow-countrymen. He was writing for El Balad, a 
 new journal founded by a friend of his, and hoped that 
 I would condescend to read his articles. 
 
 " We had got to this point of the conversation when 
 the American widow — I say ' widow,' but believe 
 she had a husband somewhere — came up and rather 
 coolly took a chair between us. My visitor sprang up 
 and executed wondrous bows. ' An English lady ? ' 
 he inquired with his ecstatic smile, as if the joy of 
 presentation to an English lady would instantly have 
 cut the thread which bound him to this earth. 
 
 " ' No ; American,' I answered rather curtly, for I 
 was irritated by the way she smiled upon my dark 
 Antinous, already dazzled by her blonde effulgence. 
 I dismissed him quickly, much to her disgust. She 
 declared him afterwards to be the ' sweetest thing ' 
 that she had ever seen. 
 
 " Next day he came again, bringing samples of his
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 55 
 
 journalistic work for my inspection. As it happened, I 
 was in my bedroom, lying down, so kept him waiting. 
 When I went out at last to the veranda I found my fair 
 friend sitting with him at a table, head to head over 
 a newspaper spread out between them, her auburn 
 chevelure in contact with his fez. 
 
 " ' I'm having my first lesson,' she called out to me as 
 I approached. ' You never mean to say that you can 
 read this script quite easily ? Mr. Abbas is teaching me 
 the letters. It's too fascinating. I guess I'll have real 
 lessons when I come back here next winter.' 
 
 " She then got up and left us, Mr. Abbas protesting 
 that there was no need for her departure, which I, 
 however, expedited with a frown. 
 
 " The articles he showed me had a certain eloquence, 
 but did not touch this earth at any point that I could see. 
 In one of them my name was mentioned with encomiums. 
 He watched me while I read it, all on tenterhooks for 
 my approval. I did my best to look extremely gratified, 
 rose, bowed to him and murmured of unworthiness. He 
 literally crowed for joy, and swore, I recollect, by Allah 
 to write articles, a many, about nothing but my good- 
 ness. I had to speak to him severely to preserve my 
 name. 
 
 ' After that he came out by the tram two or three 
 times a week to spend an hour at my instructive feet. 
 If I encouraged his visits it was in order gently to 
 deflate his too embarrassing illusion with regard to us. 
 I took the American woman into my confidence about 
 him, and found her sympathetic at the time, though I 
 now know she was playing her own game. As I re- 
 covered and was able to get about, I found myself let in 
 for various excursions, with Abbas for guide ; and in a 
 few days saw more of Cairo and its neighbourhood than 
 I had seen in all the years which I had spent in Egypt. 
 At last I went back into harness, the fair American 
 retired to Switzerland, and Abbas vanished from my 
 ken until the following winter. 
 
 " Then — it was in December ; my wife was back ; we
 
 56 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 had taken a new house on the Gezireh, and I was basking 
 in the atmosphere of domesticity — he came to me one 
 afternoon in great distress. The newspaper — El Balad — 
 for which he had been writing, a pro-British organ, 
 had been suppressed for no good reason. Would I 
 bring the matter to the notice of the British Agency, 
 and use my influence to put things right ? I made 
 inquiries, and was told that the newspaper in question 
 had uttered an atrocious libel on a high official of the 
 Khedive's entourage. I handed on this information to 
 Abbas when next he came to see me, and presented 
 him with the report of the case, consisting of some fifty 
 typewritten pages of dog French, which had been 
 furnished by the Egyptian authorities on my demand. 
 I have a lively recollection of the scene. It was late 
 afternoon, and we were sitting in my garden by the 
 Nile, where there was shade. Through the yellow blaze 
 above the river we could see the masts and tumbled 
 buildings of Bulac, and hear the hammering from the 
 boat-builders' yards. The gardener was busy with a 
 hose deluging each individual plant and blade of grass. 
 My wife was up in the veranda at a table, reading. 
 
 " Abbas, who, as I said before, was uncommonly good- 
 looking, had that day chosen to disfigure himself by 
 putting on a formidable pair of gold-rimmed spectacles 
 — of which he seemed absurdly proud — though he was 
 not short-sighted. It is queer how Orientals, when they 
 imitate us, invariably pitch on something which we 
 think unlovely. A man I know — young Farrow — had 
 an accident which obliged him for some time to wear 
 a kind of iron apparatus like a cage on his right leg. 
 The notables of his district were always asking him how 
 much it cost, and where they could buy one like it. 
 Because some learned men have spoilt their eyes with 
 reading and so take to glasses, glasses have been adopted 
 as the symbol of a serious mind. I noticed that Abbas 
 removed them when he wished to read. 
 
 " ' But,' he exclaimed, after studying the papers I 
 had given him, ' they speak untrue. It was no libel
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 57 
 
 which we made. The case was so, as we declared to be. 
 The gentleman of whom we wrote had persecuted 
 righteous people, and stolen money from them with 
 great wickedness. He leads, moreover, a most filthy, 
 vicious life in private.' 
 
 " ' A libel need not be a lie,' I told him. ' It is an 
 attempt to injure some one's reputation by malicious 
 statements.' 
 
 " ' But, sir,' he wailed, ' by God, I beg you, look ! 
 All which we wrote was only to seek justice for men 
 wronged most beastly, to call the attention of the 
 English to a case of very horrid wickedness. It was 
 for that they did destroy our journal. Will you not 
 protect us from injustice ? We love the English very 
 much indeed.' 
 
 ' He had resumed the gold-rimmed spectacles, which 
 hid the childish candour of his eyes and made him an 
 unlovely object. I grew impatient and spoke testily, 
 telling him that, so far as I could see, the matter had 
 been properly investigated ; and that it was not our 
 English custom to interfere high-handedly with the course 
 of law, nor to support our partisans through right and 
 wrong. I then laid my hand upon his shoulder and 
 suggested we should go and have some tea. I was 
 afraid that he was going to cry, he seemed so crestfallen. 
 However, by dint of talk on general subjects, and 
 flattering him up a bit, we managed to restore his 
 spirits. My wife gave him a rose when he said good-bye, 
 I escorted him a few steps, and he went away as happy 
 as a king. 
 
 ' Two days later, in the afternoon, he called at the 
 
 house, but went away again on being told that we had 
 
 vi [tors. He left word with the doorkeeper that he had 
 
 M)us news for me, and would seek the favour of an 
 
 audience on the following morning. In fact, next 
 
 morning, when I got down to my office, he was in the 
 
 '-room among the usual crowd of suitors ; and hardly 
 
 had I sat down at my desk and begun to glance over 
 
 the pile of correspondence there awaiting me, when my 
 
 a.o.s.u. E
 
 58 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 secretary came to tell me that a young effendi was 
 clamouring to see me instantly ; which young effendi, 
 so the watchmen told him, had been hanging round 
 the place since early dawn. To have done with him, I 
 ordered him to be admitted. He seemed terribly 
 excited, and at the sound of his own voice saluting me, 
 burst into tears. He cried : — 
 
 " ' It is a libel, sir, and not one word is true. What 
 shall be done to those who work such beastliness ? ' 
 With that he handed me a sheet of notepaper covered 
 with his careful English writing. 
 
 " ' That,' he said, ' is the most true translation of 
 what those devils write against me in that wicked 
 journal.' 
 
 " I kept the document as a rare jewel of Egyptian 
 journalism, and generally carry it about with me in a 
 pocket-book. I may have it on me at this minute. Let 
 me look." 
 
 " You made too much fuss of the fellow," growled 
 Harris drowsily. " It doesn't do to let 'em hang around. 
 They get swelled head. I should have choked him off 
 at first, and saved a lot of trouble." 
 
 " It would have been more merciful," said Duclay 
 gravely." 
 
 " Ah, here's the document I was looking for. 
 
 " ' From the Arabic journal (Nil.) 
 
 " ' The Malodorous Evil-liver. 
 
 " ' There is a youth well known to all of us, the son 
 of a dog, a pimp and lickspittle, who gives himself 
 grand airs towards his fellow-countrymen while glutton- 
 ously devouring all the dirt of all the English. Any 
 one would think when they do hear him talk that he was
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 59 
 
 the son of noble and illustrious people. That is not the 
 case, by God alive. His father was a dog who fed on 
 carrion, his grandfather and his ancestors were pigs 
 most perfectly defiled and damned with very wonder- 
 ful complete damnation. All of us know his mother. 
 His sisters are much loved by us, but not respected. 
 Therefore we have little veneration for this child of 
 shame and product of disgusting sins. Therefore we 
 urge and importune all honest people to beware of him 
 because his contact and his conversation bring defile- 
 ment. He is well known to the police as thief, spy, 
 evil-liver and suspected atheist. We ourselves beheld 
 him lately seated with a pompous air among the infidels 
 — himself the worst — on the terrace of Shepheard's 
 Hotel in the company of an English lady, one of those 
 who are renowned for the impartial distribution of their 
 favours in return for gold. Whence does he derive his 
 wealth ? Nobody knows, but it is very certain that his 
 wealth is gained by some obscene, nefarious traffic. 
 We have written to the English woman he frequents, 
 warning her to guard her jewellery when that low thief 
 is near. Do you inquire his name after this full descrip- 
 tion ? His name is Abbas Lutfi Suleyman. We hereby 
 call upon all true believers and Egyptian patriots, and 
 adjure and entreat them, to spit in his face whenever 
 they encounter him, and also to chastise him with a 
 perfect beating ; and hereby furthermore declare that 
 we ourselves will bear the legal cost, if any, of such 
 righteous action.' " 
 
 " Abbas was sobbing and exclaiming in my office all 
 the while I was deciphering this gem of literature. 
 When I had finished, he cried out : ' Oh, sir ! WTiat 
 shall I do to come to justice ? Is this not a libel greater 
 far than that for which they have suppressed our 
 journal ? If they did suppress our honourable journal 
 on account of publication of the hidden truth, will 
 they not suppress this filthy one for publication of so
 
 60 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 many open falsehoods detrimental and disastrous to 
 my reputation ? ' 
 
 " He went on to point out that the libel was not 
 directed only at himself (Abbas), but also at ' that 
 gracious lady, the companion of Your Honour in your 
 time of illness,' who had shown the wonderful and 
 splendid kindness to allow him to approach her. An 
 English lady ! — (It was of no use my insisting that she 
 was American) — a sweet, amiable lady ! — a gentle, 
 civilised, delightful lady ! — to be so insulted ! It made 
 him shudder for his country. It was execrable ! He 
 asked me to take vengeance upon her traducers and 
 expel them from the land. 
 
 " I had heard that the American widow had returned 
 and was at Shepheard's, but had not seen her. My 
 wife had called, but did not seem much pleased with the 
 acquaintance, and I had cause to feel offended with the 
 
 woman. She had written a book But more of that 
 
 anon. It seemed that she was playing the same senti- 
 mental game with poor Abbas which she had played 
 with me. I washed my hands of her ; and felt not at 
 all concerned for her share in the libel, though I was 
 extremely sorry for her victim upon all accounts. I 
 had read as bad things often in Egyptian newspapers, 
 had come indeed to view them as mere commonplaces of 
 the vernacular press ; but I had never before encountered 
 one of the victims. The spectacle was really harrowing. 
 I told him that he had his remedy at law, advised him 
 to consult a lawyer and then closed the interview. 
 
 " From that day onward for about a month he was my 
 bugbear, haunting my house and office, dogging me in 
 the street. He was having a rough time of it, and looked 
 on me as his protector. You know the ragging spirit 
 which takes hold of the Egyptian at the sight of any 
 one bewildered, especially a simple soul revolted and 
 demanding justice ; how they send him from pillar to 
 post, hustle and bedevil him. Well, poor Abbas made 
 such a cry about his wrongs, betrayed so candidly his 
 fool's belief in abstract justice, that the Arabic press
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 61 
 
 received him as a godsend, and the various legal lights 
 whom he consulted held their sides. When he made his 
 application to the Parquet he was assured with seeming 
 gravity that the libels of which he complained — they 
 were now legion — were not aimed at so respectable a 
 man, but at another and ignoble person of the same 
 name. He paraded his despair through all the cafes of 
 the town, meeting everywhere with a delusive sympathy, 
 which urged him on to fresh exertions for the town's 
 amusement. His one relief was in the society of the 
 American, who made him welcome, being glad, I fancy, 
 to get the services of a good dragoman for nothing. 
 With her he for a time forgot his anger and perplexity, 
 and felt himself a highly favoured individual. One 
 afternoon, when I was down at Shepheard's calling 
 upon some one else, I saw him with her at a table on 
 the terrace. Old Jones was there. He came across to 
 me and growled : — 
 
 " ' That woman ought to be shot. Ought to be kicked 
 out of the country ! Never would have been allowed in 
 Cromer's time ! In front of everybody ! It degrades 
 us all ! ' 
 
 " I too was vexed, but my annoyance was for the 
 Egyptian, whom I judged more likely to get harm from 
 her than she from him. I had sized her up pretty com- 
 pletely since our tender parting at the Mena House. 
 She had published a book in which I figured as the love- 
 sick hero — a book full of our conversations, which she 
 must have noted at the time. She was what she called 
 ' studying Egypt.' Having dealt with the English 
 official side through me, she was working at the young 
 Egyptian through Abbas Effendi, inducing him to take 
 her to all sorts of dreadful haunts he would never have 
 gone to by himself, and making love to him in her 
 desire for Oriental ' atmosphere.' A dozen such as her 
 come out to Egypt every winter ; women who make 
 fools of men for copy ; modern vampires ; may the 
 devil fly away with the whole breed of them ! 
 
 " I tried to give Abbas a hint of her true character ;
 
 62 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 but he, poor fellow, was beyond the reach of hints. 
 At mention of her name he grew delirious. It was more 
 on her account than on his own that he demanded 
 justice on the authors of the libels ; for all his outings 
 with her were reported in the native press, and special 
 correspondents watched the steps of Shepheard's day 
 and night. 
 
 " I did my best for him in high official quarters — gave 
 him a note of introduction to old Puffing Billy ; the 
 case being more akin to his department than it was to 
 mine. I had a line the self-same day from Puffer, telling 
 me that my protege was mad. Abbas had mentioned 
 that he ' loved ' him (Puffer). I was begged to keep 
 the ruffian to myself in future. 
 
 '"I fear, sir, that His Excellency was intoxicated,' 
 was Abbas's version of the interview. ' He talked to 
 me exceeding strange, exceeding different from a noble 
 English gentleman.' 
 
 " He had, in fact, advised my injured friend to go to 
 hell and afterwards to punch the heads of his insulters 
 severally — a proceeding which, as Abbas very justly 
 pointed out, was quite uncivilised and quite against 
 the law which Puffer and the rest of us were there to see 
 enforced. I told him that old Puffer was the best of 
 men, but irritable, and having very great affairs to 
 manage for the public good, might reasonably feel 
 aggrieved at being bothered by an individual. But my 
 pacific explanations were becoming threadbare. 
 
 "One evening our friend came out to my house in 
 desperation. My wife, who caught a glimpse of him, 
 was quite alarmed. He had, it seemed, approached a 
 high official of the Khedive's household, to whom he 
 had been introduced by one of his admirers — for it had 
 transpired from all this pother of his persecution that 
 he had a following — a score or so of real disciples who 
 admired him blindly. The said high official, instead of 
 giving him a serious hearing, had laughed aloud, advising 
 him to go and make it up with all his libellers. Worse 
 still, he had indulged in rude remarks about the English.
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 63 
 
 " ' Surely,' Abbas pleaded, ' 3 7 ou will now take my 
 part against these wicked fellows who wish to weaken 
 your authority in Egypt.' 
 
 " Then at last I saw that it was necessary to expound 
 to him the real nature of the British Occupation and its 
 history ; how we were there for our own ends, and not 
 the good of Egypt, in the first place ; how in Cromer's 
 time much good had been achieved, chiefly because the 
 Khedivial Court had been kept under and no British 
 official thought of playing to the gallery ; but how at 
 length, when all was going well, the authorities at home, 
 scared by the outcry over the Denshawai executions, 
 had handed back official patronage to the Khedive as 
 the easiest way of quieting the situation ; since when, 
 though we had ostensibly reversed our policy at the 
 command of Mr. Roosevelt, we had continued playing to 
 the gallery both in Egypt and in England ; whence 
 these tears ! The real power in purely native matters, 
 such as his complaint of libel, was now with the Khedivial 
 Court. 
 
 But do the noble English nation bear such things ? ' 
 cried out Abbas in horror. 
 
 " The English as a race, I said, knew nothing of them. 
 
 Then I will go to England, I will teach them,' he 
 
 exclaimed, jumping up like one demented. ' They shall 
 
 no longer be maintained in ignorance by the wicked 
 
 and malevolent Foreign Office.' 
 
 " He seemed resolved to start that very minute. 
 
 " ' But the journey will cost money,' I objected, ' and 
 life in England is as dear as here in Egypt.' 
 
 " ' No matter, I will get the money,' he cried out in 
 Arabic. ' Upon so holy and humane an errand, what 
 can stop me ? The English shall no longer be deceived. 
 I will instruct them ! ' 
 
 "I let him rave, fully expecting that his resolution 
 would go off in words. In point of fact he started that 
 same week, without seeing me again. I got a letter 
 from him some days later from Marseilles, in which he 
 praised my candour and my magnanimity in letting him
 
 64 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 into the secret of events which had long puzzled him. 
 He was going, he declared, to make the English under- 
 stand, and so save Egypt from complete destruction. 
 The money for his journey was subscribed by his 
 disciples, but the American woman also gave him 
 fifty pounds, as he himself informed me afterwards, in 
 order to get rid of him, as I suppose, for she was talked 
 of in connection with a Russian prince who had turned 
 up at Shepheard's. 
 
 " Well, I forgot f*im till we were at home last summer, 
 when he called on us at a hotel in London. His brown 
 complexion had then lost its clearness and the kind 
 of healthy glow I had admired in Egypt. It looked 
 muddy. He still wore gold-rimmed spectacles and was 
 as talkative as ever, but he struck me somehow as dis- 
 crowned, degraded. It was the first time I had seen 
 his face without the fez. 
 
 " I took him out to lunch and let him talk. He showed 
 me cuttings from a number of strange periodicals which 
 I had never heard of, containing articles which he 
 had written since he came to England, and repeatedly 
 assured me he had not been idle. ' Very good and 
 noble people ' had received him ; he had lectured on 
 the state of Egypt before various crank societies, and 
 was in a fair way to become renowned as an authority. 
 He had grown conceited, I observed incidentally, and 
 very domineering in his tone. In conjunction with his 
 down-at-heels appearance it was quite pathetic. He 
 gave me his card, on which was printed : ' Representa- 
 tive of the Egyptian nation,' together with an address 
 at Bayswater ; whither I went one afternoon to see him. 
 
 " It was one of those streets of fairly decent-looking 
 houses which have fallen almost into slums. A barrel- 
 organ was in full blast when I turned into it, and swarms 
 of noisy children were at play. Arrived at the house, I 
 was shown by an impudent-looking, rather pretty girl, 
 with dirty hands, up to a room upon the second floor, 
 which evidently served Young Egypt's representative 
 as bedroom, smoking-room and hall of audience, and
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 65 
 
 had not been swept, I should opine, for several days. 
 The girl went in without knocking, and I heard her 
 cheeky tone towards Abbas. She addressed him, I 
 remember, by the name of ' Monkey-fice.' 
 
 ' ' He had been sprawling on a squalid bed, but sprang 
 up as I entered, and made me welcome, quite without 
 embarrassment. He apologised for his surroundings, 
 w>Hi, he said, were temporary. He was moving to 
 more suitable apartments in a week or two. ' Congratu- 
 late me ! ' he exclaimed. ' I am invited by a lord to 
 dine with all the high nobility and to instruct them.' 
 No end of newspapers were scattered on the floor. He 
 picked up one of these, exclaiming : ' I see that that 
 most amiable lady has arrived in London, at the 
 Piccadilly Hotel. I think to visit her this afternoon. 
 Will you come too ? She loves you very much. It will 
 be like the old days.' 
 
 " I should have scouted the suggestion pretty certainly 
 but for his mention of the old days, which conjured up 
 the vision of his natural surroundings. He had come 
 from blazing sunshine and clear air to that vile hole. 
 Poor wretch ! I went with him to call upon the vampire 
 lady. 
 
 " The visit was a failure, as far as any hopes Abbas 
 may have had of it were concerned. The lady smiled 
 on me, but positively scowled at him ; asked me in an 
 aside where his good looks had gone to, and told me 
 for the love of all things reputable to make him burn his 
 bowler hat and wear a fez. She had lost all interest in 
 Egypt, it appeared, discoursing much of Russia and 
 the Russians — her new field of ' study.' Just as we 
 were going Abbas murmured something, and she went 
 apart with him. I don't know what they said, but she 
 looked quite uncompromising, and Abbas emerged in 
 tears from the short interview. 
 
 ' The English are not altogether as I thought,' he 
 told me. ' They are, I think, too cold and cruel and 
 too selfish ever to be sympathetic to the generous 
 Egyptian people.'
 
 66 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " That was his first confession of a disappointment. I 
 guessed he was in straits for money, and had hoped 
 for something from the generosity of the American. 
 When I asked him, in the street, if he had any pressing 
 need, he burst out sobbing, and confessed that he owed 
 more than twenty pounds to his landlady. But that 
 was not what made him so unhappy. His landlady's 
 daughter, the saucy girl whom I had seen, had loved 
 him at the first, but now despised him. Poor fellovv, 
 he was amorous and trusting — defenceless as a kitten 
 against English avarice. The lodging-house damsel had 
 taken him for a prince at first. Well, I got him away 
 from the Bayswater slum into a more cheerful bedroom 
 down at Chiswick, at the same time doing my best to 
 persuade him to give up the conversion of the English 
 and return to Egypt. 
 
 " He replied that he had written much too freely of the 
 powers that were in Egypt to find any comfort in the 
 prospect of returning thither. He hung great hopes 
 upon the dinner at Lord Vereling's house, to be followed 
 by a sort of drawing-room meeting at which he was 
 to speak. I've known Vereling well for years — we were 
 at school together — a well-meaning crank who always 
 picks up the lost dogs of politics — and drops them. 
 I was not at the dinner, but I heard about it after- 
 wards from Vereling and some others who were 
 present. 
 
 " Abbas, as I have told you, called himself the represen- 
 tative of the Egyptian nation. Now, as it has happened 
 in most summers of late years, there were three or four 
 such self-styled representatives in England, each of 
 them claiming to speak from the great heart of Egypt, 
 and anxious to indoctrinate our politicians with his 
 private views. All of them by misfortune were at 
 Vereling's dinner or the meeting afterwards ; and as 
 the others were superior to poor Abbas in age, rank, 
 wealth, and everything that you could mention, they 
 all made common cause against him as a bumptious 
 puppy, when they heard him laying down the law about
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 67 
 
 the state of Egypt. One after another they took 
 Vereling aside and very gravely warned him that the 
 young man was a rank impostor of no influence whatever; 
 one who would not be received in any good Egyptian 
 house, proclaimed him homme nefaste ! and canaille 
 premier ordre ! and bade the noble host keep watch upon 
 his silver. Vereling, with his nervous dread of being 
 taken in, took fright and washed his hands of poor 
 Abbas. Then one of those other representatives replied 
 to a letter which Abbas had written in a daily paper, 
 flatly contradicting every statement of the hapless 
 author, whom he declared to be ' not in the position 
 to know anything whatever of affairs in Egypt.' 
 
 " Abbas had sent to every Englishman who seemed 
 inclined to help him copies of the various libels which 
 had appeared against him in the Cairo press. His 
 enemies got hold of some of these and published extracts 
 from them, when replying to Abbas's article, to show 
 the kind of character he bore at home. On a frantic 
 appeal from Abbas I wrote a letter to the same news- 
 paper, in his favour. But it came too late. By that time 
 he was catching it all round from people who had once 
 been kind to him. He was scouted as a rogue and 
 an impostor. 
 
 " ' Can I not get justice even here in England ? ' he 
 asked me when he poured his troubles in my ear. ' Is 
 not what those devils say about me shameless libel ? 
 You say that to get justice costs much money ? I — I 
 have no money. What then must I do ? The English 
 are then wicked. It was false all which they taught me 
 in the school. They have no love of justice. They care 
 nothing for the good of Egypt.' 
 
 " I did my best to calm him, but without success. He 
 sat quaking like a person in an ague fit, and moaning ; 
 ' I cannot get justice — I cannot get justice,' till my 
 nerves were all on edge. 
 
 " ' My mind is quite distraught,' he gasped at length. 
 ' I wish to vomit. I greatly fear that I shall hate the 
 English, who are one hand with the bad people of my
 
 68 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 country. I fear that I shall be compelled by my con- 
 science to join the violent section of my young 
 compatriots.' 
 
 " I told him not to lose his head and be a fool ; told 
 him that we had all been young and too enthusiastic ; 
 had all been through our period of disillusionment. 
 To all that I could urge he only shook his head. 
 
 " Inquiring at his lodging two days later, I heard that 
 he had left without a word, and having to some extent 
 stood surety for him, I paid his bill. 
 
 " I saw him once again before I went to Egypt, quite 
 by chance. I was staying for a night in Paris, and I 
 happened on him in the street. He was walking with 
 two other young Egyptians. As I was quite alone and 
 rather dull, I asked them to come back with me to my 
 hotel, where I ensconced them in a quiet corner of the 
 lounge, with cigarettes and plenty of black coffee. 
 Abbas then thought it necessary to inform me, in a 
 set speech, that he was thenceforth a relentless enemy 
 of British rule in Egypt. The Balkan raid on Turkey 
 was beginning, and already there were Christian war- 
 cries in the London press. He said that it was clear to 
 him that the English, as a race, were foes of El Islam. 
 His two companions murmured their applause at 
 intervals, showing their teeth and the whites of their 
 eyes. The English had beguiled the Children of the 
 Nile with talk of justice and civilisation into a bondage 
 far more dreadful than the mere subjection to a foreign 
 yoke, secretly undermining their religion and their 
 nationality. We were great and powerful, but God was 
 greater, he informed me. He and his friends were the 
 servants of God, pledged to frustrate our evil purpose 
 and destroy us. The two others, his companions, 
 chimed in eagerly with stories of the treatment they 
 had met from certain Englishmen. 
 
 " Not to be outdone, I also told them stories of the way 
 I too had suffered from my own compatriots, admitting 
 that we were a stiff-necked, uncouth crowd. They 
 laughed at my remarks and got quite friendly. In the
 
 BETWEEN OURSELVES 69 
 
 end they were polite enough to say that, if only all the 
 Englishmen in Egypt had been just like me in all 
 respects, there would have been no need for any 
 Nationalist movement ; every one would have been 
 happy as in Paradise. I watched Abbas, who looked 
 much better than in London, but had become extremely 
 grave and taciturn. I really was intensely sorry for the 
 fellow, and could not get away from an unpleasant feeling 
 that his misfortunes were my fault to some extent. 
 
 " Two months ago I went to visit him in prison, where 
 he lay awaiting trial. He and one of the young men 
 whom I had seen with him in Paris had returned to 
 Egypt as the agents of that great conspiracy, whose 
 aim — as the police reports asserted — was to blow up 
 simultaneously the Cubbeh Palace, Casr ed Dubbareh 
 and the Savoy Hotel. Abbas did not at first seem 
 pleased to see me. 
 
 " ' You deceived us,' he said gloomily in Arabic — ' like 
 all the others, you deceived us ! You did not mean the 
 half you said, and yet you spoke so earnestly — like all 
 the English ! The curse of God upon them — liars ! 
 hypocrites ! All your civilisation, all your comforts and 
 mechanical contrivances are false as are your words. 
 God knows that there is nothing steadfast in this world 
 but suffering. Your purpose is to wipe out all the 
 Muslimin. But you are of this world ; while we are 
 God's, and unto Him we shall return.' 
 
 " I tried to say some cheering words to him, and he 
 responded with a sudden burst of tears. He fell upon 
 his knees and then began appealing to me in heart- 
 broken tones. At first I was too much astonished at the 
 outburst to hear distinctly what he said ; he spoke in 
 such low tones I imagined he was asking me to intercede 
 for him. He seized my hand and kissed it, seeming very 
 eager. Then I found that he was urging me to take 
 some step for my own safety, was warning me apparently 
 of some great danger. What was it ? I bent down my 
 head to listen. Then I realised that he was adjuring 
 me, for my soul's good, to leave the English and become
 
 ;o AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 a Muslim and an Oriental. It made me wince as if I had 
 been stung." 
 
 For some time we were silent, staring at the sea. 
 Harris, whom we had imagined to be fast asleep by 
 that time, cried indignantly : — 
 
 " I don't like your story — not a little bit ! I wonder 
 Duclay has the face to tell it in that cool, complacent 
 way. None of the bigwigs strike me as quite honest 
 nowadays. They hobnob with the natives and don't 
 care what becomes of 'em. They only want to make a 
 good show for themselves, are ready to enter into any 
 dirty compromise to make things last their time ; and 
 after that the deluge. What we want is straight men." 
 
 Duclay appeared astonished by this outburst. Under 
 his breath I heard him murmur : " Balaam's ass ! " 
 " I'm glad you see the point," he answered blandly. 
 " But will you tell me how I, personally ? " 
 
 "Oh, you're hand in glove with all the others," 
 answered Harris vehemently ; " you let things go on. 
 A chap in my position can't do anything to stop them ; 
 but you could. What are you doing, I should like to 
 know ? Studying the torture of a wretched Arab — like 
 your vampire woman ! Why couldn't you have kept the 
 fellow at a distance or, if you liked him, taken up his case? 
 The Anglo-Indians you were sneering at just now are quite 
 all right. They may be stiff and rude, but they are honest. 
 They don't profess affection for the East. You, Duclay, 
 with your knowledge and your understanding, could not 
 be in Government service now if you were honest." 
 
 " The sense of your remarks is not quite clear, my 
 too excitable young friend," said Duclay, smoothly 
 vicious. " But in so far as I can grasp it they seem quite 
 uncalled-for." He was going on to murmur something 
 very cutting when a sudden clangour near at hand 
 made speech impossible. At once his frown relaxed. 
 He stretched himself and yawned luxuriously. The 
 same good-temper came on Harris and myself. It was 
 the luncheon-bell.
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES 
 
 Down in the wadv there were streaks of verdure, with 
 here and there the pink of oleander-flowers. On the 
 mountain-sides grew thistles blue and yellow, and a 
 thorny scrub. In all the landscape there was nothing 
 to be called a tree except, high up beneath a towering 
 sun-bleached crag, one solitary terebinth, of which the 
 shadow made a spot as black as ink upon the burnished 
 heights. That was a sacred tree, and of its goodness 
 served as sundial to the people of two villages, ten miles 
 apart, which lay concealed amid the wilderness of 
 tumbled rocks. 
 
 Abdullah and Mahmud, reclining in a nest between 
 two boulders on a jutting crag six hundred feet above 
 the glen, were forced to crick their necks in order to 
 consult it. Having ascertained that it was past the 
 middle of the afternoon, their eyes returned to keep 
 close watch upon the valley, becoming as the eyes of 
 hunters, sly and eager. 
 
 Through the glen from end to end, there wound a new 
 white carriage road ; beside which, at a point imme- 
 diately beneath their eyrie, was a camp of workmen, 
 just now as busy as a hive of bees. The navvies were 
 preparing to move on. The finishing touch which they 
 had given to their work was seen in a line of telegraph 
 poles, which ran as far as eye could see in both directions, 
 crowding in perspective. 
 
 " Praise be to Allah ! They are going," whispered 
 Abdullah son of Hasan, to Mahmud his brother. " This 
 night, in sh' Allah, we shall reap the harvest without 
 danger, as a child might pluck wild berries. It is wealth 
 for both of us. Never in my life have I beheld so many 
 trees ! How many are there, think you ? " 
 
 71
 
 72 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 "A lot of tens," returned his brother sagely. He 
 could not count beyond the sum of ten. 
 
 Abdullah hugged himself. "Fine trees," he murmured, 
 " tall, straight, thick, solid, all that man could wish ! 
 They must be worth two Turkish pounds apiece, whether 
 for firewood or for carpentry. If we succeed in gathering 
 but ten to-night, behold us both rich men ! " 
 
 " We can get more than ten," replied Mahmud. 
 "Our father will be with us and our mother and the girls." 
 
 " Remember that we have two axes only!" 
 
 " Bring pick and spade as well and dig them up. 
 The camel and the ass between them can bear more 
 than ten, supposing that they make three journeys to 
 and fro." 
 
 " With my share of the riches I shall buy a gun. The 
 one I have at present is old-fashioned. Then I shall 
 go and try my fortune with the brigands." 
 
 " That would grieve me, O my dear one, for our 
 father needs us. Stay in the village and buy sheep and 
 goats." 
 
 " Nay, but my soul desires to see some fighting." 
 
 " Have patience. We will fight together. We will 
 form a band ! " 
 
 While they thus talked the tents below them had 
 been packed and placed upon two trolleys drawn by 
 mules. The workmen piled their baggage on another 
 trolley, and took seat. The train went off with merry 
 din of bells. 
 
 The watchers rose and went back to their work in 
 what was called a field, a kind of pocket in the rocks 
 which held good soil. Abdullah guided the light plough, 
 whose pointed share but scratched the surface of the 
 ground ; while Mahmud drew it, stopping often to pick 
 up loose stones and throw them on a cairn hard by. 
 
 " They must be mad to leave Lhat wood unguarded," 
 mused the latter, wondering. 
 
 " They could not guard it all," replied Abdullah. 
 " There are tens upon tens upon ten of trees — un- 
 countable ! "
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES 73 
 
 " Our father will rejoice when we inform him." 
 
 " Our mother also. What a stroke of luck ! " 
 
 The shadow of the heights across the wady was 
 drawing near them up the mountain-side when they 
 set out for home, Mahmud the serviceable carrying the 
 little plough. The village where they lived was hidden 
 like the field among the rocks and boulders. In olden 
 times, the march of conquering armies through the 
 glen had taught the fellahin to hide their cornfields and 
 their dwellings as cunningly as small birds hide their 
 nests from depredators ; even in these days warlike 
 Druz and raiding Arabs would ride by occasionally with 
 hawklike gaze upon the heights for plunder. To a first 
 glance the village, even when in sight, seemed part of 
 the surrounding rocks. 
 
 As the young men drew near to it they saw an elder 
 with white turban and a black and white striped cloak 
 leading a donkey half concealed by brushwood, a blue- 
 veiled woman following with a second load of brushwood 
 on her head. 
 
 " Wait, my father," cried Abdullah, girding up his 
 loins to run. " O lucky day ! The infidels have gone. 
 The trees are ours — a forest — for the felling ! " 
 
 His parents sat down on a rock and waited while he 
 ran to them and told his tale. Mahmud came up more 
 slowly, with the plough. The old man, as he listened, 
 scratched his ear. He said : — 
 
 " Your plan is good to take the trees, my children ; 
 but bad to keep the treasure to ourselves. The trees 
 are many. Labour as we might, we could not hope to 
 gather more than one kirat 1 of them. And tidings of 
 our exploit would be sure to get abroad, provoking envy. 
 The sheykh of the village would denounce us to the 
 father of the road. Whereas if I reveal our project to 
 the sheykh, the village will be with us. With two 
 hundred of us working as one man, with tens of axes 
 swinging, in one night we shall have garnered all the 
 poles — ten times ten tens and more ; and thus our 
 1 Kirat (cf. carat), the twenty-fourth of anything. 
 A.O.S.U. F
 
 74 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 share, upon a fair division, will come to more than we 
 could hope to gather by ourselves." 
 
 The youths, though disappointed, bowed to his 
 decision ; and the four moved on into the village where, 
 having stabled the donkey, they went out on to the 
 threshing-floors — the only level place above the wady. 
 Out there upon a ring of green beside the village spring, 
 which gushed beneath a ruined arch well-lined with 
 maidenhair, a number of the elders sat discoursing 
 while blue or white-veiled women filled their pitchers 
 at the fountain. The father of Mahmud approached 
 this group with confidence, smiling and rubbing his 
 two hands together. He was drawn at once into their 
 conversation, which grew animated. The two boys at 
 a little distance watched and waited. Presently the 
 headman of the village beckoned to them to draw near, 
 and said : " You are good lads, and lords of high in- 
 telligence. Be sure that we shall not forget you when 
 we portion out the spoil." 
 
 The sheykh then rose and all the elders with him, 
 crying : " Yallah ! Set to work. The night is near." 
 
 Within two hours the village was in motion, streaming 
 down into the valley under cover of the night. A crowd 
 of children led the way on the rough track. Then came 
 the sheykh and his five sons on horseback, a servant 
 with a lantern throwing light for them ; then all the 
 able bodied men the village boasted, armed to the teeth 
 and carrying axes, leading with them beasts of burden 
 of all sorts and sizes ; and lastly a long train of women 
 and young girls, some of them balancing pitchers full 
 of water on their heads, clapping their hands in rhythm 
 to a joyful chant. 
 
 " It is like a night of Ramadan," exclaimed Abdullah, 
 speaking to Mahmud, his shadow. " This is no labour, 
 but a feast with lights and music. My heart beats 
 proud within me. I desire to fight. O Allah, grant 
 that some one may oppose us ! " 
 
 The scene upon the road, when they came down to it, 
 was gay and busy. Those who had spades or axes set
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES 75 
 
 to work at once upon the nearest poles. These, when 
 hacked down or rooted up, were carried by the crowd 
 of helpers to where the little herd of camels, mules and 
 donkeys waited. The hewers then passed on to other 
 poles, the women and the swarm of children moving 
 with them, until they were some distance from the 
 point where they had first come down. 
 
 The women doled out water, slabs of bread and salted 
 melon seeds to every one who craved refreshment ; and 
 work went on beneath a running fire of jokes, accom- 
 panied by songs and merry laughter. Suddenly, no 
 one knew exactly whence, awe fell upon the throng. 
 Voices were hushed instinctively, and in the silence the 
 sound of other axes could be heard distinctly, together 
 with the murmur of a crowd no great way off. 
 
 Some boys, sent running to spy out the land, returned 
 with news : — 
 
 " It is the folk of Kefr Hamad. They steal trees from 
 us." 
 
 " The thing is filthy ! " cried the sheykh with anger. 
 " It cannot be borne. Come, O my children, let us 
 shame those robbers ! " 
 
 " Praise be to God, we fight, we fight at last ! " whis- 
 pered Abdullah fiercely in his brother's ear. Drawing 
 an ancient sword, his father's gift to him, and waving it 
 aloft with yells, he started running. 
 
 The sheykh and his attendant horsemen galloped off, 
 the whole crowd following as best it could. 
 
 Abdullah was not far behind the horsemen, but, 
 already, when he came upon the enemy, a heated 
 altercation had begun. 
 
 " These trees are ours of right," the sheykh of Kefr 
 Hamad was contending vehemently. " This is our 
 territory. Your land does not extend beyond that 
 rock." " 
 
 " All on this side of the torrent bed is ours, as well 
 thou knowest," cried the sheykh of Deyr el Hur, with 
 indignation. " Therefore the road is ours, with all that 
 grows by it as far as eye can see from hence by daylight."
 
 >> 
 
 76 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " Thou liest, O devoid of manners as of principle ! 
 The road is the Sultan's and free to all. As for these 
 trees, they are outside the law, being the work of 
 infidels." 
 
 " The land is ours, I tell thee, the trees too." 
 
 " The land is the Sultan's, the trees are for all comers." 
 
 " Son of a dog ! " 
 
 " Degraded pimp ! " 
 
 " I know thy mother ! 
 
 " O thou clot of dung ! " 
 
 The speakers could not see each other in the darkness. 
 Other voices then took up the quarrel. The men began 
 to push each other forward, while the women in the 
 rear of either party shrieked offence. All at once a gun 
 went off ; a child's cry followed ; there was panic. 
 Every one who had a gun or pistol let it off amid a storm 
 of execration, screams and yells. And then the fight 
 began in earnest, the two armies closing in without the 
 room to swing an axe or lift a scimitar. They kicked, 
 scratched, tore and even bit each other. Abdullah, 
 fighting with his wits about him, full of joy, soon found 
 his strength prevail amid that terror-blinded throng. 
 He tried to keep Mahmud in sight, but lost him and, 
 supposing him to have been killed, smote with redoubled 
 fury. Managing to free his axe he brought it slantwise 
 down upon the turbaned head of an opponent, and 
 laughed to find it sticking in the skull. 
 
 The men on either side were drawing off by that time, 
 their thirst for murder slaked. And then the moon 
 came up ; they saw each other ; and sudden shame 
 came on them, with the fear of God. 
 
 " It is your fault, God knows," cried out the sheykh 
 of Kefr Hamad, very bitterly. " O sons of greed, O 
 tyrants and oppressors, to claim our trees as well as 
 those you have of right." 
 
 " In all this wady every tree is ours by law," returned 
 the sheykh of Deyr el Hur, sobbing loudly. " The fault 
 is yours for daring to oppose us. Behold the fruit of 
 your contumacy ! Are there not corpses on the ground
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES yy 
 
 between us ? Henceforth, unless the balance is adjusted, 
 there must be war between us till the Day of Judgment. 
 Go, take the trees ! We give them to you out of pity, 
 O you poor doomed wretches ! For every man of ours 
 that you have killed or wounded here to-night, be sure 
 that we will kill ten men of yours ! " 
 
 " Men, say you ? You have killed a woman — cowards 
 that you are ! " 
 
 The glen was filled with noise of lamentation. Abdul- 
 lah had espied Mahmud and run to him. They stood 
 together, stained with blood from head to foot, holding 
 each other's hand, and waiting for some new event. 
 
 The folk of Kefr Hamad moved away, carrying off 
 with them the poles which had been lashed already to 
 their beasts of burden ; while those of Deyr el Hur 
 began, with tears, to load their animals with those 
 which they had felled. That done they also streamed 
 away towards the village, bearing their dead with them. 
 
 Abdullah saw with wonder that the people were 
 departing homeward though many of the trees in sight 
 were still erect. His heart beat faster. The sheykh of 
 the village had acclaimed him as a hero publicly, and 
 now he saw a hope of winning private fortune. He and 
 his brother both had axes, with which much execution 
 might be done before the morning. Calling his mother 
 and his sisters, he commanded them to lead the camel 
 and the donkey home, unburden them, and bring them 
 back at once to fetch another load. That done, he 
 bent himself to work, as did Mahmud, his shadow. 
 Before the dawn they had sent two loads home, and in 
 addition had amassed a heap of poles too big to carry. 
 Five of these they managed to accommodate upon the 
 camel. A sixth they chopped in lengths and stacked 
 upon the donkey's back. The rest, with the assistance 
 of the women, they dragged and carried to the torrent 
 bed, and there concealed beneath a scatter of loose 
 stones. 
 
 Then, weary but content, they climbed up to the 
 village, which they reached as day was breaking.
 
 78 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 They slept all day. When they awoke, it was to find 
 that they were persons of importance, who had till then 
 been treated as mere senseless boys ; and Abdullah, 
 the imaginative, dreamt of sovereignty. He charged his 
 mother to demand for him Nesibeh, the daughter of 
 the Sheykh Rashid — a girl who by her beauty and her 
 arrogance had snared his soul — and went his daily 
 round as if the world belonged to him, attended always 
 by a group of courtiers, weak-minded, servile youths who 
 thought it bliss to be with him. He hungered for more 
 fighting, and the times were favourable. Warfare was 
 in the air. The men of Kefr Hamad raved of vengeance. 
 One day, when he was passing near their village a bullet 
 grazed his ear. Another man from Deyr el Hur was set 
 upon among the rocks by ruffians armed with scimitars, 
 and done to death. A girl of Deyr el Hur was violated. 
 Shots had been fired at persons from the village while 
 at work in the outlying " fields." Abdullah organised a 
 band of desperadoes to avenge these insults. One night 
 he even raided Kefr Hamad, killed a man or two and 
 carried off the daughter of the headman of the place, 
 whose house he entered. This girl he handed over to 
 the sheykh of Deyr el Hur, who sent a messenger to say 
 that he would have her killed in the most shameful 
 manner known in history unless the Hamadis at once 
 paid over fifty Turkish pounds or their equivalent, and 
 swore thenceforth to be subservient to Deyr el Hur. 
 
 On that the father of the girl, with other notables of 
 Kefr Hamad, invoked the overlord of all that region, 
 Ali Bey Terawi, who rode one morning from his castle 
 of Judeydeh, twenty miles away, accompanied by many 
 cavaliers, his sycophants, to the lone terebinth upon 
 the heights of Deyr el Hur, where deputations from 
 both villages awaited him. The lower branches of the 
 sacred tree were hung with strips of clothing, new and 
 old, the votive offerings of generations of the mountain 
 people. The great man sat down in the shade beneath 
 those rags, upon a carpet he had brought with him. 
 One of his servants held a parasol over his head for
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES 79 
 
 dignity ; another kept off flies and other insects with 
 a silken swish. His courtiers squatting round him on 
 the carpet, applauded all he said. He questioned the 
 contending parties patiently for half an hour, and then 
 informed them that their quarrel was all nonsense. The 
 poles belonged of right to neither village. They be- 
 longed to him. He commanded them to make peace 
 instantly on pain of his extreme displeasure. The 
 captive girl must be restored to Kefr Hamad, which 
 village in return must pay ten pounds to Deyr el Hur 
 as indemnity for damage done to life and limb, and 
 each village must pay twenty pounds to him in com- 
 pensation for the trees. The sentence was at once 
 accepted. The sheykhs of the two villages ran forward 
 and embraced each other ; the girl was handed over 
 to her father, and an instalment of the money paid. 
 The great man rode away contented with his morning's 
 work. He had not noticed the small gesture — it was 
 hardly noticeable — w T hich in every instance had ac- 
 companied the vows exchanged for his delight — a 
 jerk of the left thumb over the left shoulder, signifying 
 " Backwards," which rendered all those vows of no 
 effect. More potent than that scenic reconciliation in 
 the cause of peace, was the fear, which shortly came 
 upon both villages, of vengeance from the fathers of 
 the road. 
 
 On the very day of peace-making, two unbelievers in 
 a carriage drawn by horses had been seen examining the 
 places where the trees had stood. And two days later 
 more of them appeared, examining and measuring and 
 taking notes. 
 
 A man of Deyr el Hur, espied by them among the 
 rocks, was asked by their interpreter if he knew any- 
 thing about the disappearance of the poles. He said 
 that he did not, but thought it was the work of gypsies 
 or of Bedu — wandering, wild people who have no 
 respect for anything. 
 
 The trees had been chopped up and hidden with 
 great care, yet fear lest something should transpire to
 
 80 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 show their guilt was lively both in Deyr el Hur and in 
 Kefr Hamad. It grew to horror when some soldiers 
 came and camped beside the road, protecting a new 
 gang of Frankish workmen. The business of the latter 
 gave much food for speculation till it was seen that 
 they were putting up more trees. Then there was 
 laughter and thanksgiving that such fools should live. 
 
 " Praise be to Allah ! " cried Abdullah rapturously. 
 " By their folly I shall soon be able to obtain my bride." 
 
 The parents of his heart's desire had sworn that they 
 would not take less than fifty Turkish pounds for her, 
 or the equivalent of that amount in trees or other 
 property. The store which he had buried in the wady 
 might be estimated as worth thirty pounds at most, 
 and was not all his own, belonging partly to Mahmud. 
 It was therefore necessary to procure more wealth 
 immediately before some richer man should come and 
 buy Nesibeh. The conduct of the girl herself excited 
 him. When she met him, going to the fountain, or saw 
 him pass her father's doorway, she would taunt him, 
 saying she was not for him ; or throw him a bewitching 
 glance of her great eyes and, when his eyes responded, 
 burst out laughing. He would get her, or else kill her 
 and himself, he swore it. 
 
 " By Allah, I will fight and conquer, slay and rob for 
 her," he told Mahmud. " I will bring the wealth of all 
 the country to her father's feet. And when I get her I 
 will tame her finely, little serpent that she is ! " 
 
 In truth, he was prepared for any rashness. 
 
 The workmen would not this time leave the poles 
 unguarded, he considered. They or the Turkish soldiers 
 would stay near them for a year at least. Whatever 
 guard they left, he would attack and overcome it with 
 his little band. 
 
 " I will pounce down on the soldiers while they sleep," 
 he told his brother. " I will kill a dozen of them ere 
 they find their whereabouts. With twice ten lads like 
 thee behind me I am sure to win." 
 
 " You cannot find so many," sighed Mahmud, whose
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES 81 
 
 mind was literal. " But I and those thou knowest will 
 be with thee." 
 
 The brothers were prepared to fight against tre- 
 mendous odds, and only waited till the work was finished 
 to attack the trees. These seemed from what a man 
 could gather from the heights — for none ventured down 
 into the wady since the troops arrived — even taller 
 and more solid than the former crop. The fathers of 
 the road would guard them strongly, the villagers 
 surmised with deep regret. What was their amazement, 
 then, when they went out one morning, to see the glen 
 quite empty, the soldiers and the workmen all clean 
 gone, the long procession of fine trees quite unprotected 
 in appearance. 
 
 No doubt it was some stratagem, they thought. The 
 soldiers would return at night and lie in ambush. But 
 when upon the next day and the next the glen remained 
 deserted, the men of Deyr el Hur were minded to go 
 down and reap the crop. Abdullah had convoked a 
 council of the village notables, who hung their hopes 
 upon his valour and his gift for strategy, when a 
 messenger arrived from Kefr Hamad with these words : — 
 
 " In the name of Allah, Merciful, Compassionate, the 
 word of the sheykh and notables of Kefr Hamad to those 
 of Deyr el Hur. To-night let us go down to reap the 
 trees. Let there be fair apportionment beforehand. 
 Give us half, and peace shall be between us evermore." 
 
 The sheykh of Deyr el Hur cried : " What is this ? 
 The trees are ours by law and ancient right. Since the 
 men of Kefr Hamad beg of us, we grant them five, in 
 pity of their indigence." 
 
 To these high words the messenger replied : " Then 
 have I yet another errand to your honours. My lords of 
 Kefr Hamad challenge you to fight a battle, your braves 
 against our braves, in presence of the people, with 
 swords and axes, this evening in the wady. The side 
 which wins shall gather all the trees, and shall be lord 
 over the other till the Day of Judgment." 
 
 The headman and the elders hesitated, something
 
 82 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 scared ; but Abdullah urged them to accept the chal- 
 lenge, pledging his life that they should be victorious ; 
 and in the end their answer was : " It is agreed." 
 Abdullah then assembled the young men of valour, 
 looked to their weapons, and instructed them. Two 
 hours before the sun set all was ready, the villagers 
 began to go down towards the glen. As Abdullah came 
 out of his doorway fully armed, the headman happened 
 to be riding down the narrow way between the hovels, 
 and his cruel mistress to be standing at her door 
 hard by. 
 
 " Thou art our lion, our one hope," the sheykh 
 called out to him. " Spare no effort, I adjure thee, to 
 secure our victory. By Allah, I will pay thee gold 
 for every wound thou takest." 
 
 The youth, with head erect and flashing eyes, looked 
 proudly at Nesibeh, who laughed jeeringly, and said : 
 " Our lion seems to me much like an ass ! " He ground 
 his teeth. His heart beat in his head. He swore to win 
 the day, and make her his. 
 
 The scene of combat was a level space beside the road, 
 but hidden from it by some intervening rocks. The 
 women, children and old men of either party sat up 
 upon the stones. The able men stood ranked in the 
 arena, the champions in the forefront of each host. 
 
 When all was ready, a huge brawny man of Kefr 
 Hamad stood forth and with a yawn proclaimed that 
 he was thirsty and desired much blood to drink. He 
 was a butcher and saw many sheep before him. Why 
 did they tremble ? It would soon be over. He would 
 undertake to finish any of those bleating milklings in 
 less time than it takes to draw a tooth. He brandished 
 an enormous antique scimitar. 
 
 A man of Deyr el Hur strode to meet him, with fierce 
 insults. The shouts of the two armies, each seeking 
 to intimidate the other, were blood-curdling, while the 
 champions danced defiance in the usual way. It was 
 some time before they closed, but when that happened 
 the Kefr Hamad man was instantly victorious. His
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES 83 
 
 opponent lay upon the field with head half severed. 
 There were howls of triumph on the one hand, bitter 
 wailing on the other. 
 
 " My thirst is not yet quenched. Here stand 1 1 
 Lambkins, come ! " called out the victor. 
 
 Mahmud, the brother of Abdullah, ran out and 
 attacked the boaster furiously, without the prelusory 
 dance and insults, being mad with rage. The giant 
 appeared shaken for a moment by the sudden nature 
 of the onslaught, but he soon recovered. The battle had 
 not raged five minutes when his adversary was dis- 
 armed and forced to kneel. The monster then bent 
 back the young man's head upon his knee, drew a long 
 knife from his girdle and, with a grin at the dejected 
 host of Deyr el Hur, he cut his throat. That done, he 
 flung the body on the ground, and kicking it, crying : 
 " Another ! Bring another ! for my thirst is great. 
 Ha ! These struggling weaklings grudged us half the 
 trees. The right was with them. We will take them 
 all!" 
 
 For a minute the scene swam before Abdullah's eyes, 
 he seemed about to swoon. The brother whom he loved 
 above all else on earth lay slain before his eyes, as 
 fowls are slain. He heard his mother and his sisters 
 wailing ; his own heart was dead ; but suddenly his 
 wits grew more acute than he had ever known them. He 
 saw the way to kill the monster — saw it quite distinctly, 
 and without emotion. The trees — to win the trees — ■ 
 was his one painful thought, and incidentally his 
 brother's death should be avenged. He had noticed 
 that the Hamadi was heavy, that he fought in one 
 position and did not turn quickly. 
 
 As swift as thought, Abdullah darted out and ran 
 straight towards the challenger till almost within reach, 
 then gave a sudden swerve and circled round his 
 adversary. Round and round he ran, now drawing in 
 to try a blow at the bewildered giant, now darting far 
 beyond his reach, for ever circling till he saw the monster 
 was half-blind with rage and growing giddy. Watching
 
 84 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 his opportunity, he darted in and, stooping, ham- 
 strung his opponent neatly with his axe. Then, 
 springing clear as the big man swung round upon him, 
 lurching forward, with a yell of pain, he darted in again 
 and with a lightning flourish of his axe, smote down with 
 all his strength. The blow fell on the bare nape of the 
 giant's neck, and it was final. 
 
 Deyr el Hiir sent up a shout of joy, and before the 
 conqueror had time to wipe his forehead he was assailed 
 by all the host of Kefr Hamad. His own people rushed 
 in to the rescue. His father, though an old man, stood 
 beside him, fighting bravely with an ancient sword. 
 Abdullah's one thought was to kill and kill again. 
 Even when his father fell, he felt no grief, but smote the 
 man who killed him and pressed on. Remembrance of 
 the trees and of the girl he loved was in the background 
 of his mind, as something which might still be saved 
 amid the wreck of happiness. He was wounded in a 
 dozen places ; blood streamed from him. It seemed to 
 him that all his veins were open, yet he fought on with 
 undiminished zest. 
 
 The sun had set before he slew the giant. Before it 
 grew quite dark the foe was in retreat, the field was 
 won ; the trees were theirs, and Kefr Hamad would for 
 evermore be subject to the men of Deyr el Hur. Abdul- 
 lah, to his own amazement, felt elated. He had seen 
 his brother and his father die, but he yet lived ; the 
 sequel of their life on earth was in his hands ; no end of 
 trees were his, with which to buy the girl Nesibeh and 
 make his name respected far and wide. Most of the 
 villagers were gathered round the dead and dying. 
 Beneath a crescent moon already near its setting, the 
 keening of the women filled the glen. Some dauntless 
 spirits cried : — 
 
 " The trees ! The trees are ours. On to the trees and 
 cut them, to assert our right. Thou, Abdullah, art 
 our chief, the bravest in the land. It is for thee to 
 strike the happy blow ! " 
 
 They led Abdullah to the nearest tree. The hero was
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE TREES 85 
 
 beginning to feel faint from loss of blood, his brain was 
 sometimes reeling, sometimes ominously still. Yet he 
 was Droud to strike the first blow at the trees, the 
 cause of all the fighting which had brought him so much 
 honour and such bitter woe — the trees which were to 
 win for him Nesibeh, the one pleasure left. Nerving 
 himself with a tremendous effort, he threw up his axe, 
 swung it above his head, then brought it down upon 
 the tree. 
 
 A shock went through his frame from head to foot. 
 The pole gave forth a dull, metallic sound. The axe 
 glanced off, he heard a murmur of astonishment with 
 disconcerted laughs from his companions, before he 
 fell upon the ground insensible. These trees were hollow 
 iron painted over.
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 
 
 The great Sheykh Hamadan, chief of a whole nation of 
 the desert Arabs, sat in his tent towards evening with 
 the leaders of his host. At the tent-mouth appeared a 
 throng of shrouded heads, with black tents on a sun- 
 red slope beyond. With face in shadow from his flowing 
 head-shawl, he frowned and held his beard in a firm 
 grip of anger. His eyes blazed. On a dead silence he let 
 fall the words : — 
 
 " Bring hither Rih and Rihan." 
 
 After some scuffling in the entry, two young men of 
 gallant bearing were pushed forward. 
 
 " Where is the saddle of the tax-farmer ? " the chief 
 inquired. 
 
 The young men looked at one another and then 
 shrugged, as who should say : "So small a thing ! " 
 
 " The saddle of the tax-farmer," observed Rihan, in 
 the sly tone of one who would try fortune with a joke, 
 " is interposed between the fattest region of his person 
 and his horse's back." 
 
 But no one laughed. Rih and Rihan exchanged 
 another glance. Their proud demeanour vanished all 
 at once. The evening sunlight and free air appeared a 
 great way off. 
 
 " By Allah, we know nothing of it," whined Rihan ; 
 " but we will seek it if it is Your Honour's will." 
 
 " Aye, by my courage," whimpered Rih in servile 
 ecstasy, " Rihan and I will find it though it be beneath 
 the sea, or held by giants, at the roots of mountains." 
 
 " Speak but the word, King of Kings ! " pleaded 
 Rihan, as burning to set off. 
 
 But even as he spoke a saddle, highly padded 
 
 and hung about with silken tassels and much gold 
 
 86
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 87 
 
 embroidery, was brought into the tent on a man's 
 head and shoulders ; and the bearer cried : — 
 
 " Behold the stolen, O our Sovereign Lord ! " 
 
 " Where found ? " 
 
 " In the tent of Rih and Rihan." 
 
 The chief's gaze scorched the culprits ! 
 
 " Sons of a dog," he cried ; " you knew that we had 
 given a safe-conduct to that townsman." 
 
 " Nay, that, by God, we knew not ! " cried the young 
 men eagerly ; and many persons in the tent supported 
 them in this contention, declaring that it was unlikely 
 that they could have known. 
 
 ' However that may be, you lied in answer to my 
 question. Do that a second time and you shall die a 
 painful death. Is my justice to be set at naught by 
 dogs like you ? Out of my sight ! " 
 
 The youths slunk off dejectedly, threading their way 
 as in a dream among the tethered horses and the tent- 
 ropes till they reached their own abode, a low, black 
 tent of camel's hair. Creeping inside, they wept together 
 in a tight embrace. Then Rihan fell and ground his 
 face into the dust, while Rih cried out to Allah for 
 redress. 
 
 They were cousins, of the sub-tribe of the Billi. It 
 was but two months since they left the pastures of their 
 people, to join the armies of the sovereign chief, hoping 
 to gain renown. Already they had won distinction in 
 the warlike pastimes of the camp, and in a battle with 
 the Bani Sakhar they had unhorsed two champions, 
 and gained two noble steeds of Kheylan breed. At tilt 
 and tourney there was none to beat them, nor yet at 
 shooting at a mark from horseback. But the prize on 
 which they built their hope of lasting fame had been the 
 saddle of the tithe-farmer. 
 
 When riding out one day in search of exploits, they 
 met a man on horseback, armed to the teeth with every 
 kind of weapon that could by any means be stuck or 
 slung about his person, seated upon that monstrous 
 saddle which in the sunlight could be seen afar. This
 
 88 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 person was attended by a troop of Turkish soldiers ; 
 but these, being ill-mounted, were a mile behind when 
 Rih and Rihan accosted him, inquiring in a friendly 
 way how much that saddle cost, who made it, and why 
 he was condemned to ride on such a cumbrous thing. 
 
 For all reply, the horseman called them sons of dogs, 
 and bade them haste away or they would get a beat- 
 ing from his armed attendants. Such language from a 
 townsman being insupportable, Rih and Rihan had 
 seized the boaster, one on either hand, and swung him 
 clear out of the saddle to the ground. Rihan leapt 
 down and sat upon him, while Rih removed the gorgeous 
 object from the horse's back. Then they re-set him on 
 his naked steed, and were themselves remounting when 
 the soldiers, summoned by the great one's cries, came 
 within range. Then, for a moment, there was fear from 
 bullets, and the cousins crouched along beside their 
 horses' necks ; but soon their thoroughbreds had borne 
 them out of danger ; and up before Rihan was set the 
 saddle of the tax-farmer. 
 
 It was for this bold deed that they had been insulted 
 and disgraced. The chief had played a dirty trick on 
 them in sending men to search the tent, while they were 
 absent. They had been ready to give up the prize at 
 his command. He should have let them do so, to 
 preserve their pride. 
 
 Some of their comrades came with words to comfort 
 them, but such commiseration made them wail the 
 more. When the last visitor had gone and night en- 
 veloped the great camp, Rih and Rihan, still sobbing, 
 faced the question : what to do ? 
 
 Their fame was ruined in the tribal chivalry. The 
 head of all their race had proved a churl. It might be, 
 as the visitors had claimed but now, that Hamadan had 
 raised their nation by his discipline. " But that is 
 not our object," blubbered Rih. " The nation's power 
 is no man's glory. We might as well be in the Turkish 
 service, moving together at a shout, like silly sheep." 
 
 " There is but one way to regain our honour," said
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 89 
 
 his cousin. " We must invade the settled country and 
 there do great deeds till all the world re-echoes with our 
 fame ; till the Turks entreat us to desist and make 
 alliance with them. Sheykh Hamadan himself shall 
 send an embassy to beg us to return." 
 
 " Yallah ! " said Rih. '' Let us depart at once. My 
 soul is dead until we quit this place of shame." 
 
 They crept to the tent-mouth and listened. Jackals 
 were howling on the hills around, but in the circle of the 
 camp there was a silence broken only by the coughing 
 of a horse, the snarling of a dog occasionally. The 
 cousins stowed their few belongings into saddle-bags, 
 then stole out and prepared their horses for the start ; 
 loosed them and led them cautiously to open ground 
 beyond the tent-ropes. That done, they left the chargers 
 lightly tethered and stole back through the camp with 
 bated breath. 
 
 By the pavilion of the mighty chief, against the wall 
 of camel's hair, they stood and breathed defiance with 
 an inward speech. 
 
 " This day thou hast dishonoured men of worth, O 
 proud Emir," said Rih within his soul. " The day will 
 come when thou shalt go upon thy face to those heroic 
 men and lick their feet." 
 
 " The scorn that thou didst heap on us, man devoid 
 of manners as of sense," Rihan soliloquised, " is not a 
 tithe of that which men of honour feel for one like thee. 
 I spit between thy eyes : I pluck thy beard and, as an 
 earnest of my high contempt, I cut thy tent-rope." 
 
 He had pulled a knife out from his girdle to perform 
 this threat when, a slight noise within the tent alarming 
 them, the cousins fled, proceeding snake-like on their 
 bellies till they reached the horses. They knew the 
 standpoints of the watchers and avoided them, re- 
 treating northward on soft ground till out of earshot of 
 the camp, when they climbed up into the hills in a 
 direction south by west. 
 
 At dawn they saw before them a great lake with towns 
 and villages upon its farther shore, and rode down to 
 a.o.s.u. G
 
 go AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 the water's edge, where it was easy going. Near the 
 lake's southern end they found a camp of half-bred 
 Arabs, who received them with due honour as superiors. 
 The adulation of those mongrels, the relief of boasting, 
 restored their spirits and their self-conceit. Again they 
 rode into a mountain country till they gained a ridge 
 from which they saw the mighty sea rising from far 
 below them to the eye-line like a great blue wall. Along 
 that ridge a road meandered, and upon the road were 
 Turkish soldiers marching northward in close bands. 
 Having no wish to answer questions, Rih and Rihan rode 
 down into a wady and there rested till the foes of chivalry 
 had quite gone by. Returning to the road, they came 
 to a large village, where they were horrified to find more 
 soldiers halted. 
 
 An officer approached, asking to know by what 
 authority they rode, thus armed for war, along the 
 Sultan's highway. 
 
 Rih and Rihan looked and perceived they were sur- 
 rounded, save at one point only, where a laden donkey 
 stood across the road, its owner talking to a white- 
 veiled woman in a doorway. 
 
 " Thou wouldst see our permit for these weapons ? " 
 asked Rihan, assuming an appearance of extreme 
 stupidity. 
 
 " Aye, by Allah ! " said the officer, the soldiers and 
 the fellahin in one derisive roar. Rih whispered to 
 Rihan, then shouted : — 
 
 " Yallah ! Read it ! It is written on my horse's left 
 hind-hoof." He cleared the donkey and its panniers in 
 a leap, Rihan beside him. Before the soldiers could 
 recover their surprise and fly to arms, the two knights 
 errant were but specks upon the road. 
 
 Thereafter, having had their lesson, they avoided 
 villages and gave up their first intention, which had been 
 to go into the Holy City and make vows for their success, 
 and also challenge the polite inhabitants to single combat 
 on the town meydan. The government had no regard 
 for chivalry and, if they fell into its hands, they might
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 91 
 
 be made to drill or work like slavish townsmen or low 
 fellahin. They made their vows one morning at a 
 lonely shrine upon a mountain-top from whence they 
 saw the Holy City afar off. The guardian told them 
 that it was the tomb of Prophet Samuel. Neither Rih 
 nor Rihan had heard of him ; but since he was a prophet, 
 he was good enough. Though both were Muslims by 
 profession, they knew nothing of the form of prayer, their 
 practice of the faith consisting only in swearing by 
 Allah and the Prophet upon all occasions and reciting 
 the belief when challenged by the guard at night. On 
 this occasion they prayed simply : — 
 
 " O Allah, grant us victory and great renown ! " 
 standing before the mosque of Prophet Samuel and 
 looking towards the city which they feared to enter. 
 That done, they rode again towards the south. 
 
 At length, descending on the fertile plain which lies 
 between the mountains and the sea, they found a 
 pleasant village amid olive-groves, to which the people, 
 terrified by their appearance, made them welcome. Here 
 were no marplot soldiers, no base-minded governors. 
 The foes of chivalry lurked afar off at Jaffa and at Gaza. 
 It would take time for news of any feat of arms to 
 reach them and arouse their ire. The nature of the 
 country too was favourable for campaigning ; for the 
 plain was not dead flat, but well diversified with hill 
 and valley, marsh and woodland, and miles of sand-hills 
 all along beside the sea. The mountain gorges were 
 at hand for hiding. And the land was rich. The soap 
 and oil merchants of Jaffa, Gaza, Lydda, Ramleh were 
 always going to and fro among the villages, from which 
 they got their wealth, with bags of money ; so were the 
 Christian usurers who supplied seed to the fellahin in 
 autumn, and claimed a large share of the harvest in 
 return when summer came. Rih and Rihan decided to 
 redeem this pleasant land from dull prosperity and 
 render it illustrious by warlike deeds. 
 
 They pitched their tent in a secluded dell below the 
 village, disdaining here as everywhere to sleep in houses,
 
 92 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 and made the fellahin bring food and fodder. Men, 
 women and children gathered round and listened to 
 their boasting, half amused, half awed. The cousins 
 questioned of the country and its wealth. At length 
 Rih said : — 
 
 " O sons of water-melons, which grow fat exceedingly 
 and yet remain attached for life to one small stalk, 
 hear what I say ! I am the great Sheykh Rih and 
 here is Rihan, my cousin. Our presence brings renown 
 to this your land. Your village and your conversation 
 please us. We shall stay among you, returning hither 
 always from our valiant exploits. Become our helpers 
 and grow rich beyond all dreams. Betray our secrets 
 by a breath and we destroy you utterly. The choice is 
 there. What say you, devoid of spirit ? " 
 
 The people hesitated for a minute. One exclaimed : — 
 
 " Bear witness, that we may be sure that you are 
 Muslims and will not make us partners in some hateful 
 crime." 
 
 Rih and Rihan bore witness loudly, and Rih added : 
 " By the Koran, we are the best of Muslims — we pure- 
 blooded Arabs. The Prophet — may God bless and keep 
 him ! — came of us." 
 
 The village preacher muttered in his beard: "And 
 that, by Allah, is the greatest miracle ! " but few of the 
 assembly heard him : and none heeded. So the pact 
 was made. Rih and Rihan became as lords in all that 
 country, for no one of the fellahin dared stand against 
 them ; and the friends of order were far off in Gaza. 
 At first there was much secret murmuring against their 
 lordship, because of the supplies of food and fodder 
 which they claimed of right. But after they despoiled 
 a certain usurer, who was returning on the road to Jaffa 
 with a train of camels, of all that he had taken from 
 three villages in return for seed provided in the autumn ; 
 when they repaid both corn and money to the fellahin, 
 the two knights errant were acknowledged to be lords 
 of goodness deserving of the best that could be set 
 before them.
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 93 
 
 The scene of their first triumphs was the tract of 
 sand-hills between Ramleh and the sea. There they 
 charged down on peaceful wayfarers, and trains of 
 mules or camels, with appalling cries. They waved their 
 lances in the air, or fired their guns, till their opponents, 
 scared to death, fell prostrate on the sand, begging 
 them for the love of Allah to take all they had. Having 
 gone over all the goods and taken what seemed best to 
 them, Rih and Rihan would condescend to spare the 
 people's lives and, as they rode away, would say, exulting: 
 " Praise be to Allah, who has given us the victory ! " 
 
 After a season of such prowess without one reverse 
 Rihan assumed the title of the Conqueror, while Rih 
 informed his sycophants among the fellahin that they 
 might thenceforth call him the Redoubted Monarch. 
 
 Rih had a weakness which Rihan deplored. He loved 
 the daughter of a poor fellah of Yebna, a girl with 
 roguish eyes and a small tree tattooed beneath her 
 underlip. Rih left her in her father's house and only 
 visited her there occasionally. Rihan would certainly 
 have washed his hands of him had he become a house- 
 dweller. 
 
 " What have we to do with women ? " he would cry 
 impatiently when Rih went off to visit his beloved. 
 ' Till we have earned eternal fame we should abjure 
 their pleasures, save only in the way of vengeance on 
 some hostile house. When we have gained our object 
 we will marry two princesses " — meaning the daughters 
 of some Bedawi of long descent — " and raise up seed 
 of honour. Are there not sufficient half-breeds in this 
 land already that we, the noblest of the noble, should 
 increase their multitude ? " 
 
 The half-breeds of his condemnation were the broken 
 Arab tribes which wander in the settled country for 
 protection with their flocks and herds. 
 
 Rih gloried in his weakness. On their warlike ex- 
 peditions he would sing interminable songs in praise of 
 Leylah — " for all the world," observed Rihan dis- 
 gustedly, "as if she had been some princess of lofty
 
 94 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 birth." His love demanded bracelets of blue beads, 
 also a silken robe for his delight, also a head-veil and a 
 pair of yellow slippers ; and Rih, who knew no comfort 
 when she frowned, ventured into Gaza, though he 
 feared the government, for, people said, a price was on 
 his head. He dismounted before coming to the town 
 at a friend's garden, and there hid his horse, which far 
 more than himself attracted notice in a land where 
 every beggar is a judge of horseflesh. Then he passed 
 the gate, sauntering through the perfumed markets 
 where the merchants called to him, spreading their 
 choicest wares to tempt him, upon either hand. The 
 many colours in the shade were pleasant to his eyes, 
 his nostrils opened to the scent of musk and incense. 
 He felt in no great hurry to complete his purchases, 
 and when at length he had bought everything that 
 Leylah wanted, it was growing late. Then he re- 
 membered an injunction of Rihan that he should try 
 to find out if the government was moving ; so he went 
 into a tavern full of people, dropping his head-shawl 
 so as to conceal quite half his face. He sat down in the 
 darkest corner and drank coffee. 
 
 Rih and Rihan were then in every mouth, for they 
 had cut the road along the coast to Jaffa ; and Rih was 
 shocked at the ill names those townsmen called them. 
 
 " You will see," said one. " The end of such men is 
 already written. A party of shadirmas will set out 
 from Jaffa and another from our city simultaneously. 
 They will sweep the road. Those sons of dogs will either 
 be destroyed in battle, or else be taken captive and 
 securely hanged. Such miscreants deserve to lie un- 
 buried. They are food for fire hereafter. Curse their 
 father ! " 
 
 The applause which followed this insulting speech 
 struck Rih like blasphemy. These townsmen were 
 indeed devoid of honour. They lacked the fibre which 
 responds to valiant deeds. The vileness of their talk so 
 fascinated him that when he left the tavern it was night. 
 
 He hastened to the city gate, to find it shut. He prayed
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 95 
 
 the guards to open for him ; but they only laughed 
 and, knowing from his accent that he was a Bedawi, 
 declared that it would do him good to spend a night 
 enclosed. He told a woeful tale of how his wife lay 
 sick and he had come into the town to purchase medi- 
 cine. One of the soldiers then held up a lantern and 
 took note of his appearance. 
 
 " By Allah," he exclaimed, " this is the greatest 
 villain — Rih and Rihan in one ! And we shall gain 
 much glory by his capture." 
 
 " Rih and Rihan are malefactors ! " shouted Rih, 
 though even in his terror the word hurt his throat. 
 " I am a poor peaceful herdsman of the tribe of Malaha." 
 He named one of the broken clans which haunt the 
 villages. 
 
 " Malaha wear the shawl upon the other shoulder," 
 laughed the corporal of the guard. 
 
 They pounced on Rih and carried him into their den. 
 " Methinks thou comest of a tribe which for a while 
 has sent no soldiers to the army," remarked the ombashi 
 when they had set him down. 
 
 Then Rih forgot his noble origin and all his fame ; 
 remembered only that he was the prey of soldiers in a 
 kind of dungeon, and in immediate danger of three years 
 of drudgery. The vision of his bride awaiting him in 
 breezy Yebna, of his horse tethered in the garden near 
 at hand, came to increase the horror of his plight. He 
 fell upon the ground, he shrieked and blubbered ; he 
 embraced the feet of those base Turkish soldiers, hailing 
 them lords of kindness, kings of men. They roared with 
 laughter. And in the end they let him go for two 
 mejidis. That was the hardest part of it. His agony of 
 terror, his despair, had been uncalled-for. The soldiers 
 only wanted a small fee, receiving which they opened 
 the town gate for him, wishing him a pleasant journey 
 and a happy night. 
 
 Humiliated to the dust, he found his horse and rode 
 towards Yebna, cursing the day that ever he was born. 
 
 But as he journeyed in cool air beneath great throbbing
 
 96 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 stars, his soul revived and in his mind there grew a story 
 of appalling danger and triumphant cunning, to redeem 
 his shame. 
 
 Rihan was deeply interested in the news, which Rih 
 had gathered in the Gaza coffee-house, that slaves of 
 power were soon to march against them. For many 
 days they were in great anxiety, watching the distant 
 outlines of the country when they rode abroad. 
 
 One morning, after a successful foray, they went 
 down to the gardens of Wadi Elmeyn to feast on oranges 
 and sugar-cane by invitation of the fellahin ; hiding 
 their horses, as their custom was. They were sitting in 
 the shade beside the bridle-path, devouring oranges, 
 when four shadirmas (Turkish troopers) came in sight 
 moving in their direction. The servants of the govern- 
 ment were mounted on kadish, the common horses of 
 the town, mere beasts of toil. The heroes and their 
 entertainers quickly disappeared into a patch of sugar- 
 cane. Only the gardener remained, sitting in the 
 shade beside the water-tank. The soldiers, coming up, 
 asked leave to enter and pluck oranges. 
 
 "Do me the kindness ! " cried the gardener politely. 
 
 All is yours. 
 
 The soldiers got down off their horses and went in, 
 leaving their guns and other weapons on the saddles. 
 They asked for tidings of Rih and Rihan, and the gar- 
 dener in confidential tones assured them that the brigands 
 were resting in a certain village not far off. " Then 
 we shall catch them before night," exclaimed the four 
 shadirmas ; and thereupon they ate till they could 
 eat no more and lay down in the shade, made sleepy by 
 the hum of bees. Hearing their snores, Rih and Rihan 
 with their familiars came stealing from the patch of 
 sugar-cane. The soldiers were fast bound when they 
 awoke, exclaiming : "I seek refuge in Allah ! " like 
 people who suppose themselves to be bewitched. 
 
 Rihan addressed them with imperial mien : — 
 
 " O poor, manged dogs," he said ; " does the Calm- 
 macam, your master, think that Rih and Rihan, the
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 97 
 
 greatest heroes of the age, are creatures like to you, that 
 he lets you out of his protection in so small a number ? 
 Does he think that mules like those " — he pointed to 
 their common horses — " are worth the half or quarter 
 of a thoroughbred ? Come, O my cousin, let us place 
 the saddles on these men who are but asses, that they 
 may bear them to the governor with our defiance. We 
 dare His Excellency to ride forth like a man and meet 
 us in the field with lance and gun." 
 
 The saddles were then taken off the horses and fixed 
 upon the backs of the dejected soldiers, who were 
 driven, thus accoutred, to within sight of the Jaffa 
 gardens. There Rih and Rihan unbound their arms 
 and left them with barbed wordo of scornful pity. The 
 common steeds, the swords and guns, thus captured 
 from the government, they sold by auction to the 
 fellahin. 
 
 That victory increased their honour, and their bold- 
 ness grew ; though for a while, through prudence, they 
 forsook the sand-hills and shed their glory on the inland 
 roads. 
 
 Then came the time of pilgrimage to the Prophet Reu- 
 ben, when the road along the coast was more frequented 
 than at other seasons of the year. A fellah of Shahmeh, 
 coming from the Gaza market, told Rihan that several 
 parties of importance were about to start for Jaffa from 
 that city, hearing that the sand-hills were now clear of 
 brigands, and relying on the crowds of pilgrims for 
 protection if they should appear. Among these would- 
 be travellers was the son of the Cadi of Gaza, who had 
 said, when people begged him not to risk his life, that 
 his father's reputation as a righteous judge secured him 
 like a charm in all that country. 
 
 Rihan was in Wadi Sarrar when he received this 
 news. He galloped off to Yebna, where Rih dallied with 
 his low-born bride. 
 
 " Oho ! Is that the case ? " cried Rih, affronted. " Do 
 they think we should be daunted by a thousand of their 
 chanting pilgrims ? Do they think we care a doit for
 
 g8 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 their old doting Cadi, or esteem him just who has con- 
 demned so many lights of chivalry to common work ? 
 Well, they shall learn ! " 
 
 His wife besought him to be cautious, for she knew 
 his rashness, and knew also the prestige attaching to 
 the Cadi's name. She was a pious girl, and feared the 
 judgment of the Lord if Rih should interfere with 
 pilgrims on the Prophet's road. But he made light of 
 all her scruples and remonstrances. He and Rihan 
 replied to all who would dissuade them, that they had 
 been insulted and defied, challenged to show their 
 prowess by ignoble townsmen. 
 
 The sanctuary of Nebi Rubin (the Prophet Reuben) 
 is a noble mosque uprising on the edge of marshes by 
 the sea. It boasts a harbour, a small village, and some 
 cultivated lands, but the mosque alone is to be seen from 
 the main road, which runs to landward of the marsh, 
 beneath the fields of Yebna, which rise up to meet the 
 flat-roofed village on its hill. The day had been intensely 
 hot. The Cadi's son and his attendants rested in the 
 shade at Ashdod, intending to pursue their way by 
 night. Rih and Rihan, in Yebna, had wind of this 
 through their informers ; and did not go to watch 
 the road till after dusk. 
 
 It was full night ; the crickets in the stubble of the 
 cornfields were silent save for a short note occasionally ; 
 hundreds of jackals over all the countryside were howling, 
 answering one another from hill to hill, when Rih heard 
 human voices drawing near the rocks on which he 
 stood. He fired his pistol in the dark and was himself 
 astonished, rushing forward, to see a man fall off a 
 donkey close before him. 
 
 " Batil ! " (a bad shot), he cried. " God knows I did 
 not mean as much as that." 
 
 At the noise of the pistol-shot, the travellers dis- 
 persed in all directions. The son of the Cadi was left 
 quite alone, huddled upon the ground beside his ass, 
 which had not moved a step. Rihan rode up, dis- 
 mounted, struck a match and lit the lantern which he
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 99 
 
 carried with him. They searched the dying man, who 
 groaned and prayed incessantly, and found a sum of 
 twenty Turkish pounds. 
 
 "Tfu, aleyk" (contempt upon thee), muttered Rih, 
 spitting towards his victim with intense disgust. " Thou, 
 an effendi, a person of consideration, to start upon a 
 journey furnished with so small a sum ! . . . What of 
 the donkey ? " he subjoined reflectively. 
 
 " It is a poor one. Better leave it ! " said Rihan. 
 " Already they are howling there in Yebna. Their noise 
 outshrills the barking of the jackals. And such is their 
 respect for their accursed Cadi, that Allah knows but, 
 in their consternation, the low-born curs may turn on 
 us, their benefactors. Up and away ! " 
 
 The cousins mounted and rode off. 
 
 The folk of Yebna howled through all that night, but 
 no man of them dared go down on to the road till day- 
 break ; and then, when they beheld the dead man 
 lying huddled and the donkey standing by him with de- 
 jected head, they looked at one another and declared : — ■ 
 
 " This true believer is the victim of an accident. His 
 ass was frightened by some jackal or hyena appearing 
 from behind those rocks ; and he fell off and died. If 
 a robber had attacked him, he would certainly have 
 taken this strong donkey, which is worth four pounds 
 at least — and he had all the night in which to drive 
 him — if not this robe of silk which clothes the body." 
 
 They raised the corpse and bore it up into their 
 village where it was washed and shrouded, and then 
 buried reverently to the chant of the Khatib and wailing 
 of believers. 
 
 The place where this crime was committed being 
 midway between the towns of Jaffa and of Gaza, there 
 was a dispute between the Ca'immacams of those two 
 cities as to jurisdiction ; the magnitude of the occurrence 
 making both averse to taking the blame. But the Cadi, 
 father of the murdered youth, a man of influence, 
 telegraphed to the Mutersarrif of Jerusalem and the 
 Wali of Syria, superiors of both the Ca'immacams, for
 
 ioo AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 help and protection. The Wali sent a squadron of 
 cavalry with orders to bring Rih and Rihan to Damascus, 
 dead or alive. 
 
 Then did our heroes lead the life of hunted beasts. 
 The horsemen were distributed among the villages and 
 never rode about the country save in force. The cousins 
 were obliged to shun the haunts of men. Their friends 
 among the fellahin provided them with food and fodder 
 secretly ; but most of the villages, whose sole desire 
 was for protection, were now their open enemies, con- 
 spiring with the Turkish soldiers to entrap them. 
 Warned by their spies they fled from place to place, too 
 proud to leave the country tamely after all their boasting, 
 yet anxious not to be surrounded and cut off from flight. 
 Even their allies among the people urged them to 
 depart. If they remained the end was written : they 
 would forfeit life. 
 
 " We will challenge them to single combat, one after 
 another, and prove that we are their superiors in feats 
 of arms and horsemanship. These riders are no better 
 than those asses whom we saddled and sent back to 
 Jaffa with our challenge to the governor. By Allah, 
 we will spit upon them," the two heroes boasted, with 
 heads still full of tales of Antar and of Khalid. But the 
 fellahin, with pity and contempt, rebuked their folly. 
 The villagers had lost their old respect, and dared 
 advise them now as equals. This change was very 
 bitter to the cousins, more especially to Rih, who had 
 been wont to plume himself on the devotion of those 
 people. But a dose more bitter was in store for him. 
 He ventured into Yebna to embrace his wife, who, far 
 from showing pleasure at the sight of him, flew in a 
 rage and called him ugly names. He beat her soundly, 
 till her father and her brothers came and held his hand. 
 His wife, dishevelled, weeping, cried that she had 
 always loathed him, declaring that the meanest peasant 
 was his master in the arts of love. He was a boaster, 
 selfish and vindictive, and a coward. " Coward 1 
 Coward ! " she kept harping on the hateful word.
 
 KNIGHTS ERRANT 101 
 
 " Better divorce her," said her people, " since the 
 case is so." And Rih pronounced the sentence of 
 divorcement under their dictation. 
 
 At once, to his surprise, their aspect changed. They 
 drove him from the place with blows and insults. He 
 wept with fear lest they should call the soldiers ; and 
 as he slunk away he heard the voice of Leylah crying : 
 " Praise be to Allah, I am rescued from that stinking 
 Bedawi." 
 
 With teeth still chattering with fright, tears streaming 
 down his cheeks, Rih rode by secret paths until he 
 found Rihan, who told him that he had received a 
 warning from the petty tribes to flee the country upon 
 pain of death. That was another insult hard to bear. 
 The cousins wept upon each other's neck. It was as if 
 the creeping things of earth had risen up against them 
 and become redoubtable. Fear chilled the very marrow 
 in their bones. By race they were afraid when people 
 ceased to fear them. 
 
 The soldiers lived upon the country, and it was known 
 that they would not depart until the heroes had been 
 caught or driven out ; so all mankind was now opposed 
 to chivalry. Yet still the cousins lingered, fleeing on 
 from lair to lair, not knowing in the morning where to 
 lie at night. At length the Turkish captain, weary of 
 scouting, gave command to sweep the plain. The game 
 was up. 
 
 " We must do something to secure our fame ! " the 
 cousins moaned. 
 
 They then implored some fellahin of Shahmeh, who 
 undertook to help them once again upon condition that 
 they straightway left the country. The captain received 
 information that the brigands were in hiding at a certain 
 place. He went there with his men and learnt from 
 one who stood there that the cousins had that minute 
 galloped over an adjacent hill. The squadron rode off 
 in pursuit. As they drew near to Wadi's-Samt in fine 
 array, they saw Rih and Rihan to all appearance dying 
 of fatigue, though the fact was they had but that
 
 102 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 moment started, having spent the night in Wadi's- 
 Samt. As soon as the pursuers came within earshot, Rih 
 wailed out : — 
 
 " lord of kindness, halt your men a moment. We 
 would parley. Our horses are outdone. We cry your 
 mercy." 
 
 Thankful to see the end of his long task, the yuzbashi 
 agreed good-naturedly, and gave the order ; when 
 Rihan, rising in his stirrups, cried : — 
 
 " We dare you to a match on the meydan before us." 
 He waved his hand towards a stretch of level ground. 
 " Gallop, sons of dogs, and you shall learn whether 
 Arabian horses ever know fatigue." 
 
 The heroes darted off. Their steeds were fresh, while 
 those of the pursuers were already tired. The Turkish 
 yuzbashi soon had the chagrin of seeing the two rogues 
 pass out of sight. 
 
 " Another victory ! " exclaimed Rihan. " Thanks be 
 to Allah ! " 
 
 " The crown of all — a deed whose fame will live for 
 ever ! " blubbered Rihan. 
 
 And heart in mouth, with frequent tears, they 
 galloped southward towards the desert, afraid of every 
 speck on the horizon.
 
 MELEK 
 
 Behind the city on the shore of the blue gulf there is a 
 hill of cypress-trees, where in n^sterious shade amid 
 the gnarled gray stems the tall, slim headstones of the 
 Muslim dead, inclined this way and that, are like a 
 natural undergrowth. On sunny afternoons the glades 
 are populous with groups of shrouded women like white 
 ghosts, and separate groups of fezzed or turbaned men 
 seated around the sepulchres of their relations or walking 
 slowly in the shadow of the trees. Within the grove 
 among the tombs, itinerant coffee-makers and the men 
 who sell salt nuts and sweetstuffs do a thriving trade, 
 and on the summit of the hill from which the trees 
 recede, affording a wide view of sea and mountains, 
 stands a small kiosk with many stools and tables set 
 around it where coffee and all kinds of sherbet can be had. 
 At this spot, on an afternoon in May of the year 1908, 
 five Turkish officers were seated with their swords 
 between their knees around a crazy wooden table on 
 which stood a carafe of water, five tumblers and five 
 coffee-cups, long-footed and devoid of handles, on as 
 many plates. It was a Friday, and the space before 
 the tavern was well filled. From time to time one of the 
 officers half rose and laid his hand to his lips and brow, 
 smiling in response to some acquaintance who had 
 caught his eye. The group of five appeared quite gay 
 and careless. They sat outside the throng, upon the 
 brink of the descent. The whole vast panorama of the 
 gulf with all its guardian mountains lay before them in 
 strong sunlight. The leader in their conversation was a 
 captain of dragoons — a blue-eyed, weather-beaten man 
 of dark complexion — who kept one hand upon his heavy 
 black moustache. He wore an Astrakhan cap and a light 
 
 103
 
 104 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 blue tunic much befrogged ; the others wore the scarlet 
 fez and dark blue uniform. They kept their smiling 
 faces turned towards him, laughing out occasionally ; 
 and yet the matter of their talk was very grave. The 
 captain of dragoons, with a slight smile, was saying : — 
 
 "He is doomed. The duty of removing him is laid 
 upon us five here present." 
 
 There was a moment's pause while all gazed out over 
 the sea, striving to realise the news in all its bearings, 
 for the man to be eliminated was the military governor. 
 
 " He has somehow got to know of our arrangements, 
 as the capture of the secret post to Smyrna indicates ; 
 for the messenger was faithful to his charge ; of that 
 the proof is that he died defending it," pursued the 
 captain with affected carelessness. " It is to assign 
 positions in this patriotic task that I have summoned 
 you. According to our rules the actual slayers must be 
 people unacquainted with the victim in order that 
 their action may be quite impersonal. Rustem Bey, 
 as his near relative, is thus excluded ; and so am I, 
 who know and love the man," he hesitated, with a look 
 of great compassion in his eyes, before he added : " But 
 Rustem Bey must frame the project, for he, alone of all 
 of us, frequents the house." 
 
 Rustem Bey, a youth with face of Grecian beauty, 
 olive-skinned and brown-eyed, threw away the cigarette 
 he had that minute lighted and took another from the 
 silver case which lay before him on the table. For a 
 moment his set face betrayed his anguish. Then, 
 controlling his emotion by an effort, he said : — 
 
 " Ready." 
 
 " It is in the cause of Allah," said the captain gravely. 
 " The Lord of Right have mercy upon him and all of 
 us." 
 
 " Allah have mercy on him ! " murmured all the 
 others. 
 
 Then, for the benefit of any one who might be watch- 
 ing, the dragoon gave a guffaw and slapped the shoulder 
 of his neighbour, a young gunner, half a negro, who
 
 MELEK 105 
 
 responded with a grin of teeth and eyes : and, pushing 
 back his stool, declared : — 
 
 " We must be going." 
 
 Amid the compliments of parting he contrived to 
 whisper in the ear of Rustem : " Walk with me to my 
 horse down there among the trees," and murmured to 
 the others : " Leave us." The remaining three then 
 mingled in the crowd of pleasure-makers, seeking out 
 acquaintances, while the dragoon and Rustem Bey 
 descended to the cemetery. 
 
 " My soul is grieved for thee," the former said, laying 
 his hand affectionately on the young man's shoulder ; 
 " and those above me in the work would fain have 
 spared thee this great ordeal ; but the need for action 
 is immediate, and there is no other way. Of one thing I 
 am glad on thy account ; it is that he is what he is, 
 a man of noble character, who fears not death. So 
 there will be no meanness in the tragedy." 
 
 " One thing perplexes me," said Rustem Bey with 
 studied coolness. " I do not see how I can well perform 
 my portion of the task without confiding our design to 
 one who is not under vows as we are. ... I mean my 
 sister," he concluded after a long pause. 
 
 The captain frowned and tugged at his moustache. 
 
 " She might reveal the secret," he said dubiously. 
 
 " She will reveal no secret : I would answer for her 
 with my life ! But it is likely that she will oppose us 
 in this matter, since the man we have to kill is her own 
 husband." 
 
 " Well, if there is no other way, inform her ; we must 
 take the risk. But bind her by an oath of secrecy." 
 
 " Accept my warmest thanks. May Allah guard 
 thee ! " answered Rustem, as the captain of dragoons 
 sprang up into the saddle. 
 
 Left alone, the young man wandered in the shade 
 among the crowded headstones, pausing to decipher an 
 inscription here and there. 
 
 " The rose is circumscribed, a simple flower-ball, 
 but its perfume fills the room. Brief is the life of roses, 
 
 A.O.S.U. h
 
 106 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 yet their scent survives them for a day or two. Such is 
 the power of a kindness, such its memory." 
 
 " In life he praised the Lord continually, and by the 
 blessing of the Lord his death was sudden, without fear 
 or grief, caused by the bullet of an enemy." 
 
 " Hast set thy heart on any thing of earth ? Know 
 that that too will pass away, O man ! " 
 
 For the Turk there is no horror in the thought of 
 sudden death : it is desirable. The society of devotees 
 to which young Rustem Bey belonged " died daily," 
 having dedicated all that they possessed ; their life, 
 their dear ones, to a sacred cause. The death in con- 
 templation for his brother-in-law was that which every 
 brave man would desire to meet. If Rustem shuddered 
 and was filled with horror at the thought of it, it was 
 from doubt of his own fortitude rather than compassion 
 for the victim. Ali Haidar Pasha was not to be pitied, 
 even in imagination ; his manly figure faced the world 
 too squarely. But Rustem Bay was called for the first 
 time to take a leading part in the great work which had 
 for object the creation of a free and happy people and 
 the liberation of Islam : and the call was of a kind 
 which he had not expected. He was sad ; so sad that 
 he was loth to quit the cypress-grove at length and face 
 the town. 
 
 Upon his way to Ali Haidar Pasha's house, as he was 
 passing by a cafe in a fashionable street, a hand was 
 thrust out to detain him, and a jolly voice exclaimed : — 
 
 " 'Haste is from the devil,' say the Arabs. Come, 
 sit down ! Rash counsels always go with hurrying feet." 
 
 Half-angry, the young man was dragged into a chair, 
 and found himself confronted with the laughing face of 
 Dehli Reshid Bey — "mad" Reshid Bey, so called from 
 his eccentric manners — a man of wealth and high 
 connections, who made mock of everything — the last 
 man Rustem wished to meet just then. 
 
 " It is a bad thing, soul of mine, to hurry in these 
 days," began the joker, " because it is the mark of 
 certain people who are not in favour."
 
 MELEK 107 
 
 " I ask your pardon. I am very busy," pleaded 
 Rustem, trying to escape ; but Reshid Bey prevented 
 him, exclaiming : — 
 
 " Stay with me but a minute ! Hear a story ! . . . 
 I had noticed how it was the way of certain people to 
 walk about with rapid steps and with a look of business, 
 and how other people, soldiers for the most part, seeing 
 them of that demeanour, ran and whispered in their ears 
 and were despatched on errands." 
 
 " The truth is you have noticed nothing of the kind," 
 cried Rustem irritably. 
 
 " By Allah, I have seen it ! But first hear my tale. 
 One day I walked precisely in their manner, for experi- 
 ment. A kind of beggar-man came up and whispered : 
 ' Let what will be, be ! ' I caught the vein and answered : 
 ' If what will be or will not be may be, then let the form 
 of being of what will or may be, being what alone it can 
 be, be.' He raised objections, saying : 'But the Powers 
 of Europe . . . ? ' I answered : ' May they burst ! ' 
 That gave him comfort, for he smiled and blessed me, 
 and departed quickly as if reassured. . . . And that, my 
 friend, is what you call new light ! . . . Nay, stop a 
 minute, mannerless ! There is much more ! " 
 
 But Rustem Bey had made good his escape and was 
 already many paces distant, fleeing desperately from 
 that nonsense which annoyed his brain. Even the 
 usual traffic of the streets, the careless common life, 
 was jarring to him. 
 
 In a deep lane of high blind walls he stopped before a 
 gate and rang a bell which hung there. After a while 
 a negro opened to him, and he passed into a flowering 
 garden, where he had to wait until some women, who 
 were visiting his sister, chose to go. He waited for an 
 hour in agitation, pacing a length of path between two 
 judas-trees : and then his sister came to him, a slender 
 figure veiled in white, emerging from a thicket of white 
 lilac. Her eyes grew bright at sight of him ; she hardly 
 smiled. He noticed the accomplished ease of her 
 demeanour, the grace of one accustomed to command
 
 108 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 as to obey ; beheld the wife of Ali Hai'dar Pasha, a great 
 lady, in one who until now had seemed his girlish sister. 
 
 She led him towards a bower of wistaria, which was 
 her summer-house, while he, to break the subject of his 
 visit, assumed so sad an air that she was forced to ask 
 what ailed him. 
 
 He answered: "I have serious news;" and then 
 he paused, uncertain for a moment what direction to 
 pursue. The nonsense uttered by mad Reshid Bey 
 kept running in his head like a refrain, distracting him. 
 
 They sat together in the arbour, the long tassels of 
 wistaria hanging as a coloured fringe between them and 
 the evening light. 
 
 " My sister," he began at last, " dost thou remember 
 our old talks together there at home, beside the Bos- 
 phorus, and how we longed for the regeneration of our 
 country and, through our country, of Islam ? I told 
 thee many things in those days, and thy heart was 
 with us." 
 
 ' I have forgotten nothing," said his sister, motionless. 
 
 " The matter has gone forward since our talk of 
 those days ; and the end is near. The King of England 
 meets the Czar at Reval, which means that our old 
 friend among the Christian Powers will soon join hands 
 with our relentless enemy. The condition of our 
 country seems indeed past hope. All is corrupt and 
 rotten, in the tyrant's hand. The nations, gazing at us, 
 see no sign of life ; they hear no cry. What wonder, then, 
 that they account us dead, and now take measures to 
 divide our heritage ? We must arise at once, or all is 
 lost." 
 
 The girl's hands, clasping and unclasping nervously, 
 alone betrayed her interest in what he said. She watched 
 her fingers, keeping her eyes hidden. 
 
 " My sister, is thy spirit with us ? " he inquired, with 
 anguish. 
 
 " Aye, to the death ! " she answered, with a husky 
 voice, raising her eyes to his. They spoke a passion 
 which amazed him.
 
 MELEK 109 
 
 " My errand is no less than death," he murmured ; 
 " and we crave thy help." 
 
 "Command, say rather!" she replied, with fervour. 
 
 Rustem's lips were dry. He moistened them awhile 
 before proceeding : — 
 
 " We are in great danger from the efforts of a certain 
 personage, who is a strong supporter of the tyranny. By 
 some means he has come to knowledge of our methods. 
 The secret post to Anatolia has been seized, our agent 
 slain ; another of our messengers has been arrested on 
 the road to Seres. We know the man who ordered those 
 arrests. What must be done ? " 
 
 " He must be killed at once," she answered. 
 
 Young Rustem hung his head and murmured : — 
 
 " Thou hast said it ! The doomed man is no other 
 than the master of this house." 
 
 " Allah have mercy on him ! " muttered Melek 
 Khanum, and after that sat silent a long time. 
 
 " Does that disclosure alter thy resolve ? " he asked 
 at length. 
 
 " By no means," she made answer in a dreamy way. 
 " It is impersonal. His body stands between our land 
 and a great light. Let the light shine! . . . Who 
 kills him ? Is it I ? " 
 
 " No, praise to Allah ! But the slayers are appointed. 
 They require thy help." 
 
 The lady sat immersed in thought awhile before she 
 said : — 
 
 ' To-morrow night he sups with certain friends, not 
 in the selamlik out of doors, but in the house. The 
 room in which the supper will be laid has three large 
 windows looking on this garden. The shutters of the 
 middle window will be open. My lord the Pasha sits 
 quite close to it. My own slave Ali, whom thou knowest, 
 will keep the garden gate from sunset onward. He will 
 have orders to admit the man or men who, asking for 
 admittance, say 'For freedom.' He will show them 
 where to wait concealed, until the time arrives." 
 
 " I offer thanks, my sister," murmured Rustem
 
 no AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 miserably, her calm arrangement of the work of slaughter 
 having chilled his blood. How she must hate her 
 husband, was his thought. But something new and 
 stern in her demeanour forbade confidences ; and while 
 he still sat wondering what next to say, a shadow fell 
 upon the path before them, and Ali Haidar Pasha came 
 into the arbour, bowing his head beneath the blossoms 
 of wistaria. 
 
 His wife rose up to welcome him with seeming pleasure, 
 while as in duty Rustem sprang to the salute. He was 
 preparing to depart immediately, but Melek by a secret 
 gesture bade him stay. 
 
 " We were discussing the new revolutionary ideas, 
 Pasha Effendim," she said casually, while Rustem wished 
 the ground would open and engulf him. " What, may 
 we ask in confidence, is your opinion of them ? " 
 
 " The question is soon answered," replied Ali Haidar 
 Pasha pleasantly, tucking one foot beneath him on 
 the sofa which was in the arbour, and playing with 
 the chaplet which he always carried. " I think these 
 young men — I suppose them young although, for aught 
 I know, there may be graybeards with them — build all 
 their hopes upon a fallacy. They think the Powers of 
 Europe are sincere in their expressed desire to see our 
 land reformed by us upon the model of their institutions. 
 I know that they are not sincere, and I can prove it, 
 for wherever any one of us has worked resolutely for the 
 improvement of the administration or the good of the 
 inhabitants, one or other of those Powers has vexed 
 him and procured his downfall. In my opinion the one 
 way to foil them is that adopted by our Padishah (whom 
 God preserve !) — namely, to keep up an appearance of 
 corruption and decrepitude while striving to increase 
 our fighting strength by every means, and fostering a 
 fierce Islamic spirit in the ranks." 
 
 " But we were saying that, by all accounts, these 
 young men are good Muslims, and are seeking the same 
 object, only by another way ? " 
 
 " I do not doubt it. And their way is more desirable
 
 MELEK in 
 
 and would be better if our plight were other than it is, 
 and if the Powers of Europe were not watching us like 
 beasts of pre} 7 , content to wait while the} 7 suppose us 
 dying. At a sign of health they will assail us all 
 together." 
 
 " That, I hear, is what they say will happen as things 
 are," sighed Melek Khanum. " The King of England 
 goes to meet the Czar at Reval." 
 
 " Allahu Akbar ! " said the Pasha, with a shrug. " If 
 danger threatens us from any quarter we shall not face 
 it better for a change of institutions which, for a time 
 at any rate, must make us weak." 
 
 " I am glad to know your true opinion," answered 
 Melek sweetly. 
 
 " They may be right, I quite admit it," added the old 
 soldier. " I mean they may have power to work a 
 miracle. God may be with them, which would alter 
 everything. But I personally, with the wit entrusted 
 to me, think them wrong. And if I thought them right 
 in their conclusions, my plain duty as a soldier, bound 
 by allegiance to the person of the Padishah, is to oppose 
 them — aye, and crush them if I can." He held his right 
 hand clenched a moment, laughing lightly. " Art taken 
 with their naming doctrines, soul of me ? " 
 
 " Greatly, I confess," said Melek thoughtfully. 
 
 And Rustem left them arguing the subject amicably, 
 as something purely academical, remote from both. 
 
 " She hates him and desires his death," he thought, 
 with horror ; then, with a glow, exclaimed : " He is 
 a noble man ! There is no baseness in him for a cause 
 of fear. May I be just as he is when I come to die ! " 
 
 He met the captain of dragoons that evening, and 
 made full report. His portion of the work was thus 
 completed. 
 
 That night he could not rest at all, and all the following 
 day his brain was in a whirl. He shunned his friends, 
 and did his duty as a Muslim thoroughly, praying at 
 the five appointed hours in private and in congregation. 
 After nightfall he could bear anxiety no longer, and
 
 H2 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 went out from his lodging to the crowded main street 
 of the town, where cafes were ablaze and strains of 
 music floated. After walking up and down awhile, 
 irresolute, he entered a gay haunt, full at the moment of 
 the blare of " Hiawatha," played inaccurately, but with 
 gusto, by a band of Greek performers. Looking around 
 him on the seated crowd, he caught a glimpse of Dehli 
 Reshid sitting at a little table in a corner all alone, and 
 went to join him. 
 
 " Why thus solitary ? " he inquired as they saluted. 
 
 " I had a crowd here but a minute since," replied the 
 joker, " but they retired because my madness came upon 
 me, drawing too much attention to our table. That 
 was because they bored me with their 'Deign to con- 
 sider, Bey Effendim ! ' and ' Bey Effendim, if you will 
 but condescend to look with leniency on your slave's 
 opinion ! ' Braying asses ! " 
 
 " What news is there to-night ?" asked Rustem eagerly. 
 
 " The King of Greece, they say, devoured a fragment 
 of dead pig for supper ! " 
 
 " But seriously ? " 
 
 " I have sat here since the hour of sunset surrounded 
 by the kind of imbeciles I have described — Waiter, 
 bring coffee, and those cigarettes — What tidings should 
 there be ? The world goes on." 
 
 " That too will pass," said Rustem, with a shrug. 
 
 He did his utmost to seem careless both in speech and 
 manner, but all the while his ears were strained to catch 
 the sound of any outcry or disturbance in the street. 
 His eyes kept furtive watch upon the door. At length 
 he saw a man he knew, an officer of the police, come in 
 and look about him as if seeking some one. Rustem 
 stood up and beckoned to the man, who came then to 
 their table, but would not sit down. 
 
 " Thy looks are grave," said Rustem. " Is there any 
 news ? " 
 
 " There is," was the reply, " but if I tell thee, for 
 Allah's love do not divulge the matter till to-morrow. 
 Ali Haidar Pasha has been shot at, while he sat at
 
 MELEK 113 
 
 supper. By good luck His Excellency happened for 
 some reason to lean sideways suddenly. Thus the first 
 bullet only grazed his cheek. It broke a glass thing in 
 the centre of the table, and some fragments flew into 
 the face of hunchbacked Hasan Bey, who sat upon the 
 other side. A second shot was fired, and then a third 
 in quick succession, but those were intercepted by 
 young Hilmi Bey, the aide-de-camp, who rushed to 
 screen the Pasha with his body. He is severely wounded 
 and, they say, will die. May Allah heal him ! " 
 
 " May Allah heal him ! " muttered Rustem Bey and 
 Dehli Reshid in a breath. 
 
 " The leaving open of the window and the private 
 door into the garden," pursued the captain of police in 
 the same tone, " points to the complicity of some one 
 in the house with the assassins, who made off immedi- 
 ately. One of the haramlik slaves is missing, and we 
 have to find him. I come from thence, and, as you can 
 imagine, I am worried, since the burden of the whole 
 affair is laid on me. I am at present looking for Huseyn 
 Effendi. Have you seen him ? " 
 
 " No, by Allah," answered Dehli Reshid. " He has 
 not been here. . . . And if he had been here I should not 
 have informed thee," he murmured amiably to the back 
 of the departing gendarme. " I would not help that 
 treacherous spy to earn a beshlik." 
 
 " Allahu Akbar ! " murmured Rustem in his soul. 
 He saw the cause to which so many lives were dedicated 
 in the greatest jeopardy, for Ali Ha'idar Pasha would 
 take vengeance certainly, not for himself, but for the 
 loyal aide-de-camp. His face and hands betrayed his 
 agitation. 
 
 " My soul," said Reshid in a meaning whisper, laying 
 a hand on his companion's arm, " 1 have a great 
 advantage in my house — a most commodious cellar with 
 a secret entrance, ever at the disposal of those friends 
 of mine who cannot hide their feelings in a public 
 place. Such persons should not live above the ground. 
 Forget not what I tell you ; you may find it useful.
 
 ii 4 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 I greatly fear you have embraced the creed of ' Let what 
 will be, be ! '" 
 
 " I know not what you mean," said Rustem hotly, 
 annoyed that anybody should have guessed his secret. 
 But Dehli Reshid Bey, with all his oddities, was not the 
 type of man to be distrusted, so his wrath expired. 
 
 " Nay, slay me not ! " replied the joker coaxingly. 
 " Truly, my cellar is a cool and pleasant place. It is 
 good for men to go beneath the ground occasionally, in 
 order to get used to it before they die ; and — tell it not 
 to everybody ! — there is wine there." 
 
 Rustem was forced to laugh. He lingered a few 
 minutes, for politeness, before taking leave. 
 
 With mind a prey to harrowing anxiety, he went back 
 to his rooms, deeming the hour too late for him to call 
 at Ali Haidar Pasha's, although he doubted whether he 
 ought not to do so, whether it would not be thought the 
 duty of so near a relative. He lay awake all night 
 debating the small question whether his going would 
 have roused or lulled suspicion, while his heart was 
 heavy with the dread of ruin for the cause he served. 
 Early next morning he repaired to Ali Haidar Pasha's 
 house, and found his sister walking in the garden. The 
 Pasha, she informed him, had already gone to the serai. 
 She too, it seemed, had had no sleep that night. 
 
 After describing in impassive tones the whole fiasco, 
 she went on to discuss their present plight. 
 
 " Yesterday afternoon," she told him, " I despatched 
 a slave of mine in haste to Monastir, unknown to any 
 other of the household, bidding him travel thence by 
 devious ways to Stamboul, and thence to Geykos, to 
 our father's house. This I did in order that suspicion 
 might be led astray. The police to-day are seeking that 
 man only. But Ali Haidar Pasha is not thus deceived. 
 He knows the real nature of the deed, and will not rest 
 till he has taken vengeance for the hurt done to poor 
 Hilmi Bey, who yet may live, we hear this morning, 
 though his wounds are bad. The one way to forestall 
 his vengeance is to poison him."
 
 MELEK 115 
 
 Her brother made a gesture of extreme repugnance. 
 Melek noticed it. 
 
 " Nay, I should be the one to do it ! "she remarked, 
 with a peculiar laugh. And Rustem, knowing that it 
 must be done, was forced to acquiesce in the disgusting 
 project. 
 
 He went off to his military duties. Returning to his 
 lodging after noon, he found a man from Ali Haidar 
 Pasha's household waiting at his door, the bearer of a 
 note from Melek Khanum : — 
 
 " Be good enough to come to me without delay." 
 
 He went with fear, supposing all was over. 
 
 He was shown into a little ante-room of the haramlik, 
 and waited there some minutes ere his sister came. 
 
 She told him in a weary tone : " We are recalled. 
 My lord is summoned to Stamboul immediately. Already 
 he has gone on board the steamboat. I and the house- 
 hold follow in a day or two. The news of the attempt 
 upon his life alarms the despot, who greatly values his 
 devotion and integrity. I sent for thee to tell thee. 
 Nothing can be done at present." 
 
 " Since he departs, we have no grief against him. We 
 all respect him as an individual," said Rustem gladly. 
 
 " Is he able to disturb our project from Stamboul ? " 
 she questioned earnestly. 
 
 " Not more than fifty or a hundred others ! It was 
 here, in the position which he filled, that he was 
 dangerous. This is the heart. . . . My sister, I beseech 
 thee, speak no more of killing. It is horrible. By Allah, 
 I cannot endure to hear thee name the deed." 
 
 Rustem showed great emotion. She observed him 
 curiously, giving a little laugh, it seemed, of some 
 contempt. He supposed she had expected him to be 
 as heartless as herself. 
 
 But as she stood before him in the middle of the 
 little room, stroking some roses in a bowl with nervous 
 fingers, he noticed that she was a lovely woman in the 
 flush of youth ; and found excuse for her. Young as 
 she was, the marriage with a man so old might well have
 
 n6 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 seemed to her a gross indignity. He remembered now 
 that he had felt a wave of pity when first he heard 
 of her betrothal to the great field-marshal. Yet Ali 
 Haidar Pasha was a figure in the world, and the position 
 of his wife was reckoned enviable. She might, he 
 thought, have taken that into account. 
 
 Upon the following day he went again to tell her with 
 authority that the doom against her husband was revoked. 
 She seemed indifferent ; and when he saw her for the 
 last time on the day of her departure she spoke of 
 nothing but the journey and her troubles over luggage. 
 
 She and her husband filled his mind for a day or two, 
 and then were driven from it altogether for as many weeks, 
 for a little after their departure it was rumoured that 
 the King of England and the Czar together had deter- 
 mined to destroy the Turkish Empire, the former moved 
 by indignation at the despotism which disgraced that 
 country, the latter by his ancient greed and wickedness, 
 or so the revolutionaries thought. The word went forth 
 to strike at once. 
 
 Niazi Bey and Enver Bey, young officers till then 
 unknown, took to the mountains with a few devoted 
 followers ; and so did Rustem and the blue-eyed captain 
 of dragoons. From place to place they went among the 
 Muslim and the Christian villages, announcing a new 
 era of fraternity and winning thousands of adherents 
 from the men of both religions. The feda'is never 
 doubted of success ; their faith spread through the 
 mountains like a wind-borne fire. In less than three 
 weeks they had forced the Sultan to restore the Con- 
 stitution, and the guns of Monastir and Salonika 
 thundered to salute their victory. But in the first week 
 Rustem Bey was taken prisoner, having ventured all 
 alone into the town of Resna to get news. Against his 
 expectations, he was not shot there and then, but sent 
 to Salonika for examination, under guard. There must 
 have been some friends among his escort, for at the 
 Salonika railway station there was some confusion, 
 and a soldier told him to escape into the town.
 
 MELEK 117 
 
 But he was still in danger. He dared not go near any 
 of his former haunts. The mountains where the Revolu- 
 tion spread triumphant were a long way off. Choosing 
 deserted alleys in the poorer quarters, he wandered for 
 a long time aimless, racking his wits to think of some 
 safe place of refuge when, by strange good fortune, he 
 ran straight into the arms of Dehli Reshid Bey, emerging 
 from a doorway, who asked no questions, but led him in 
 and exchanged clothes with him. The house, it seemed, 
 belonged to one of his dependants. That done, he led 
 the rebel to his own kiosk, down to the famous cellar, 
 which was furnished like a room. 
 
 In spite of the precaution taken in the change of 
 clothes, some word of Rustem's place of refuge must 
 have got abroad ; for that same night the house was 
 searched from ground to roof. The cellar only escaped 
 notice, the entrance to it being cunningly disguised. 
 Two hours after midnight Reshid came and told his 
 friend that all was well. Among other merry jests, he 
 had induced the searchers to crawl upon their bellies 
 down a filthy drain. He gave a lively imitation of their 
 spluttering and cursing, and of the zeal with which the 
 slaves had squirted water on them in the garden court. 
 He clapped his hands, calling for lights and eatables ; 
 and the two friends sat and feasted until day returned. 
 
 Rustem remained in hiding till a certain morning 
 when the city shook with the report of cannon fired at 
 intervals. He was wondering greatly what the noises 
 meant, when Dehli Reshid burst into his dungeon and 
 embraced him in a comic rapture, crying : — 
 
 "'Let what will be, be.' It is the Constitution I 
 Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Justice for all, and general 
 imbecility. Come out, my son, and drive with me and 
 see the joy." 
 
 The fugitive emerged once more into the light of day. 
 The carriage was already at the door. They drove 
 through the main streets, beflagged and crowded. 
 Soon Rustem Bey was recognised. A surge of shouting, 
 happy people stopped the carriage, dragged the young
 
 n8 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 man out and raised him shoulder high, amidst a roar of 
 acclamation. Dehli Reshid became anxious for the 
 safety of his hero-friend. 
 
 He stood up high upon the box beside his coachman, 
 and thus conspicuous — a small, fat man of middle age — 
 commanded silence. 
 
 " My friends," he cried, " and brothers in delirium, 
 this creature, Rustem Bey, whom you exalt so highly 
 and acclaim, has all this while been hiding in my cellar. 
 By Allah, that is all he has been doing these two weeks. 
 If I had known that it conduced to such tremendous 
 honour, I also would have hidden in my cellar. I would 
 have that known." 
 
 The people laughed aloud and cheered him madly, 
 and in so doing they let Rustem go. The towzled hero 
 scrambled back into the carriage, saluting right and left 
 as it moved on. 
 
 "How dare you talk like that about my hiding ? It was 
 downright insult," he exclaimed, " why did you say it ?" 
 
 " To save your life, my lamb," said Dehli Reshid 
 drily. " A little more, and they had torn you limb from 
 limb. ... Be calm. . . . And now our destination is 
 the steamboat office, where we shall book your passage 
 on the first boat to Stamboul. I wish you well, for you 
 are not devoid of amiable qualities, and the flavour of 
 my cellar is upon you like a charm. I would not have 
 you absent when they dole out honours. Some of the 
 'let what will be, be' — ites are much worse than you." 
 
 The first thing Rustem heard upon arriving in the 
 capital was that Ali Haidar Pasha had been exiled to 
 Arabia. The news did not affect him as it would have 
 done a month before, for in the frenzy of the Revolution 
 he had seen so many fall, and in the last few days had 
 witnessed such surprising changes, that he had acquired 
 the feelings of a mere spectator of men's fate. 
 
 " My sister will be glad," was all he thought. " She 
 will divorce him, and will marry some young scapegrace." 
 
 Going in course of time to visit her, he found her 
 cheerfully engaged in packing a great trunk, surrounded
 
 MELEK 119 
 
 by a group of servants, who were all in tears. These 
 fled at his approach. 
 
 " What means all this ? " he asked. " Art moving 
 house ? " 
 
 " Hast thou not heard, beloved ? We are exiled." 
 
 " Ah Haidar Pasha has been exiled, but thou wilt not 
 follow ! " 
 
 She turned on him, erect, with flashing eyes. 
 
 " Dost think I would desert a man of his distinction, 
 in such misfortune, and already old ? " 
 
 " But thou art young. It is too much to ask ! " 
 
 " He begs me to remain behind, but I say no. What 
 should I do or think or say alone ? I love my husband 
 more than anything. What made thee think I should 
 desire to leave him ? " 
 
 " What else was I to think, when thou didst scheme 
 to kill him ! " her brother faltered in complete be- 
 wilderment. 
 
 " That was in a cause for which men's lives were 
 given freely, for which I would have killed myself if 
 needful. It was my sacrifice." 
 
 " Still . . . thou didst show no pleasure when 
 informed that he might live!" 
 
 " How could I feel pleasure while as yet I knew not 
 whether the light would shine or be extinguished. Now 
 that the light has come I am no more divided. . . . 
 Beloved, I was willing thou should be deceived. I do 
 not care to show my heart when it is torn and bleeding. 
 And I think I was then child enough to feel ashamed of 
 ever owning that I loved so old a man. I was relieved 
 to have thee think I hated him, and yet I hated thee 
 for the mistake, I now confess. . . . Swift death was 
 nothing dreadful for a man like him, so upright, so 
 unstained. My one thought was to make it swift and 
 easy for him. The sorrow would have been for me, and 
 with God's help I should have borne it. I told him 
 lately the whole story, and he did not blame me." 
 
 Her brother only bowed his head and kissed her hand.
 
 UNOFFICIAL 
 
 After dark one winter's evening two muffled figures 
 stole forth from a town of Eastern Anatolia, through the 
 orchards to the house leased by the Turkish governor. 
 The leader, a tall servant, bore a lantern to show up the 
 path. All day long it had been raining, but by then 
 the sky was clear. Great winking stars looked down 
 through leafless branches, which took fantastic forms 
 like stretched-out arms and heads of human hair erect 
 in terror. There was no sound except the sighing of 
 the wind and an occasional dog's bark out of the distance. 
 They met no one till they drew quite near the Pasha's 
 residence, when a soldier sprang out of the shadows and 
 inquired their business. 
 
 " It is very private, very urgent," said the man who 
 walked behind. 
 
 " My master is familiar with His Excellency," said 
 the lantern-bearer. 
 
 " Vouchsafe the name ! " the orderly insisted. 
 
 The servant whispered it. It was the name of the 
 most wealthy and respected of Armenian merchants. 
 The soldier, deferential in a second, led them up to the 
 selamlik— a kiosk-like building separated from the 
 house. The place was dark. The soldier brought a 
 lamp, and then a vessel of glowing charcoal, closed the 
 shutters of the windows, and retired. 
 
 After a quarter of an hour of waiting, during which 
 they risked no word above the breath, the Pasha came 
 to them. He was a man of fifty, iron-gray and upright, 
 with keen blue eyes and a commanding air. Before 
 him, the Armenian merchant, who had now thrown off 
 his wraps, looked like an aged walrus blinking at the 
 light, his servant the same creature in the prime of life. 
 
 I20
 
 UNOFFICIAL 121 
 
 The governor sat down on the divan and made the 
 merchant sit beside him. 
 
 " What is your business ? " he inquired after the 
 formal courtesies. 
 
 "Ah, Vah! Vah! Vah ! " (Woe! Woe! Woe!) the 
 merchant blubbered, flinging up his arms ; and " Vah ! 
 Vah ! Vah ! ' intoned the servant, squatting down 
 beside the door. And then the merchant broke into a 
 tale of fear, speaking as one who seeks protection and 
 advice, the servant at each pause ejaculating : " Vah ! 
 Vah ! Vah ! " 
 
 The Armenian revolutionary committees were once 
 more active in the province — worse than ever ! They 
 were creatures of ill-omen. He, the merchant, could 
 remember their iniquities of old, which drew down 
 punishment upon the whole Armenian nation. He, 
 Gregoire Aramian, the most respected merchant, had 
 been threatened by them, forced under pain of dreadful 
 tortures to subscribe to their accursed funds. A friend 
 of his, who had refused to do so, had been killed, but 
 not till he had seen his daughters ravished and his sons 
 impaled. That happened years ago. And now the 
 menace was renewed, with greater violence ! What 
 was a man who had a wife and family, for whom he 
 was responsible to God, to do ? The whole Armenian 
 population was completely terrorised. They knew that 
 if they disobeyed those men's injunctions they would 
 die a hideous death, and on the other hand they knew 
 that the design of the committees was so to rouse the 
 anger of the Mussulman majority as to bring about a 
 general massacre of the Armenian Christians, which 
 would serve as an excuse for the advance of the detested 
 Russian armies, already gathering, he heard, beyond 
 the frontier. It was a chain of misery without an 
 end. 
 
 " All this I know," replied the governor, with some 
 asperity, the note of lamentation growing tedious to 
 his ears. 
 
 " They boast that the whole force of Russia is behind 
 
 A.O.S.U. I
 
 122 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 them, that the Czar, who is become their father, will 
 establish an Armenian empire extending from the 
 foothills of the Caucasus to the Cilician gates. It is 
 incredible, of course. But unwise people will believe 
 them ! " The merchant Gregoire wrung his hands and 
 wept real tears. His servant, by the door, cried : 
 " Vah ! Vah ! Vah ! " 
 
 " Allah is greater ! " said the governor. " And you 
 subscribed to their demands." 
 
 " What else was I to do, Effendim ? " 
 
 " Ah, what else, indeed ! " 
 
 " Your Excellency is aware of my devotion to the 
 government, and that of thousands of my people — the 
 immense majority." 
 
 " Of course ; but it surprises me that the immense 
 majority should be intimidated by so few — so very few 
 — incendiaries." 
 
 " But they are armed." 
 
 " If only the bad characters of the Armenian nation 
 possess firearms, then we have only to consult the list 
 of those who hold gun-licences," remarked the Pasha 
 drily. " I did not know the question was so simple." 
 
 " Your Excellency is pleased to jest," replied the 
 merchant sadly. " But for the rest of us it is a serious 
 matter. Only think, a Russian army gathered near the 
 frontier, and the revolutionaries urging people to 
 rebellion, at a time when all the garrisons are much 
 depleted, and the Sultan is engaged in a disastrous 
 war in Europe ! " 
 
 " We have thought of it enough," replied the governor. 
 " In future we intend to think no more, but act." 
 
 " But the means at Your Excellency's disposal are 
 inadequate. The troops are few." 
 
 " Vah ! Vah ! Vah ! " the servant interjected. 
 
 " I do not count upon the troops alone, but on the 
 loyalty of all those thousands of Armenians of whom you 
 spoke just now, who, like yourself, profess devotion to 
 the government," exclaimed the Pasha, rising. 
 
 " I would not count on them too much," muttered
 
 UNOFFICIAL 123 
 
 the merchant gloomily, " for, as I told Your Excellency, 
 they are much afraid." 
 
 "At least, I count on you," the Pasha said, with a 
 most friendly smile. 
 
 " I am your servant," murmured the old man with 
 some emotion, but he shook his head. The servant 
 having then prepared the lantern, the pair took humble 
 leave and passed into the night, exclaiming : " Vah ! 
 Vah ! Vah ! " 
 
 The Pasha crossed the courtyard to the house. All 
 that the Armenian told him he had known before, and 
 yet the interview left in his mind a sense of evil tidings. 
 Perhaps it was the spectacle, which it revealed, of a 
 great multitude intimidated by the antics of a few 
 banditti and driven towards a course which every one 
 of them was loth to take. Most of the Armenian folk at 
 heart were loyal, as that man had said ; most of them 
 hated and distrusted Russia ; but they all distrusted 
 one another, and yet held together weakly like a flock of 
 sheep ; easily controlled by any one who shouted orders 
 in Armenian. Inquiring of a servant if the ladies of his 
 household were at leisure, the governor was told they 
 also were receiving visitors. The news surprised him 
 greatly, for the women of the town were not accustomed 
 to go out at all at night. 
 
 He turned aside into a kind of office bare of furniture 
 save for a desk and chair, and a divan against one wall. 
 When lights were brought, he told his orderly to hasten 
 to the barracks in the town and call the commandant ; 
 and then sat down and did some work upon a long 
 report to his superiors, till the clank of spurs and sounds 
 of salutation in the vestibule informed him that the 
 commandant had come. Even then he went on writing 
 for a moment, being at a crucial point. 
 
 The commandant, an old man with a white moustache, 
 strode in, saluted with a smile and, seeing that his 
 chief was busy, took a seat on the divan and, pulling 
 out a chaplet from his belt, began to tell the beads. 
 The governor at length laid down his pen, and
 
 124 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 news 
 «< 
 
 went and sat beside him. He inquired : " What 
 ? " 
 Nothing particular to-day, Effendim, except the 
 usual rumours of disorder and the spread of treason." 
 
 *' What can be done ? " 
 
 "Nothing, Effendim, while the trouble is thus scattered, 
 for our force is much too small to be dispersed. Wait 
 till it reaches something like a head, then I will strike 
 with all the might available." 
 
 " No good," replied the governor decidedly, " for 
 that would be to play into the hands of Russia. Be 
 good enough to listen, soul of mine ! " He laid his 
 hand on his companion's arm and lectured him in a 
 low tone. Their conversation lasted about half an hour. 
 In the end the commandant sprang up and, standing 
 to attention, said : — 
 
 " Effendim, let me recapitulate before I go, to ascertain 
 that I have everything quite clear in mind. I send this 
 telegram in cipher to Stamboul at once. I circulate an 
 order to the troops and frontier-guards to keep strict 
 watch for arms of all descriptions, to report their 
 passage and, where possible, their destination, but to 
 avoid collisions which might make a noise ; also to 
 report all movements of banditti or suspected rebels. 
 Upon news of any wrong committed on the Muslim 
 population, I am to make haste to the scene of crime 
 with force sufficient to prevent attempts at vengeance 
 by the population which might furnish an excuse for 
 interference to a foreign Power. Say, is that all, 
 Effendim ? " 
 
 " That is all." 
 
 The commandant saluted and withdrew. 
 
 The governor resumed his writing for a while. His 
 chief anxiety was for his wife and daughters, for the 
 Armenian revolutionaries, if successful, were sure to 
 massacre the Muslim population, and a Russian army 
 was not likely to restrain them. He wished that he had 
 never let his household leave Stamboul ; but at the time 
 of his appointment to this mountain government, the
 
 UNOFFICIAL 125 
 
 guns of the barbarians were thundering on the Chatalja 
 line, and he had thought, when granting their request 
 to bear him company, that there would be less danger 
 for them in the East. 
 
 The Ottoman Power was not at war with Russia. 
 That ancient enemy had not come forward openly as 
 instigator and protector of the Balkan States in their 
 combined attack. But everybody knew how her 
 designs had been frustrated by the independent spirit 
 of Bulgaria ; and so, desirous always of despoiling 
 Turkey, she now was trying to provoke a cause of war 
 in Eastern Anatolia by favouring Armenian anarchists 
 and other malcontents. The Russian armies in the 
 Caucasus were much superior to any force that he and 
 all his colleagues on the frontier could at that time hope 
 to raise ; and in his case the frontier was but ten miles 
 off. He was going to do his duty to the utmost ; but 
 the task seemed hopeless, death the best reward. 
 
 Inquiring once again about the ladies, he heard that 
 they were now at liberty and went to join them. Their 
 visitors, like his, he learnt, had been Armenians, who 
 had come to warn them of the trouble brewing in the 
 land. The girls were pleasantly excited, and the mother 
 sad. 
 
 " They say the Russian army is advancing," cried 
 the elder daughter. " Well, we will drive it back, we 
 Muslim women, with our teeth and hands." 
 
 " I have a pistol," said the younger, " and have 
 practised shooting. I will cut my hair and dress up as 
 a man." 
 
 The governor smiled sadly at their foolishness, 
 thinking that, if the worst came, he would kill them 
 both. 
 
 That was on the fifteenth of March. 
 
 On March 17th, the governor received a telegram 
 from Stamboul, from the best friend he had at court, 
 the secretary to the Grand Vizier, assuring him that 
 the attention of His Highness had been called to his 
 report of troubles.
 
 126 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 On March 18th the commandant reported the capture 
 by some frontier-guards of fifteen hundred Russian 
 rifles packed in bales like cotton goods and carried on 
 the backs of mules. According to a muleteer's con- 
 fession, they were destined not for the Armenians, but 
 some disaffected Kurds. 
 
 " Aha ! " exclaimed the governor within himself. 
 "It is not enough to provoke vengeance ; they must 
 also, to make altogether sure, provide the means by 
 which that vengeance shall be executed." He told the 
 commandant to keep the matter secret. 
 
 On March 21st a secret agent of Armenian birth, 
 who had been sent three months before to Tiflis to spy 
 out the land, craved audience and informed him that the 
 well-known Kurdish brigand, Kara Ahmed, who, for 
 his crimes, had long been outlawed by the Turkish 
 government, had been received with princely honours by 
 the Russian viceroy, who at the same time was exciting 
 the Armenian revolutionaries with hopes of independence 
 to be gained by Russia's help. 
 
 " How can they be independent while they live as a 
 minority among a warlike Muslim population ? " mused 
 the governor. " Their aim is to exterminate the 
 Muslims with the help of Russian troops." 
 
 He sat with eyes cast down, telling his beads. 
 
 " What were the tidings in the villages through which 
 you passed ? " he asked aloud of the informer. 
 
 " The Armenians hear a rumour that the Muslims 
 will rise up and slay them suddenly, and the Muslims 
 hear the same of the Armenians. It is said in Tiflis that 
 the Russian army only waits for some occurrence 
 which can be made to justify invasion in the eyes of 
 Europe." 
 
 Acting upon this and other similar reports, the 
 governor convoked a general meeting of the Ulema. 
 It took place three days later in a hall adjoining the 
 great mosque. The governor explained to the Moham- 
 medan divines the delicacy of the whole position and 
 its danger, and begged them, in the interests of El
 
 UNOFFICIAL 127 
 
 Islam, to keep the Muslim population calm whatever 
 happened. They all replied : "To hear is to obey." 
 
 On March 28th a Muslim family, inhabiting a 
 lonely house some two hours' journey from the town 
 was massacred. So lonely was the spot that the 
 atrocity was not discovered until thirty-six hours after 
 it occurred. On March 30th, in the early morning, 
 the governor himself rode over to inspect the scene of 
 the crime. The cottage of the murdered family stood 
 by a lake. Beside it was an orchard, and behind, a 
 wooded hill. It was a sunny day. The waters of the 
 lake were brushed by a light breeze, which troubled the 
 reflection of the great, blue, snow-capped mountains on 
 the farther shore. The peaceful beauty of the place 
 enhanced the tragedy. 
 
 When he had seen the mutilation of the bodies the 
 Pasha cursed the murderers beneath his breath. The 
 well-trained soldiers of his escort murmured vengeance. 
 What would have been the conduct of the Muslim rabble 
 of the town ? He caused the corpses to be covered up 
 and buried quickly, bidding the soldiers speak to no one 
 of their mutilations. Among the troops detailed to hunt 
 the murderers the tidings spread, however, and in- 
 creased their zeal. A little company of five Armenians 
 — who, strange to say, were men of education — was 
 surrounded in a wood. Things taken from the cottage 
 of the murdered Muslims were found upon them. They 
 were brought back to the town in bonds and, one by 
 one, interrogated by the governor. Each, when he 
 found himself alone, in peril of his life, confessed the 
 plot, which aimed at far more than the slaughter of a 
 simple family. Upon the information thus obtained 
 a raid was made upon a certain villa in the suburbs, 
 where a whole armoury of bombs and other weapons 
 was discovered, including two machine-guns sent from 
 Russia. 
 
 There was no doubt whatever of the guilt of the 
 five men in custody. By all the laws of nations 
 they were Turkey's prisoners. The Russian consulate,
 
 128 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 however, denied Turkish jurisdiction upon the claim 
 that all the five were Russian subjects. This seemed 
 to be the case with only two of them, upon inquiry ; 
 but the consulate upheld its first demand. The 
 governor refused to give them up until he should receive 
 instructions from Stamboul ; agreeing in the meanwhile 
 to proceed no further with the charge. 
 
 On April 3rd came news that some Armenian 
 brigands near the frontier had burnt a Muslim village, 
 Kizil Tepeh, and exterminated the inhabitants. The 
 place was distant, and the governor, conscious that his 
 presence was most needed at the centre of affairs, sent 
 a commission with an escort to inquire into the crime. 
 This commission was composed of two Armenian 
 bishops, a Muslim judge and his own aide-de-camp. 
 
 Two days later he received a deputation from the 
 Muslims in the district where the outrage had occurred, 
 asking that soldiers should be sent for their protection, 
 and another, representing the Armenians of the town 
 itself, asking for a special guard against the Muslims 
 who, they said, were going to take vengeance indis- 
 criminately for crimes which were the work of thieves 
 and outlaws. He did his best to reassure both parties. 
 Soldiers he could not send, for he had none to spare. 
 He felt exceedingly despondent till, on that same 
 evening, he got a telegram in cipher from Stamboul. 
 It was from no less a person than the Grand Vizier 
 himself. It ran : — 
 
 " Highly approve of your report of policy. Have 
 sent two regiments, as an earnest of my strong support. 
 Till they arrive, do nothing vigorous, avoid all acts 
 that could be construed as offence to Russia. Am 
 dealing with the embassy about the murderers you 
 have in hand. Send them hither under a safe escort. 
 We give them up ; but it is more politic to do so here, 
 before the representatives of all the Powers, who thus 
 must take some cognizance of the affair, however loth, 
 than in your province, where our yielding would be 
 reckoned a great Russian victory. Thanks for your
 
 UNOFFICIAL 129 
 
 despatch, which has enabled us to question accuracy 
 of a memorandum recently put forth by the Armenian 
 patriarch. Another Russian move — stopped dead, by 
 Allah's mercy. We learn that they are now on a 
 fresh line of action. Beware the Hamidian Kurds. 
 Watch Kara Ahmed. There are hopes of English help, 
 if we can stave off actual war." 
 
 This message gave the governor new life. The 
 sender was the man he most respected upon earth, a 
 strong man capable of saving Turkey. It was true 
 that almost all the European provinces had been 
 wrested from the Muslim empire in the last few months, 
 with circumstances of unheard-of cruelty. It was true 
 that his own birthplace was to-day in hostile hands. 
 His spirit often yearned for the green hills of Resna, 
 the blue-eyed lake of Ochrida, his childhood's home. 
 But the body of the empire still remained. The Muslims 
 still possessed a splendid heritage which, by reforms 
 and education, with the help of Allah, might yet be 
 made a model for the world. The hope the Grand 
 Vizier expressed of England cheered him greatly ; for 
 England, the traditional friend of the Osmanli, the 
 founder of the great progressive movement in the 
 Muslim realm, had not been friendly since the Revolution. 
 The Turks, who looked to her for active help, had been 
 perplexed and disappointed by her attitude. Doubtless 
 the English people had been misinformed. The Russian 
 agents and their lies were everywhere. If England 
 were once more prepared to give them aid, there was a 
 hope, to match their courage, for the Turks. 
 
 The Russian consul, calling on the governor soon 
 after he had read that missive from the Grand Vizier, 
 was much astonished by his cheerful looks and firm 
 replies. 
 
 On April 8th a messenger arrived in town with 
 news that the commission delegated to investigate the 
 massacre of Kizil Tepeh had been attacked by a strong 
 force of brigands and annihilated. Later in the same 
 day a more trustworthy report declared that the
 
 130 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 attacking brigands had been routed, but the governor's 
 aide-de-camp and three soldiers of the escort had been 
 killed, and an Armenian bishop wounded. The Pasha 
 loved that aide-de-camp as his own son. He had, 
 indeed, been plighted to his elder daughter. " Allah 
 have mercy on him ! " he exclaimed, with aching heart, 
 hearing sounds of mourning from the women's portion 
 of the house. 
 
 On the next day he learnt that three of the assailant 
 brigands, wounded in the fight and captured, were 
 being brought into the town for judgment. He deferred 
 their trial till the popular excitement should to some 
 extent subside. 
 
 On April 14th came a telegram from the Ministry of 
 the Interior, asking for immediate information on the 
 measures which were being taken to secure the punish- 
 ment of Kurds who on the 5th of April had murdered 
 an Armenian bishop at the altar. The Russian embassy 
 demanded satisfaction. He replied that the usual 
 search was being made for the Armenian brigands who 
 on the date in question had attacked a government 
 commission, killing a Turkish officer of distinction and 
 three private soldiers, and wounding, among other 
 persons, an Armenian bishop, on the open road. The 
 said bishop, he subjoined, was far from dead, and had 
 recovered from the trifling injuries he had received. 
 
 In reply to this despatch he got an unsigned message 
 which, when deciphered, read : — 
 
 " Have Kara Ahmed watched." 
 
 He had already taken steps to have that done ; and 
 as good luck would have it, while still he waited for some 
 certain tidings of that outlawed chief, the regiment 
 promised by the Grand Vizier arrived. At once the 
 aspect of the town was changed as if by magic. People 
 who had hardly ventured out of doors for months now 
 filled the streets with talk and swaggering laughter. 
 The peasantry poured in to market as of old. Armenian 
 notables, who for a long while past had shunned the 
 Turkish governor and, if they met him in the street,
 
 UNOFFICIAL m 
 
 j j 
 
 had slunk by with hurried salutation, as if afraid of 
 being seen to pa\' him reverence, now fawned upon him. 
 Gregoire Aram'ian, that wealthy merchant, called on him 
 in broad daylight at the office of the government and, 
 kissing his hand repeatedly, exclaimed : "The praise to 
 Allah for those soldiers ! Praise to Allah ! " It was 
 at the very height of this enthusiasm, when the troops 
 had been assigned by companies to all the districts 
 where disorders were most feared, that the governor 
 got word that Kara Ahmed with two hundred of his 
 men disguised as learned clerks and dervishes and simple 
 peasants had come into the town. Their leader, in 
 the garb of a Mohammedan divine, with hennaed beard, 
 had been already to the Russian consulate, where he 
 had spent two hours. 
 
 The watch upon the town was strengthened to a 
 half battalion ; and on the early morning of the 21st 
 of April, Kara Ahmed and the leaders of his band — 
 thirty-five men in all — were surrounded by the soldiers 
 in a yard where they were holding council, and after 
 their deliberations had been overheard by many wit- 
 nesses, attacked and overcome. They put up a brave 
 fight. Ten of them broke away, their chief among 
 them, and fled for refuge to the Russian consulate. 
 
 The governor, elated, took the liberty to telegraph the 
 news directly to the Grand Vizier. In course of time 
 he had an answer : " Praise to Allah. I shall have a 
 statement of the facts prepared and make a solemn 
 protest to the Powers. Do thou, meanwhile, demand 
 the head of Kara Ahmed, who is unquestionably an 
 Osmanli subject, and was taken in rebellion." 
 
 The governor was greatly flattered by this private 
 message. The friendly " thou " especially delighted 
 him, as showing that His Highness was sincerely pleased. 
 He did as he was told, calling repeatedly upon the 
 Russian consul, who was evidently much embarrassed 
 to invent new reasons for evading a demand so mani- 
 festly just and legal. At last, on the 20th of May he 
 finally admitted, with expressions of profound regret,
 
 i 3 2 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 that the miscreant in question had escaped he knew 
 not whither. The governor was perfectly aware by 
 then that Kara Ahmed had been safe in Russian 
 territory for at least three weeks ; but he of course 
 pretended ignorance of such a fact, confining himself 
 to an expression of surprise that so notorious a wretch 
 should not have been more strictly guarded, and a 
 regret that the respected consul had not seen his way 
 to deliver up the miscreant at once to Turkish custody. 
 The consul's manner at this interview was abject, and 
 with reason, for he had been sternly reprimanded by 
 his government. He even offered an apology to the 
 Turkish governor for his refusals to give up the out- 
 lawed chief. He had, he said, been misinformed as to 
 that person's character. 
 
 The fact, not known till later by the governor, was 
 that a tremendous storm had risen from that local 
 incident. The Grand Vizier was threatening to call the 
 attention of the whole civilised world to an affair so 
 typical of Russian methods in regard to Turkey. What 
 made it look the worse for Russia was the fact that 
 the Russian and Armenian newspapers at Tiflis had 
 published full and horrible accounts of massacres of 
 Christians alleged to have been committed by the 
 Muslims in that very district and on the very day which 
 had been fixed for Kara Ahmed's rising. These showed 
 what would in fact have happened if everything had 
 come to pass as Russia wished. The Grand Vizier used 
 his advantage boldly ; and infinite was the embarrass- 
 ment in all the embassies. 
 
 The governor, perceiving that his enemy was silenced 
 temporarily, had the houses of reputed revolutionaries 
 searched, all on one day. Abundant evidence was 
 found of Russia's guilt. On the day after these dis- 
 coveries, as he was driving from the government building 
 in the city to his private house, two shots were fired 
 upon him from a window. One of his fingers on the left 
 hand, which was resting on the carriage door, was shot 
 away, and that was all. The coachman lashed the
 
 UNOFFICIAL 133 
 
 horses to a furious gallop. The Pasha wrapped his 
 hand up in a handkerchief, assisted by an officer who 
 sat before him in the carriage. Both praised God for 
 their escape. 
 
 Outside the town His Excellency noticed white 
 pavilions in a leafy orchard by the river bank and, 
 leaning out, inquired their meaning of the driver. 
 
 " Some English travellers, Effendim," the man 
 answered. " Lovers of the Armenians, who desire to 
 see them lords of everything. They do not know them, 
 it is evident, so well as we do. The English used to be 
 considered sensible, but these are friends of Russia. 
 So it is said," he added, with a shrug. 
 
 " Impossible," replied the Pasha, drawing in his head. 
 
 At his own door, a servant met him with the words : — 
 
 " Two English beys await Your Excellency in the 
 garden house." 
 
 " I go to them at once," replied the Pasha, and he 
 strode towards the selamlik gaily. He liked Englishmen. 
 But before he reached the door he noticed that the 
 handkerchief on his left hand was soaked with blood. 
 He turned back to the house to get a proper bandage, 
 and it was quite ten minutes ere he could appear before 
 his visitors. 
 
 He offered them a cordial welcome to the town and 
 province. But their demeanour chilled him at a glance. 
 One was clean-shaven, of a monkish gravity. The other 
 wore a thin moustache and beard, red turning gray. 
 
 Dismayed by the severity of their appearance, the 
 Pasha kept his eyes downcast while they explained the 
 purpose of their visit. It was not, as he had thought, 
 the simple compliment of persons of condition to the 
 local governor. They had heard, it seemed, from some 
 Armenian friends of theirs, of a poor lad who had been 
 kidnapped by the Turkish soldiers and was being kept 
 in prison foi no reason ; and had come to make a 
 protest in the name of justice. Both spoke intelligible 
 French ; and their denunciations of the Turkish mode 
 of government, which they judged upon the surface
 
 134 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 only with no knowledge of the depths, distressed the 
 governor because the speakers happened to be English, 
 the people most beloved of the Osmanlis. 
 
 He tried to make them realise the difficulties with 
 which the government of a wild Anatolian province 
 had to fight, speaking his mind more earnestly and 
 freely than he would have done to chance acquaintances 
 of another race, being sincerely anxious to convince 
 them that they had been misled. They listened with 
 apparent incredulity, and, when he paused, returned to 
 the Armenian youth who was in prison. 
 
 The Pasha asked to be excused a moment and, going 
 out, made some inquiries of his secretary. When he 
 came back after a few minutes, he was able to assure 
 his visitors that the person in whose case they took an 
 interest had not been " kidnapped," nor arrested by 
 mistake, nor kept in prison without valid reason. The 
 youth had been arrested in connection with a certain 
 outrage, because two bombs were found in his possession. 
 His trial would be public, and would take place in the 
 coming week. If any one had any evidence to give on 
 his behalf, they would have the opportunity to state it 
 then. It was not possible for him, the governor, to 
 interfere in such a case before the judgment. 
 
 And then a strange thing happened. The clean- 
 shaven visitor, who was, if anything, the sterner of the 
 two, suddenly flushed up to the roots of his gray hair 
 and, with a face of righteous indignation, blurted : — 
 
 " If a reasonable sum of money will facilitate the 
 matter, I will pay it." 
 
 The Pasha felt exceedingly disgusted, yet he had to 
 laugh. Although he had accepted presents in his time, 
 he had never known them offered in that manner, nor 
 for a matter which concerned his honour as a servant 
 of the State. Attributing the rudeness to a total 
 ignorance of Turkish customs, he tried to change the 
 subject of the conversation. But they would not, 
 reverting always to the misdeeds of the Turkish govern- 
 ment, particularly in regard to the Armenian Christians.
 
 UNOFFICIAL 135 
 
 The governor, dismayed to hear such unfair judgments 
 from the lips of Englishmen, spoke to them of the 
 wildness of the people in those provinces, and of the 
 evil influence of Russia, quoting instances. But, far 
 from sympathising with him, they grew only more 
 indignant. 
 
 " Russia is right to protect these unfortunate Chris- 
 tians," remarked the bearded one, with icy vehemence. 
 
 " The Czar's yoke, however heavy it may be, will 
 still be preferable to the Sultan's," said the other. 
 " You cannot blind us to the truth. We have been 
 travelling for weeks among the people. We have heard 
 the stories which all classes have to tell of massacre 
 and persecution." 
 
 " Are you acquainted with their language ? " asked 
 the Pasha, curious. 
 
 " No, but we have with us a good interpreter." 
 
 " An Armenian, possibly ? " 
 
 " Certainly, an Armenian." 
 
 ' Well, we could tell you stories on our side," re- 
 marked the Pasha, laughing. 
 
 " No doubt," said the clean-shaven one, with nose in 
 air. 
 
 " Well, we could tell you stories on the other side. 
 You should go and talk to some Armenians in this 
 town — without }^our dragoman. There is M. Gre'goire 
 Aramlan, our greatest merchant, to whom I can introduce 
 you if you like." 
 
 "It would not be worth while, for we depart to- 
 morrow." 
 
 It was at that moment of the conversation that a 
 soldier entered with a telegram. 
 
 " Excuse me for one moment," said the Pasha, 
 opening it. The message was in cipher. He had to 
 leave his guests a while and go into his private room, 
 to make it out. 
 
 "The Grand Vizier was assassinated before noon to- 
 day, as the result of a plot for the extermination of the 
 government. Praise be to God, the government holds
 
 136 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 firm. The conspirators are known familiars of the 
 Russian and British embassies." 
 
 The Pasha tore the paper into little bits, as he strolled 
 back to the selamlik, where he resumed his conversation 
 with the Englishmen. With amiable bows and smiles 
 he placed his judgment at their service. Everything 
 was as they wished. Now that he came to think of it, 
 he might perhaps do something to befriend that young 
 Armenian since he was their protege. Of course, the 
 Ottoman regime, though much improved, must seem 
 infirm and antiquated to their Western eyes. Doubtless 
 the Russian government was more efficient, and so on. 
 He no longer offered any opposition to their point of 
 view. He did not think it worth his while to waste his 
 breath in seeking to dispel the prejudices of known 
 enemies.
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 
 
 If Stanley Jackson wished to travel, it was more from 
 youthful energy, the desire to move about and overcome 
 new obstacles, than from any curiosity regarding foreign 
 peoples and their habits. These he knew beforehand, 
 with the firm conviction of religious faith, to be inferior. 
 Happening to hear of a vacancy in a mercantile house 
 at Constantinople, in the spirit of adventure he applied 
 for and obtained the post, thinking himself lucky to 
 escape the tame existence of a bank clerk in a little 
 country town. On the journey which he made from 
 Marseilles by a steamer of the Messageries Maritimes 
 service, he gravitated naturally towards the only other 
 Britisher on board, a taciturn and rufous Scot, to the 
 extent of walking up and down the deck with him for 
 hours on end, or lolling by his side in canvas chairs ; 
 not that he found this individual at all attractive, but 
 because he held that any native of these isles, however 
 surly, must in nature, be preferred to any foreigner. 
 
 The Scotchman evidently thought the same. They 
 exchanged remarks about the steamer's build and 
 speed with wholesale pity for the French as seamen ; 
 grumbled about the food occasionally, and wondered 
 who had won the Rugger Match. At Naples, where they 
 went on shore, it was their one desire to get an English 
 newspaper ; at Athens, to devour an English steak. 
 And on the quay of Ghalatah one sunny morning they 
 parted with a casual nod on either side, never to meet 
 again. The Scotchman was employed on some new 
 railway, at that time pushing inland from the Black 
 Sea coast. Jackson instantly forgot him, to attach 
 himself as conscientiously to the next compatriot with 
 whom he happened to be thrown. This was his new 
 a.o.s.u. J 37 K
 
 138 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 employer, an old gentleman, who had lived too long 
 abroad to take an interest in current football, the subject 
 on which Jackson talked with most enthusiasm. He 
 atoned for this deficiency, however, by his general 
 kindness, introducing the newcomer to the English 
 colony — hospitable, homely people, if a thought behind 
 the times — and found him lodgings in a " pension " at 
 Cadi-keuy, kept by an Englishwoman married to a 
 Greek. He and two older Englishmen — a Mr. Jones 
 and a Mr. Pilling — both like himself employed in com- 
 merce, formed the aristocracy of this establishment, 
 though they recognised the presence of some dozen 
 foreigners and even on occasion spoke to them. From 
 his bedroom window high up in the building, Jackson 
 could see, between the high-pitched, old tiled roofs of 
 Cadi-keuy, Seraglio Point, the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed 
 and the lighthouse, steadfast amid the dance of azure sea. 
 
 He mentioned this look-out in his first letter to his 
 people, observing that it was as pretty as a painting — 
 an artist could make something of it, he opined. But 
 every morning when, in company with Jones and Pilling, 
 he went by steamer to the bridge which joins Stamboul 
 to Ghalatah, the glorious city with its mosques, the 
 shifting panorama of the Bosphorus, the crowd composed 
 of all the nations of the earth, impressed him as mere 
 background to the life of Englishmen. Among the 
 shipping he looked out for English craft ; among the 
 crowd he noticed only English faces ; and the sycophancy 
 of the Levantines of his acquaintance confirmed him in 
 this good opinion of his race. 
 
 Pilling was the oldest of the three — a man of forty, 
 with amorous and social inclinations which made him 
 tolerant of Greeks and nondescripts to a degree which 
 struck his younger companions, who pitied the attaches 
 at the Embassy for being forced to mix up with a lot 
 of foreigners, as hardly decent. It was he who, when 
 they would have sat indoors each evening, smoking 
 their pipes and talking of the things of home, dragged 
 them out sometimes to the social gatherings which he
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 139 
 
 frequented ; and it was on one of those reluctantly 
 endured occasions that Stanley Jackson met the girl 
 who was his ruin. 
 
 There was resident at Moda near to Cadi-keuy a 
 family of wealthy Levantines, the Alamatopoulos ; of 
 which the father had, by one means or another, become 
 a British subject in his youth. The family was thus 
 classified as English among the medley of commercial 
 tribes and nations which live as parasites upon the 
 noble Turk. The children were called Percy, Jack and 
 Molly Alamatopoulo, and, if asked their nationality, 
 made answer : " Eng-leesh." The boys, both in the 
 twenties, were short, dark, strongly perfumed, and 
 obsequious in manner. Molly, the girl, was a resplendent 
 beauty of the Eastern mould. At the age of eighteen, 
 when she first met the shocked and frightened eyes of 
 Stanley Jackson, she was as near to perfection, both of 
 form and features, as a girl can be. Jackson, on his 
 side, was a personable youth enough, though very gruff 
 and awkward in society. It was his uncouthness which at 
 first attracted Molly Alamatopoulo. It was so English. 
 
 " Why do you stand there all alone, Mr Jackson ? ' 
 asked his hostess of the evening, coming on him in a 
 corner of the long veranda, where he stood smoking 
 a cigarette and staring at the lights across the Bosphorus. 
 " Come, I will introduce you to an English girl who dies 
 to know you." 
 
 The English girl was Molly Alamatopoulo. Had she 
 been introduced as Greek he might have borne with 
 her contemptuously. The cool assumption of the 
 English name by that dark, lissom creature, demon- 
 strative as no English girl could ever be, abounding in 
 soft gestures and alluring glances, aroused in him an 
 indignation which dispelled reserve. Her loveliness, 
 compact of light as were the fabled sylphs, a light for 
 ever being reborn out of darkness, offended Stanley 
 Jackson's native prejudices. 
 
 " Come, I say now, you're not English really ! " was 
 his first remark after their introduction.
 
 140 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 "Yes, I am English real-lee," she replied, with glance 
 and smile so shamelessly seductive that he blushed for 
 her. " Let us sit down somewhere where we can talk 
 comfortable. It is so long a time since I have talked of 
 dear old England." 
 
 She went and found a seat and beckoned to him. 
 What could he do but follow and sit near her ? 
 
 " But I say ! You aren't English, you know ! You 
 can't be, really ! " he cried out in anguish. 
 
 " If you mean that I have never been myself to 
 England ; that is true, alas ! My father is an English- 
 man of Greek descent. My mother also is an English- 
 woman, though of Greek descent." 
 
 " Well, that isn't the real thing, you know. You're 
 only naturalised. You shouldn't call yourself English, 
 when you're really Greek." 
 
 They argued on the subject for quite half an hour ; she, 
 in the sweetest manner, trying to coax him to allow her 
 point of view, not caring what they talked about if only 
 they were together ; lie, earnest in his efforts to convince 
 her that she had no right to call herself an English girl. 
 
 " Then you do not wish me for your compatriot ? " 
 she asked at length, pouting, and with a sidelong glance 
 that made him hate her. 
 
 " That's not the point," he said severely. " A fact's 
 a fact, you know. You can't get round it." 
 
 " Well, tell me about England ; tell me what you do at 
 home," said Molly, with a shrug of absolute good humour. 
 
 Of course, at the command to talk, his tongue grew 
 heavy ; but by dint of many questions, which made him 
 laugh in pity of her ignorance, she led him on to speak 
 of his beloved football. She hung upon his every word 
 with breathless eagerness. When they were disturbed 
 by the call to j oin in a round game, she murmured as she 
 rose : — 
 
 " Some other time you must continue teaching me. 
 I am so interested. You will make me really EnglmA, 
 will you not ? " 
 
 And when they joined the party gathered round a
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 141 
 
 table for the homely pastime of " Up, Jenkin," she 
 was at his side. He felt her soft warm hand upon his 
 own, and shrank away as if a snake had touched him. 
 
 " You seemed to get along all right with that Alamato- 
 poulo youngster," said Pilling as they went back to the 
 boarding-house. " I admire your taste, my boy. She's 
 a real beauty." 
 
 " She had the cheek to call herself an Englishwoman," 
 explained Stanley Jackson in accents of profound 
 disgust. He did not like Miss Alamatopoulo at all ; 
 he did not even think her pretty ; she was not his sort. 
 Her image in his mind possessed indecency. It should 
 have been the image of a practised siren, and not the 
 image of a girl ; which made it enigmatical and in a 
 curious, unpleasant way attractive to his secret thoughts. 
 
 Between their first and second meetings he was half 
 afraid of her. Their second meeting turned his fear to 
 pity. It happened in the Grande Rue de PeYa, as he 
 was coming from the office one fine afternoon. Some 
 people up at Bibek had asked him to play tennis, and 
 he was clad in flannels, with a racket in his hand, thread 
 ing his way among the over-dressed, unwholesome 
 crowd of Levantines, when a woman dressed as only 
 harlots dress in England, smiled and bowed to him. 
 It was Molly Alamatopoulo, out shopping with her 
 mother, a huge sallow woman in a purple gown, low- 
 necked and trimmed with artificial pearls, white gloves, 
 white boots and an enormous hat with feathers. The 
 daughter wore an equally enormous hat, a pale pink 
 gown and black gloves to above her elbow. Both 
 carried frilly parasols. Stanley Jackson, blushing to 
 the eyes, not for himself, but them, stopped and allowed 
 them to shake hands with him. 
 
 " When weell you come to veesect us ? " cried Madame 
 Alamatopoulo. " I have heard of you so much from 
 Mollcc. You must know her father, Mcester Alamato- 
 poulo, and her brothers, Jack and Percetf. Varree 
 pleased to see you. Can you come to-morrow afternoon ? 
 Without ceremony ? "
 
 142 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 "Oh, please do!" murmured Molly, with her killing 
 smile. 
 
 He agreed in order to be rid of them, and strode off 
 with a flourish of his hat. Faugh ! He blew a great 
 breath to be rid of their besetting perfume, and returned 
 to thoughts of tennis with relief. That girl had rouge on 
 her cheeks, and something beastly on her eyelids, in broad 
 daylight ! The observation laid the phantom of desire 
 which for five days had haunted him to his defilement. 
 
 It was without fear, and therefore without much 
 embarrassment, that he called upon her people the next 
 day, a Sunday. The Alamatopoulos lived in a pretty 
 villa on the rock of Moda with a garden looking on the 
 Sea of Marmora. He found them very hospitable and 
 polite — much too polite, as he confided afterwards to 
 Jones ; it was his complaint of all these people, they 
 made a fellow feel an ass by fussing round him. Old 
 Alamatopoulo, extremely fat and brown, with a walrus 
 moustache and gold-rimmed spectacles, kept in the 
 background with his no less portly spouse, allowing the 
 young people to do all the talking. Jack and Percy, 
 black-avised and sleek, with very high shirt-collars 
 and a taste for jewellery, were duly deferential to the 
 real Englishman, while Molly put on pretty airs of 
 comradeship as if she and Mr. Jackson had been quite 
 old friends. There was no rouge on her cheeks, nor 
 antimony round her eyes, on this occasion. The im- 
 pression which the visit left upon his mind was mildly 
 favourable, near indifference. After that he did not 
 shrink from meeting Molly. 
 
 There was something finished and complete about 
 her manners and appearance which had made him think 
 her older than she really was. It was quite a shock to him 
 when Pilling, upon some one's wondering whom Molly 
 Alamatopoulo would choose to marry, said : " She's 
 only just eighteen. There's loads of time." 
 
 " You don't mean that ? " cried Stanley Jackson in 
 amazement. " I thought she was at least as old as I am." 
 
 " Fruits ripen quickly in the sun," was Pilling's
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 143 
 
 answer. " As for you, you young barbarian, you'll be 
 always green and sour, like a Scotch fig." 
 
 " I never should have dreamt it," Jackson muttered. 
 
 He had another shock in the discovery that she 
 plaved tennis well, although with too much exclamation 
 and self-consciousness. This raised her in his estimation 
 a good deal. She remained, of course, a hopeless little 
 " dago," attractive in a way which he thought re- 
 prehensible ; but he no longer thought of her as quite 
 impossible, nor much resented her decided liking for 
 himself. She was just a kid. 
 
 This was the state of his affections after some six 
 months, when Pilling said to him one evening : — 
 
 " I wouldn't go too far, if I were you. People soon 
 start talking, and before a man knows what he's doing 
 he's let in for something which he never contemplated. 
 I don't believe in marrying out here." 
 
 " Marrying ? Oh, Lord ! " cried Jackson wildly. 
 " What have you gone and got into your head ? " 
 
 " Well, yesterday, when we were at the Alamato- 
 poulos, and you were out with Molly in the garden 
 picking cherries, Madame was careful to explain to me 
 that she would not allow her daughter to pick cherries 
 with just any one, but with an English gentleman she 
 felt quite safe." 
 
 " Well, what of that ? " said Jackson, with some heat. 
 " The sort of men they know — these beastly Levantines 
 — are utter blackguards. You couldn't trust a girl like 
 Molly out of sight with them." 
 
 " A girl like Molly !— eh ? " 
 
 " I mean ... Oh, hang it all ! Say, any girl." 
 
 When speaking of " a girl like Molly " he was thinking 
 of her tendency to snuggle (so to speak), to lay her hand 
 upon a fellow's sleeve, to touch his hand and so on ; 
 which he ascribed to the effusion of her southern nature. 
 But it had occurred to him that it was no affair of Pilling's. 
 
 " Say, any girl ! " he cried defiantly. 
 
 His mentor shrugged : " Well, have it as you like. 
 I've warned you, and I think I know my ground."
 
 144 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 Jackson thought the warning nonsense at the time, 
 but when he pondered it alone, misgivings came to him. 
 He remembered that her parents and her brothers had 
 left him rather pointedly to Molly, seeming eager to 
 secure him opportunities not usually allowed to simple 
 friendship in the south. Alarmed at the suspicion of 
 a project to inveigle him (a true-born Briton) into an 
 unthinkable alliance, he determined (as he put it) to 
 cool off. But he had already accepted an invitation 
 from the Alamatopoulos to j oin a picnic party they were 
 organising for the coming week. Having himself pro- 
 posed some expedition of the kind, and having taken 
 charge of some of the arrangements, he could not get 
 out of it. 
 
 The party of some forty persons — mostly Levantines, 
 elaborately dressed as for a garden party, the men all 
 wearing gloves, the women their best hats — set out at 
 six one morning from the quay of Cadi-keuy in a proces- 
 sion of six country carts devoid of springs, each with a 
 canopy and flapping blinds of red or yellow, each with 
 two horses and a Turkish driver. The coachmen cracked 
 their whips, the horses galloped, the ladies grinned 
 self-consciously at the attention they attracted, till 
 they passed the suburbs, when their pace subsided to a 
 steady trot. It was a three hours' journey over roads 
 so execrable that at times the elegants were thrown a 
 foot into the air, returning violently ; were tumbled all 
 together sideways and narrowly escaped an overturn. 
 They did not seem to mind it in the least, though 
 Stanley Jackson was at times alarmed for them. He 
 was far from comfortable. Beside him in the cart sat 
 Molly and, whether from the jolting or her own desire, 
 she was continually leaning up against him. He could 
 not actually push her off, nor was he able to withdraw 
 his person any distance without indenting the soft mass 
 of Madame Alamatopoulo, who sat upon his other side. 
 
 So he bore with the inevitable, sitting stiff and ill-at- 
 ease, while the procession of rude vehicles with their 
 fashionable occupants jogged through meadow valleys
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 145 
 
 or jolted over rocky slopes, traversed a village of gray 
 wooden kiosks wreathed in wistaria, clustering round a 
 white mosque, and, crawling up a long and rough ascent, 
 approached its destination. This was a grove of noble, 
 ancient trees, knee-deep in fern and wild flowers, high 
 up on a mountain side. Here, in the shade, the carts 
 stopped and disgorged their inmates. Between the 
 outer columns of the forest loomed the sea, uprising like 
 a wall, as blue as ink in contrast with the sun-bleached 
 land. After an hour of screaming preparations, a place 
 of rest was chosen, and the luncheon spread. Stanley 
 Jackson showed a feverish zeal in these arrangements, 
 glad of a respite from temptations which alarmed his soul. 
 
 But after luncheon, when the elders rested and the 
 younger members of the party wandered off in groups, 
 he once more found himself alone with Molly. She had 
 whispered : " Come, and T will show you where those 
 lilies grow," and he had followed weakly, lacking the 
 presence or the strength of mind to feign fatigue. In 
 truth, his feelings were divided in that languid moment. 
 He saw an opportunity to " choke her off " (as he ex- 
 pressed it) ; at the same time, he doubted his own courage, 
 his own will to do so. The day was warm, the scene 
 delightful, and he had eaten well and drunk his fill of 
 country wine. He vowed that, if he got through that 
 one day without disgrace, he would throw up his position 
 in Constantinople and go home for safety. Never had 
 he been so tempted in his life before. His very thoughts, 
 his very blood, were traitors. 
 
 They sat down on a rock among the lilies, when she 
 had picked a bunch of them, and after that were 
 silent for some time. There was a singing in his ears. 
 Suddenly she turned and laid her hand upon his arm. 
 
 ' ' Why are you so silent ? Don't you like to be with me?" 
 
 " Oh, Lord I " groaned Jackson in his inmost soul. 
 His limbs were palsied, quaking, his mouth dry. She 
 was looking at him with her great soft eyes which 
 seemed of power to melt the marrow in his bones ; her 
 breath was on his face ; she took his hand and pressed it.
 
 146 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " Will you not tell me what has made you sad ? For 
 you are sad to-day. Have you some trouble ? " she 
 inquired, with friendly earnestness. 
 
 Never had she seemed so lovely in his eyes, or 
 so un-English. The attraction and the impossibility 
 appeared to him together, alike threatening. He felt 
 as helpless as if he had been actually pulled with equal 
 force in two opposite directions. 
 
 " What is it, tell me ! I am frightened for you," she 
 went on insisting. 
 
 " It's nothing. Only I am afraid that I may have to 
 leave this country in a week or two, and I've grown 
 fond of it." 
 
 The he had slipped out unawares — without his will, 
 it seemed, against his judgment ; yet it struck him as 
 about the best thing that he could have said. Her bright 
 face clouded instantly. Tears sprang into her eyes. 
 
 She moaned : " I am so sad. How I shall miss you ! ,: 
 
 He got up. 
 
 " I shall be sorry, too," he said with studied coolness. 
 " Hadn't we better go back to the others ? They'll be 
 wondering where we are." 
 
 He felt an utter brute. The youngster's smile, the 
 joy suffusing her dark beauty like an inward light, was 
 gone, and he had killed it. And she was but a kid, 
 after all— the thought tugged at his heartstrings— as 
 good, perhaps, as any English girl, only so different ! 
 
 Molly was very silent on the homeward road, and so, 
 for the matter of that, was almost everybody, for the 
 spirits of the party were not proof against fatigue. She 
 sat against him as before, he could feel every movement 
 of her body, and once or twice, when it grew dark, he 
 fancied she was crying. At length, as they drew near 
 their journey's end, jogging along a straight paved road, 
 the lights of Cadi-keuy rising up before them, she clasped 
 his arm and for a moment laid her head upon his shoulder 
 whispering : " Take me with you ! " His brain swam. 
 He all but hugged her in his arms. Saving himself in 
 time, he touched her hand, and murmured : —
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 147 
 
 " Don't make it harder for me than it is already." 
 
 She was sobbing. 
 
 " I must get away at once," he said to Pilling at the 
 boarding-house, after confiding to the older man as 
 much as he thought fit of the day's story. " I must get 
 away at once," he said to his employer, on a similar 
 confession, the next morning. Both recognised his 
 need to fly, but the old merchant said : — 
 
 " I should be sorry if you left us altogether. From 
 what you say there's really no harm done. The whole 
 thing will blow over in a month. I'll tell you what I'll do. 
 I'll transfer you to our Egyptian house for half a year. 
 Some one reliable is badly needed there. How will that 
 suit you ? You can start next week." 
 
 " That suits me down to the ground. I'm very 
 grateful to you, sir." 
 
 The news that Stanley Jackson was to go to Egypt 
 travelled quickly through the British colony and its 
 adherent circles, and also, as things secret will leak out, 
 the fact that he had wished to leave Constantinople. 
 He had arranged to start on a Tuesday by the Austrian 
 Lloyd steamer. On the Sunday morning he was sitting 
 in his own room at the boarding-house, packing his 
 belongings in a leisurely way, when the man-of-all-work 
 of the boarding-house, a Laz named Mukhtar, brought 
 a card to him. It bore the printed legend : " M. Jack 
 Alamatopoulo," and underneath, hand-written : " M. 
 Percy Alamatopoulo." He coloured up as he made 
 Mukhtar understand he was to show them in. He felt 
 he was behaving shabbily towards the family, but did 
 not see how, as an Englishman, he could have acted 
 otherwise. They had always been so devilishly polite 
 and hospitable, had always seemed to like him so much 
 more than he liked them ; and now they came so 
 decently to say good-bye to him, that he felt an utter 
 worm, as he himself expressed it. He met them with a 
 shamefaced cordiality, exclaiming : " I was meaning 
 to come and see you this very afternoon," before he 
 noticed that their looks were not as usual.
 
 148 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 They were little men, with thick black hair much 
 greased and slightly waved — rather ridiculous little 
 men, he had once thought them. But now they had 
 acquired a certain dignity. Both stood bolt upright with 
 chins held at an even higher angle than that which 
 their shirt-collars made obligatory ; both frowned like 
 the recording angel. Jack, who was short-sighted, fixed 
 his gold-rimmed pince-nez and observed : — 
 
 " We wish for vevee serious conversation." 
 
 " Well ? " asked Jackson. 
 
 " What, may I ask you, sir, are your intentions with 
 regard to our beloved sister, MeessMollee Alamatopoulo?" 
 
 " That is what we come to leam," emitted Percy. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked Jackson rather crossly. 
 " We are just good friends." 
 
 " Friends ! " bellowed Percy with extreme ferocity. 
 " You call it friends to tamper with the feelings of a 
 girl so young and innocent ? We are an honourable 
 family, and we do not want your friendship until we 
 know that you are honourable like as we are. You 
 have dragged my sister's reputation in the dirt, in the 
 mire, with what you call your friendship. Father and 
 mother had no fears. They thought : ' An Englishman 
 is honourable. When he behaves to a young girl in 
 such a way that no one after him would wish to marry 
 her, he will not leave her there to die of shame.' 
 
 " You're talking nonsense. You know perfectly well 
 that there was nothing of the sort between us. We were 
 only friends." 
 
 " Nice friends ! And she is now in tears with broken 
 heart, because you go away and scorn her after too 
 much friendship ! Nice friends, when every one has seen 
 your conduct both at our house and also at the picnic, 
 and every one has thought you were engaged to her ! " 
 
 " That's not my fault ! " 
 
 " Not your fault, sir ? Not your fault ? " repeated 
 Percy, with terrific mildness. 
 
 Jack cut in : — 
 
 " I put a question to you, Meester Jackson : Will you
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 149 
 
 msirree my sister, Meess Mollee Alamatopoulo ? We 
 stop here till we have your promise in handwriting 
 signed and witnessed." 
 
 " Then you'll stop here till the Day of Judgment," 
 answered Stanley Jackson. 
 
 " Then we will thrash you like the dirty leetle dog 
 you are ! " cried Percy. He struck at Jackson with 
 his cane, but missed the stroke. Jack then attacked. 
 They both ran in on him. But both were mad and 
 nearly blind with rage, while Jackson at the first blow 
 had grown cooler than he had been since they came into 
 the room. After some three minutes of exciting struggle, 
 he pushed them both outside the door, which Mukhtar, 
 by good fortune, had that minute opened, coming to see 
 what the commotion meant. The Laz took part with 
 Jackson, and accelerated their departure down the stairs. 
 
 But the victor in this battle knew no joy. He saw 
 the scandal which the news of such a brawl was sure to 
 raise, and felt that it was hard on little Molly. More 
 than ever he was anxious to be gone. He wished he 
 could have gone that very minute. However, he must 
 grin and bear it until Tuesday. 
 
 In the farewell visits which he had to pay he was 
 received by the women with marked coldness, by the 
 men with sly hilaritv. 
 
 " It's all right, old' fellow ; it'll all blow over," Pilling 
 told him, when his face betrayed dejection. " No 
 Englishman of any sense will blame you. One must 
 keep clear of dagoes, in that way. To-morrow when 
 you're safe on board the boat, with Stamboul sinking in 
 the sea astern, you'll thank your stars and feel a different 
 man." 
 
 " I don't know," muttered Stanley Jackson miserably. 
 " It's pretty beastly. I never thought of anything, 
 that's the hard part of it." 
 
 Struggling with deep thoughts and new emotions, 
 he was scarce articulate. 
 
 With feelings of immense relief he found himself at 
 last upon the Austrian steamer, the centre of a little
 
 150 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 crowd of English who had come to say good-bye. And 
 his sensations of relief increased when the ship moved 
 at last and, standing by the bulwarks, he kept waving 
 to his friends on shore. He watched the glorious city 
 gliding by — the quays, the bridge, the panorama of 
 great mosques, the palace, Sultan Ahmed and the light- 
 house ; then turned to gaze upon the other side, at 
 Cadi-keuy and the point of Moda w r here she lived ; and 
 then with a deep sigh he cleared his mind and sauntered 
 down to the saloon to have a drink. There, at the bar, 
 he happened on a fellow-countryman, a talkative old 
 man upon a tour around the world, with whom he 
 stayed in conversation for some time. 
 
 When he returned on deck, the sun was setting ; 
 Stamboul had dwindled to a streak upon the far edge 
 of the purpled sea, a mere appendage of the hills of 
 Asia. His shadow stretched before him on the deck as 
 he strolled towards the stern for a last look at it. A 
 girl already stood there watching the receding coast. 
 Her head was hooded in a white veil such as Turkish 
 women in the country wear, her figure wrapped in a 
 black satin cloak. She turned as he drew near. Not 
 thinking of her, he continued to advance, until he realised 
 that he stood face to face with Molly Alamatopoulo. 
 
 " You here ? " he murmured in amazement. 
 
 Strange to say, his first sensation was of unmixed 
 gladness at her presence. Then, as he suspected that it 
 was a plot, that her parents or her brothers were on 
 board with her, that he might not escape, he added 
 in the coldest tone at his command : — 
 
 " What are you here f or ? " 
 
 " Don't stand like that, or people will be staring at 
 us. Let us walk about. Give me your arm." 
 
 She took command of him, and he submitted, although 
 his face preserved a look of obstinate distrust. 
 
 " You ask why I am here. I wished to speak to you, 
 and so I came." 
 
 " How many of your people are on board ? " he 
 questioned, with a savage grin.
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 151 
 
 '* What do you mean ? Oh, do you think— you cannot 
 — think ! Oh, I am ashamed ! " 
 
 For a moment he was much afraid that she was going 
 to cry. The plain white veil ennobled her appearance, 
 which he had generally seen degraded by some mon- 
 strous hat. After a moment's silence, she resumed : — 
 
 " It is the fault of my brothers. They have made you 
 think such things. They went and tried to frighten 
 you — the fools ! — on Sunday morning ; and now you 
 think that we are all alike, both they and I, and would 
 do anything. Believe me, I knew nothing of their going 
 to you. If I had known of their design beforehand, they 
 should not have gone. I would have killed them sooner. 
 And oh, I was so glad you overcame them both and 
 drove them out. I thought : 'My Stank* is so strong ; 
 he knows no fear,' and I was glad; but then I thought, 
 'he does not love poor MohV, he is flying from her,' 
 and I was so some. At last I thought of this which I 
 am doing now : to come on the same ship and speak 
 alone with you, that we may understand each other 
 clearly, once for all. 'Perhaps,' I said, 'He does not 
 know how much I feel.' " 
 
 " But how did you ever get here. Have you got a 
 berth on board ? " 
 
 " Yes, Stanly." Her lips parted in a childlike smile. 
 
 "But a berth costs money. Then your parents know ?" 
 
 " No, Stanly. They know nothing. I just stole the 
 money and gave it to our Muslim gardener, who bought 
 the ticket for me." 
 
 "But what possessed you ? What good can it do, 
 your talking to me ? " 
 
 " This good it can do, Stanly. It can put an end to 
 what has so much troubled me. My talk with you is 
 this : I ask you, will you take me with you where you're 
 going ? Yes or No ? If you say yes, I shall be very 
 happen. If you say no, I throw myself into the sea." 
 
 " You're not so mad ! " cried Jackson horrified. 
 Like a person in the act of drowning, he had the vision 
 of his whole past life, beheld his parents and his home
 
 152 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 surroundings, his comrades, and the cool ideal of girl- 
 hood which he had always cherished in his bosom until 
 now. 
 
 "No, Stanly. I shall do exactly as I say." 
 
 He met her eyes, and knew that she was speaking truth. 
 
 " Well, Stanly, is it Yes or No ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, then, since you put it that way." 
 
 She pressed his arm and leaned against it lovingly. 
 
 " Thank you so much," she sighed. " You give me 
 life. You will not regret what you have done, I swear 
 to God." 
 
 He, though assuredly enamoured, had grave doubts of 
 that ; but it was now too late to air them with advantage. 
 It was agreed that they should meet on deck as mere 
 acquaintances until the boat reached Alexandria, 
 where Molly had an aunt and uncle who would take 
 her in while Stanley made arrangements for their 
 marriage. The bridegroom's heart was heavy on the 
 voyage and in the days and nights he spent at an hotel 
 at Ramleh. He had to write the startling news to his 
 home people and, which was worse, to people at Con- 
 stantinople, where he knew that it would raise a storm 
 of mocking laughter. But he did his best to keep a 
 cheerful face before the girl. It was therefore with 
 dismay that, on the day before the wedding, he heard 
 her say : — 
 
 " I think I know what you are feeling. You are 
 afraid, because I am not quite an English girl. I asked 
 you — did I not ? — to marry me. That you think 
 shocking. But it was to save my life. You do not 
 know how girls not English suffer when they love in 
 vain. Dear Stanke, this I know : that you will not 
 regret it." 
 
 " Of course I shan't ! " said Jackson manfully. " The 
 prettiest girl in Constantinople ! I'm a lucky dog." 
 
 " You never thought me pretty ! " she asserted 
 boldly, putting her face close to his. " You do not 
 think me pretty even now I " 
 
 " Oh, I do."
 
 A MATTER OF TASTE 153 
 
 " You don't. But I will make you think me pretty. 
 I will drive all that you have thought against me from 
 your mind. I will make you love me better than an 
 English girl, so that you shall never in your life regret 
 that you said yes to me." 
 
 And strange though it may seem, she kept her word. 
 
 When after six months' absence the young couple came 
 back to Constantinople, Stanley Jackson was already a 
 changed man. Instead of coming shamefaced to the 
 place where the wretched circumstances of his marriage 
 were well known, he returned triumphant, proud of his 
 young wife. He manifested not the least repugnance 
 for the Alamatopoulos and all their tribe, seemed even 
 to prefer them to his English friends. Molly might 
 wear the most outrageous hats, might perfume her 
 white skin or touch her cheeks with rouge, he never 
 noticed anything amiss with her. And his delight in her 
 increased as time went on. 
 
 His English friends observed the process of degenera- 
 tion. He grew fatter every month, and less inclined 
 for manly exercise. On the other hand, he was now 
 making money with the assistance of the Alamatopoulos, 
 who knew the ins and outs of all financial ventures, and 
 was a great deal more polite and amiable than of yore. 
 
 " He's just a dago ! " exclaimed Jones disgustedly, 
 one evening after he and Pilling had met and talked 
 with Jackson on the Cadi-keuy boat. " Whoever would 
 have thought a decent Englishman could change his 
 skin like that ? " 
 
 " He's happy," answered Pilling, with a shrug. 
 " There's only one thing English girls are bad at — that 
 is, love. They think too much about themselves. They 
 keep a man in a perpetual state oi irritation, which 
 produces energy. Now little Molly has made Jackson 
 happy. He's content to be a dago — any blessed thing — 
 with her. You mustn't blame him. It's a question of 
 supply and demand." 
 
 " I call it a question of good taste," said Jones 
 fastidiously. 
 
 A.O.S.U. L
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 
 
 In the drink-shop — a kiosk upon a little pier built out 
 into the water of the inland sea, an old man full of 
 arak wept continuously, while those around him offered 
 words of sympathy and plied him with the potent liquor, 
 drinking too. Among these sad carousers was a priest, 
 a little fierce-eyed man whose speech consisted of 
 appeals to God, the Virgin and the saints. The sea 
 laughed in the splendid sunlight under a light breeze, 
 lapping the pebbles of the beach with a refreshing 
 sound and moving a few boats about the landing-stage ; 
 while from the hill of houses interspersed with gardens 
 came peaceful human noises and the coo of doves. 
 
 The old man, with mouth hanging open and tears 
 running down his wrinkled cheeks, sobbed : — 
 
 " May my right hand wither if I go not now to kill 
 her." 
 
 " Wait for the deputation," growled his son, who sat 
 beside him. The young one had been drinking quite 
 as freely as the old, but the result in him was grim 
 excitement and not weakness. 
 
 " Aye— Lord of Heaven ! — that is good advice," put 
 in the priest. "They may restore the girl — the Holy 
 Virgin grant it ! — when thou and Dmitri here can kill 
 her quietly." 
 
 " My father and my mother are to blame. The}' 
 spoilt her with indulgence," said the young man, 
 Dmitri. 
 
 At that his father's grief became convulsive. He 
 wailed out : " Woe the day ! The sun is blackened ! 
 Holy St. Michael, save me, for I burn in hell, and naught 
 can quench the burning save my daughter's blood." 
 
 " Be patient, Dmitri," said the priest in chiding tone. 
 
 154
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 155 
 
 " Thy father is distraught with righteous grief. — The 
 saints protect us ! — It is a sin for thee to vex him in 
 so dark an hour." 
 
 " Do I not know him ? " sneered the young man 
 bitterly. " He weeps and drinks and curses, that is all. 
 I know he will resign himself to this, as to all other 
 ignominy. As for me, I swear to kill my sister, Miriam, 
 sooner or later, though it take me years. God knows 
 how fondly I have always loved her ! " 
 
 " The Lord give strength to thy right arm ! " ex- 
 claimed the priest approvingly, and all who heard the 
 benediction said, Amen. 
 
 From the place where Dmitri sat between his father 
 and the priest, he could see a good way up a street of 
 steps which cleft the village. There presently he spied 
 a group of men, descending, under sunshades, leisurely. 
 It was the deputation coming back from its long visit to 
 the representative of Turkish government in Merdiven- 
 keuy. Some women from the houses ran out, questioning, 
 and soon the men down in the drink-shop heard distinctly 
 their angry crying of one word : " Refused ! " The 
 old man moaned out, " Lord have mercy ! " seeming 
 at the point of death. His son shrugged up his shoulders 
 and laughed bitterly. 
 
 " Alas, my brothers," said the headman as he, with 
 others of the deputation, joined them, bidding the 
 tavern-keeper bring a whole decanter full of arak with 
 salted dainties to enhance his pleasure in the drink. 
 " All was in vain. I spoke about our ancient privileges, 
 and the law forbidding all attempts at our conversion. 
 I spoke, too, of the Constitution and the promise of 
 improved conditions lately made to us. His Honour 
 called the culprit and his father to confront us. They 
 swore, of course, that they had no intention to convert 
 the girl, nor hinder her from practising the Christian 
 faith." 
 
 " She shall not have the sacraments in Merdiven- 
 keuy," cried the priest vindictively. " And what said 
 the mudir himself ? "
 
 156 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " He talked," replied the headman, with a shrug, 
 "a long tale about toleration and the blessings of the 
 Constitution, and how the Muslims are henceforth our 
 brothers." 
 
 There were loud, scornful laughs. Young Dmitri 
 ground his teeth and cried : — 
 
 " She shall not live ! " 
 
 " Now comes the most important part," pursued the 
 headman. " Although of European education, the 
 mudir is still a Turk. After talking about brotherhood 
 and progress a long while, just as we were rising to 
 depart, he looked me in the eyes — a tiger-glance — and 
 said : ' If any harm befalls the bride of Mahmud Agha, 
 I punish the whole Christian commune. So beware ! ' 
 He is not such a harmless one as he at first appears. 
 He knows our hearts. Therefore it behoves us to move 
 cautiously." 
 
 " She shall at least be excommunicated," said the 
 priest. 
 
 " Be careful even there," replied the headman 
 gravely. 
 
 " Merciful Christ ! " arose the general murmur of 
 dismay. 
 
 " Thy Engli c hman might help ; he is a sort of 
 Christian," said a fair-haired man to Dmitri privately. 
 
 " I am going now to try him," was the answer of the 
 angry youth, who soon departed from the drinking- 
 shop without a word to any one. 
 
 The trouble had originated on a summer's day of 
 the preceding } T ear, when men had come by boat to 
 Merdiven-keuy from the chief town of the coast, and 
 had proceeded up the street of steps with banners ; 
 pausing before the church to make harangues in Greek 
 and Turkish, pausing again for the same purpose under- 
 neath a mulberry-tree half up the hill, and then again 
 in the wide open space before the mosque ; announcing 
 that the day of brotherhood, of equal rights and justice 
 had dawned at last for all the human race. It took 
 time for the simple folk of Merdiven-keuy to grasp the
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 157 
 
 meaning of the learned words, but when the Muslim 
 khoja kissed the Christian priest upon both cheeks, 
 hailing him brother, there were shouts of praise to 
 Allah, and the town went mad. Christians were made 
 welcome in the mosque, and Muslims in the church, at 
 the thanksgiving services ; and all that day and night 
 the two streams in the population, which had flowed 
 apart for centuries, mingled and ran together in a 
 single flood. 
 
 It was towards morning that Dmitri, going homeward 
 with a lantern through his father's orchard, espied a 
 Christian girl in conversation with a Muslim man. He 
 did not recognise his sister; but his soul was angered, 
 and in the morning he informed the priest, who preached 
 upon the subject the next Sunday. Still the goodwill 
 continued till the day when it was known in Merdiven- 
 keuy that Austria had annexed two Turkish provinces 
 and Bulgaria had thrown off the last scrap of allegiance, 
 with impunity. Then the Christians knew that they 
 had been deceived. 
 
 The men who had harangued them on the day of 
 liberty had said the Christian Powers were all in favour 
 of the new ideas. They, who had long looked forward 
 to a Christian conquest of the country, enabling them 
 to extirpate and spoil the Muslims, had thought their 
 hope of domination at an end. They now beheld the 
 talk of equal justice as a mere device to rob them of 
 those ancient privileges by means of which they could 
 embarrass and obstruct the government ; a plot to 
 level them with Muslims and submerge them quite. 
 They thus became suspicious of the new arrangements ; 
 resisted a proposed improvement of the education in 
 their school, quarrelled with the apportionment of votes 
 for the new parliament and regarded military service 
 for the Christians as a cruel outrage, finding in every 
 new proposal food for hate. And now, as the result 
 of the new-fangled nonsense, a Christian maid was 
 taken by a Muslim man ! 
 
 That Miriam had left her parents of her own accord,
 
 158 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 and after persecution, made no difference. No Christian 
 girl must look with favour on a Muslim. The punish- 
 ment for such a crime in decent families was always 
 death, the task of killing being on the next of kin. If she 
 remained unpunished, all her race would be ashamed, 
 and Muslims would be always after Christian girls. 
 
 The sunny day was dark in Dmitri's eyes as he passed 
 up the staircase street into the Muslim quarter with 
 its latticed windows and walled gardens imparting to 
 each house a look of proud reserve, past the white 
 mosque with minarets like candlesticks, to open 
 country where, beneath a pear-tree, the Englishman 
 had pitched his little camp. 
 
 This person, though apparently a man of wealth, 
 had the peculiar madness of wandering about the world 
 with guns in chase of birds ; and, still more strange to 
 say, his wife accompanied him. Dmitri was their guide 
 on more than one excursion and, when a servant of 
 their camp fell ill, he had replaced him. They had been 
 at Merdiven-keuy now for several weeks and, as they 
 knew some Greek but little Turkish, he had contrived 
 to interest them in the Christians of the place. The 
 priest, the headman and the schoolmaster had been to 
 visit them, and had told them many things about the 
 Mussulmans. 
 
 The pair, though odd, were Christians of a sort, and 
 so would shudder when they heard of the choice of 
 Miriam. But Dmitri had sufficient doubt about their 
 Christianity to recognise the need of caution in approach- 
 ing them with such a tale. Their talk was sometimes 
 almost indistinguishable from the talk of Muslim 
 rationalists. Once or twice it had inspired him with 
 an inkling that they might be freemasons — a kind of 
 persons whom he classed with Muslims in imagination — 
 people who deny the efficacy of the priesthood and the 
 sacraments and all the magic proofs of Christianity. 
 He was therefore full of thought as he approached the 
 tent. 
 
 " What is it, Dmitri ? " asked the Englishman.
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 159 
 
 " I came to beg your help, sir," he exclaimed dramati- 
 cally, wringing his hands. " My best beloved sister 
 has been taken by the Muslims and put in a harem. 
 The Christians all are grieved and very angry." 
 
 " You don't mean that they took her from your 
 father's house ? " 
 
 " No, but they tempted her — a girl so young, and 
 knowing nothing of the kind of people that they are, 
 nor yet the kind of place to which they take her." 
 
 The Englishman went to the tent mouth, calling 
 " Grace ! " on which his wife appeared from the adjoining 
 tent and, having heard the tidings in her turn, expressed 
 deep horror. She was a champion of her sex and, in 
 her calls at Christian houses, gave strange counsel to 
 the women, who pronounced her mad. 
 
 " All that we wish," said Dmitri, sobbing, " is that 
 they give her back to us, that she have time to think. 
 She does not know the wicked thing that she is doing. 
 They will make her curse our Lord ! " 
 
 " I don't suppose that they'll do that," replied the 
 burly Englishman; " but I think it likely she will suffer 
 for her foolishness." 
 
 "It is horrible enough in any case," exclaimed his 
 lady. " The Muslims take so low a view of woman." 
 
 " There is another thing which hurts us," put in 
 Dmitri eagerly. " No Muslim girl is free to wed a 
 Christian — no more since the Revolution than before. 
 When one poor Muslim girl did do it, in Constantinople, 
 all the Muslims rose and killed her and the man together 
 very cruelly." 
 
 "The savages!" exclaimed the English lady, with 
 clenched teeth. 
 
 She and her husband strove to comfort the young 
 man. They spoke of going straight to the mudir and 
 threatening, in the case of a refusal to restore the girl, 
 to bring the matter to the knowledge of the British 
 Embassy. Dmitri was then dismissed, a little reassured, 
 with orders to return at night and hear the news. 
 
 But when he did return, he found them changed.
 
 160 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 The lady, it appeared, had seen his sister, who declared 
 herself quite happy with her Muslim lord. She had 
 been astonished by the courtliness of her reception and 
 by the fact that Miriam's husband had no other wives. 
 Too late, Dmitri realised that he had been unwise to 
 rouse false expectations with his talk of harems ; for 
 the mudir, who spoke good French, had told the English- 
 man with hearty laughter that no such luxury existed 
 at the present day. When he spoke against the law 
 forbidding Muslim girls to marry Christians, the English- 
 man had been informed that Christians thought it 
 necessary to convert their spouses, whereas Islam 
 allowed full liberty of conscience. And when he argued 
 on this point, maintaining that the Christians were more 
 tolerant, the mudir answered : — 
 
 " That may be the case in England ; it is not so here. 
 Here they do not think at all of Christos and his teaching, 
 which we also venerate, but only of the priests' inventions 
 and their magic tricks. Do you know why they wish 
 to have this girl restored to them ? It is because they 
 wish to kill her, they are so fanatical." 
 
 The Englishman reported this to Dmitri with a laugh, 
 observing : — 
 
 " So you see, they think of you as wrongly as you 
 think of them. However, I am glad my wife has seen 
 your sister. You will now be able to assure your 
 parents she is not unhappy." 
 
 " Ah, sir, you do not know the half ! " Dmitri wailed, 
 and fled from consolations which increased his grief. 
 As he strode back through the village in the dark, he 
 swore that he would taste no joy till he had knifed 
 his sister. 
 
 This oath he kept repeating in the days which 
 followed, even after his mother had paid Miriam a visit, 
 and his father tamely had accepted bounty from the 
 Muslim bridegroom. His vow of sacrifice became the 
 common talk ; till one day he was called by the mudir, 
 who thus addressed him : — 
 
 " Thou art the person named Dmitri, son of Jurzi ? "
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 161 
 
 " Yes, Effendim." 
 
 " Thou hast threatened murder to the wife of Mahmud 
 Agha ? " 
 
 " No, by the Holy Name," gasped Dmitri, but the 
 mudir went on, unheeding the denial : — 
 
 "If harm befalls her anywhere within these realms 
 by any hand, thou wilt be held responsible." 
 
 Dmitri's mouth and throat had suddenly become so 
 dry that he could make no sound in answer to this 
 solemn warning, so with a rough salute, he slunk away. 
 He went straight to the priest and told his story. The 
 priest at once absolved him of his vow, exclaiming : — 
 
 " It is now too dangerous. It might bring penalties 
 upon the whole community. That brute beast has 
 spoken also to the headman and to me. I have agreed 
 against my will to let her come to church. Do thou, 
 for thy part, lay aside the thought of vengeance." 
 
 Dmitri bowed his head as if assenting, though in his 
 heart desire to kill his sister burned as strong as ever. 
 It was a holy and a sweet resolve, for he still loved her 
 more than any other creature, and by that sacrifice 
 alone, it seemed, could she be his once more, her soul 
 reclaimed from everlasting torments, her name redeemed 
 from a dishonour which was poison to his brain. 
 
 A few days later it was known that Mahmud Agha 
 and his Christian wife were going to remove their 
 dwelling to some other place. 
 
 " Thanks be to God ! " exclaimed the Christian 
 villagers. " A stinking corpse is taken off our doorsteps." 
 
 But Dmitri, the devoted brother, was oppressed with 
 grief. When Miriam was gone he knew no peace of 
 mind. So long as she remained in Merdiven-keuy she 
 had not seemed altogether lost to him ; he had been 
 able to observe her from a distance sometimes, and 
 refresh his spirit with the thought that he could kill her 
 when he liked. Except for his attendance on the 
 English travellers there was nothing left to interest him 
 in his native place ; and when, as happened in the 
 natural course of things, those travellers departed, he
 
 162 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 resolved to follow Miriam to her new dwelling-place. 
 The threat of the mudir had taught him that he could 
 not hope to gratify his longing with impunity in a country 
 ruled by Muslims. In dreams— and he was always dream- 
 ing when alone — he saw a Christian country, with vast 
 herds of swine feeding upon a plain, and church spires 
 in the distance ; and a great crucifix, at the foot of 
 which lay Miriam dying, while he himself knelt by her 
 weeping passionately. Around them was a crowd of 
 Christian people, who applauded his devotion while they 
 wept for him. 
 
 All Christians, of whatever country, hate the Muslim, 
 he considered, and would rage to think of any Christian 
 girl in his profane embrace. 
 
 At the end of a week's journey, made on foot, he 
 stood before his sister in her new abode. Her joy at 
 seeing him relieved his mind, as showing that she had 
 not grown forgetful in her new surroundings. At the 
 same time he began to wonder if the Englishman had 
 not been right when he declared on one occasion that 
 his (Dmitri's) horror of this Muslim marriage was in 
 part imaginary. 
 
 She spoke with deep affection of her husband, but 
 betrayed some disappointment at their way of living. 
 It was dull. The Muslim women round about were 
 shy of her because she still remained a Christian ; 
 though her husband told her that in cities they had no 
 such prejudice. She would have liked to live in Brusa 
 or Constantinople ! But to do so in a pleasant way 
 required much money ; and so Mahmud, who tried to 
 give her all she wanted, talked of going to America to 
 try his luck. She could not quite make up her mind to 
 let him go, though sometimes, through desire for money, 
 she was sorely tempted ; and he said that after he had 
 found employment, she might go and join him. It 
 would please her well to see that rich, new country. 
 And, even if he had to be away a year or two, she 
 would not feel so very lonely if her brother was at 
 hand. She hoped that he had come to stay with her.
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 163 
 
 Her husband, when he came in, was as cordial in his 
 hope that Dmitri would not think of going back to 
 Merdiven-keuy. In private he informed him : — 
 
 " I have not yet told her that I start next week. 
 A friend of mine, who knows America, is then returning, 
 and I should be a fool to miss the chance he offers. I 
 never thought of money till I married Miriam, but she, 
 like all you Christians " — here he chuckled — " worships 
 it. By choosing me she has estranged her old friends 
 without gaining new ones, a state of things which wealth 
 alone can remedy. And so, to save her from a life all 
 disappointment, I am going out to seek my fortune in 
 the world, with Allah's help. If thou art here, my mind 
 will be at peace concerning her. Remain then, I beseech 
 thee, for her sake." 
 
 Dmitri agreed. He journeyed back to Merdiven-keuy 
 to tell his father of his purpose and to say farewell. 
 When he returned to Miriam, she was alone, and 
 saddened from parting with her husband. He found a 
 small employment in the place, and cultivated certain 
 fields belonging to Mahmud, on behalf of Miriam. 
 So happy and so tranquil was their life together that 
 for months his mind was free from the desire to kill her ; 
 till one day she informed him that she was with child, 
 mourning anew the absence of her lord. He nearly 
 swooned with horror at the tidings, which reminded him 
 of the dishonour of his race acutely. The child his sister 
 bore would be a Muslim ! The horror preyed upon his 
 mind continually. He renewed his vow. The fierce 
 desire of sacrifice once more consumed him, and he cast 
 about for some safe way to gratify it. At length one 
 day, returning from the market-town, he told her : — 
 
 " I have made inquiries and I find that we can journey 
 to America for much less than the money which we 
 have in hand." 
 
 She clapped her hands for joy at this assurance. 
 Mahmud had written to her of success, suggesting that 
 he might invite her to rejoin him before very long ; 
 and ever since the coming of that letter she had been
 
 164 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 building palaces upon the hope it held for her. A 
 month passed busily in preparations and farewells. 
 Before they started Dmitri went to Merdiven-keuy on 
 purpose to be shriven by the black-browed priest who 
 knew his story. 
 
 From the place upon the lower deck of a great steamer 
 where he and Miriam sat upon their heap of bedding, 
 amid the crowd of steerage passengers, most of them 
 with eyes screwed up against the glare of sea and sky, 
 Dmitri saw more lucky people, clad in European clothes, 
 moving upon the first-class deck above. Occasionally 
 some of these would lean upon the railing and gaze 
 upon the humble crowd a moment with disdainful eyes. 
 Once a man and woman from that upper world came 
 down to walk among them, out of curiosity. Dmitri, 
 who was at his dinner of dry bread and olives, took no 
 notice of the couple till they came abreast of him, when 
 he recognised the English who had camped so long at 
 Merdiven-keuy. 
 
 They recognised him too, and stopped before him, 
 when Dmitri introduced his sister and explained that 
 he was taking her to join her husband in America. 
 
 " What a pathetic face ! " exclaimed the lady, who 
 straightway entered into talk with Miriam ; while the 
 gentleman, apart with Dmitri, asked facetiously : — 
 
 " Is that your sister who was in a harem ? I am glad 
 to see that you are reconciled to her." 
 
 After that the English couple came down every day 
 from their superior deck to talk with Miriam and 
 Dmitri. 
 
 " Marsilia, sir ? That is a Christian country ? " 
 Dmitri asked the Englishman on one occasion. 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so," was the dubious answer. " Why 
 do you ask ? " 
 
 " Because I shall be glad to reach a country where 
 the Christians rule," said Dmitri, smiling. 
 
 From the talk of other steerage passengers he gained 
 the notion that Marseilles was truly Christian. These 
 spoke with smacking lips of shops quite full of pork,
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 165 
 
 and how the pious people of the country lived on pork 
 and arak. By contrast with a Muslim country it was 
 Paradise. 
 
 The English gentleman and lady stood by the rail 
 and waved farewell when Dmitri and his sister with 
 the crowd of emigrants were taken off in boats to the 
 quarantine island. They were pleased to notice the 
 young Greek's attentions to his sister, the way he lifted 
 her into the boat, and then arranged their baggage as 
 a throne for her, taking no thought whatever for him- 
 self. As the last boat-load of poor Orientals left its side, 
 the ship steamed on into the harbour of Marseilles. 
 
 The crowd of emigrants from Turkey, mostly 
 Maronites from the Lebanon, remained three days upon 
 the island, sleeping in long huts, and guarded by French 
 soldiers. Miriam consorted with the other women, and 
 Dmitri thus had time for lonely thought. He found 
 a spot whence he could see the outline of Marseilles, 
 and even hear the murmur of the seaport when the 
 wind was right. The streams of many coloured smoke 
 arising constantly, the sheaves of masts, the high 
 suspension bridge of which he could not guess the 
 purpose, filled him with vague alarm, which was at once 
 allayed when his gaze came to rest upon the church of 
 Notre Dame de la Garde, alone upon its height, its 
 tower surmounted by a golden statue of the Holy 
 Virgin. 
 
 " A Christian country," he would then assure his soul. 
 
 One early morning, when the waves were sparkling 
 under pearly haze, the emigrants, after having been 
 examined for the last time by the doctor, were driven 
 from the huts on to a little steamer black with coal- 
 dust, which conveyed them quickly to the town. The 
 noise and bustle of arrival stupefied them. Dmitri, in 
 despair, set down his baggage on the quay, and sat 
 upon it with his sister, opposing every one who wished 
 to seize it. The sunlight shimmered upon everything, a 
 strong wind blew ; from time to time the notes of 
 bugles rang out above the other noises of the port.
 
 166 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 Dmitri, seeing that his sister's face was sad — he had 
 till then been too distraught to take much note of her — 
 inquired the cause. 
 
 She said : " I had a dream last night. I saw Mahmud, 
 and he was weeping bitterly. Then I knew that I was 
 dead and should not see him more, until we meet again 
 in Paradise." 
 
 " Mahmud is not for Paradise," said Dmitri sternly. 
 " He is a Muslim, food of fire hereafter." 
 
 " That I will not believe ! " exclaimed his sister. 
 " Much that we learnt in childhood must be false, or 
 how can God be just or merciful ? " 
 
 " Her mind is tainted with Islam," Dmitri thought 
 with horror," which gives salvation to all kinds of men 
 regardless of Redemption by the Sacred Blood." But 
 his answer to his sister was : " God knows the truth." 
 
 From where they sat upon the quay, resisting the 
 attention of a crowd of harpies, he could not see the 
 Virgin's church upon the hill. But when a man who 
 spoke their language found them and they went along 
 with him, he saw it once again with great relief. It 
 was a Christian land ! 
 
 In a squalid back street of Marseilles there is a row 
 of houses kept as a caravanserai for Eastern emigrants, 
 numbers of whom are always passing through the town 
 on their way to the United States or South America. 
 There, for a trifling sum of money, they may occupy 
 the bare floor of a room, and have the food they choose 
 to buy prepared for them, upon condition that they 
 pay respect to the proprietor, a heartless Maronite, 
 who orders them about like dogs and even whips them. 
 There Dmitri and his sister sought a lodging by then- 
 guide's advice and, having money in their hands, were 
 well received. They hired a small room for themselves 
 alone, which gave them standing, and the Syrian land- 
 lord, who had made a fortune by this traffic with the 
 very poor, called them his children. 
 
 Dmitri, leaving Miriam and their baggage in the 
 room, went out to a church and prayed, then to a pork
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 167 
 
 shop, where he purchased pies and sausages, then to a 
 cafe where he bought two bottles of strong drink, laden 
 with which he went back to his sister. It was a festival 
 day, he told her ; since it was the first that either of 
 them had ever spent upon the soil of Christendom ; and 
 they were going to have a feast of Christian food. He 
 crossed himself devoutly and then set to work upon the 
 victuals, bidding his sister do the same, for it was pork, 
 which Christians of the East regard as sacred meat, 
 because the Muslims and the Jews abhor it. She did 
 at length obey, but with reluctance. Her Muslim 
 husband had corrupted her, he thought with rage and 
 anguish, watching her with the corner of an eye. He 
 ate till he could eat no more with any pleasure, and 
 then he fell to drinking, still observing her by stealth, 
 and every now and then exclaiming in a kind of ecstasy : 
 " Thanks be to God that we have reached a Christian 
 land ! " 
 
 " Why talk of Christians and of Muslims ? " sighed 
 his sister. "This country is less peaceful than our 
 native land. I feel that no one could be happy here." 
 
 Then Dmitri told her of the glories of the land of 
 Fransa, its wealth, its commerce, the conveniences of 
 railways, tram-cars, banks and telephones. And all the 
 Christian countries of the world had these advantages. 
 Could any Muslim country boast the like ? He argued 
 with her fiercely, making it appear that she maintained 
 the Muslim to be better than the Christian countries ; 
 deliberately working himself up to frenzy, and gulping 
 down raw spirit in the pauses of his talk. His sister 
 answered gently for some time ; but when he grew 
 abusive in his speech and cursed all Muslims, she 
 became angry in her turn and cried : — 
 
 ' Would God that I could see a Muslim in thy place, 
 thou evil-speaker ! Mahmud is not a drunkard ; he is 
 kind to all. I think that he will go to Heaven before 
 thee, defiled one ! " 
 
 " Thou speakest blasphemy ! " cried Dmitri, springing 
 up and glaring at her with wild, drunken eyes. It is
 
 168 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 not thou that speakest, but the Muslim babe within 
 thee." 
 
 He drew out of his girdle a long knife. 
 
 " Sit down ! " she urged. " Be not so mad, so 
 foolish ! " 
 
 But he had seized her by the head-veil and the tail 
 of hair beneath. " Lord, accept the sacrifice and 
 save her soul from hell," he mumbled piously ; while 
 she, struck dumb by terror, stared into his face. With 
 his left hand upon her hair he dragged her backwards 
 while with his right he struck down with the knife, 
 then dragged it upwards. She gave one piercing shriek, 
 so like an infant's that he believed it was the death-cry 
 of the Muslim babe, and then pitched sidelong on the 
 floor, which soon was reddened. 
 
 He stood and watched her with regret and satisfaction 
 queerly mingled, till all at once the room was full of 
 hostile shapes, and he was struggling with a man who 
 seemed intent to kill him. It was the Syrian owner of 
 the hostelry, who with the help of others flung the 
 murderer upon the ground, and beat and kicked him, 
 calling him evil names in Greek and Arabic. Then 
 soldiers came and asked him strange questions, v/hich 
 the master of the house translated for him in insulting 
 tones. He answered dully : — 
 
 "Is it not a Christian country ? I am a Christian. 
 I can clear myself." 
 
 Then suddenly it struck him that he had no witnesses 
 to prove that Miriam had really been disgraced by 
 marriage with a Muslim man. There was but one in 
 Europe who had knowledge of the facts — the Englishman 
 who once had camped at Merdiven-kuey. So when the 
 landlord, speaking for the soldiers, asked him : — 
 
 " Is there any one who knows thee in this land ? " 
 he answered dully : " Musiu Clark, the Englishman 
 who travelled with us on the steamship Niger." 
 
 Then he was handcuffed and led out through gibbering 
 crowds to an automobile, which wafted him and his 
 tormentors as by magic to a building like a fortress
 
 THE MARSEILLES TRAGEDY 169 
 
 kept by many soldiers. There he was shut up in a 
 white-washed room without a window. Still he assured 
 himself : " It is a Christian country. When they know 
 that she was married to a Muslim and with child by him, 
 they will respect me." 
 
 And when the warder came into his cell with food 
 and water he asked again for " Musiu Clark, the English- 
 man." 
 
 As luck would have it, Mr. Clark had not yet left 
 Marseilles and, as the best hotels are few in number, 
 a gendarme detailed for the purpose found him easily. 
 That very evening he was ushered into Dmitri's cell, 
 together with a brisk, frock-coated French official who 
 had long been waiting for him in the corridor. The 
 prisoner fell down upon the floor and tried to kiss his 
 feet. The French official said : — 
 
 " It is an Arab, is it not, monsieur ? " 
 
 " No," replied the Englishman, "it is a Greek from 
 Turkey." 
 
 The Frenchman shrugged as if to say it made no 
 difference, and then resumed : — 
 
 " A tragic case ! The man has murdered his own 
 sister ; she was enceinte, as you doubtless know. The 
 man was drunk, and in so far as we can gather from the 
 master of the lodging-house, who speaks his tongue, he 
 fancied that the babe she carried would become his 
 enemy. He has declared repeatedly, we understand, that 
 you, monsieur, can show that he was justified in what 
 he did ; or at least that he is justified according to the 
 law of his own country. Does any law of any country 
 sanction such a crime ? I ask myself ! I am most 
 curious to know the facts." 
 
 But the Englishman was once again in Merdiven- 
 keuy — the little climbing town of gardens by the inland 
 sea. He saw once more the face of the mudir who had 
 annoyed him by maintaining that the Christians wished 
 to kill the girl now lying dead ; while Dmitri, clinging 
 to his feet, implored him to assure the Frenchman that 
 the victim had in truth disgraced the Christian name. 
 
 A.O.S.U. M
 
 170 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " She had submitted to a Muslim. A Muslim babe was 
 in her ; so she had to die. . . . It is a Christian country. 
 There is a great church with a golden Virgin on it, on a 
 hill. These men are Christians ; they eat pork, drink 
 wine. I also am a Christian. They will let me go. I 
 slew her to avenge the honour of the people of the 
 Cross." 
 
 " They will not let thee go alive," replied the English- 
 man. 
 
 Then Dmitri uttered shriek on shriek of rage and 
 horror, calling his captors freemasons and atheists, to 
 take the side of unbelievers against Christian men. 
 
 " This is no Christian land. God's curse be on it ! " 
 he shouted in a final paroxysm ere, foaming at the 
 mouth, he swooned away.
 
 THE HAILSTORM 
 
 Side by side upon the southern edge of the Rhone 
 valley, just where it widens to embrace Lake Leman, at 
 a distance of about four kilometres from each other, 
 stand the villages of Verthex and Veronnaz. Each 
 boasts of a small " place " or square of well-built houses, 
 mostly cafes, on the road which runs along the foot of 
 the great mountain wall, with a long tail of wooden 
 chalets running up from the said road into a gorge, 
 down which a torrent turning millwheels rushes merrily 
 to join the Rhone. Each has a fine stone church among 
 the vineyards, upon a terrace overlooking all its houses, 
 and a great wooden crucifix beside the churchyard 
 gate ; and each possesses a vast tract of forest, and 
 alpine pastures with their hamlets, on the heights above. 
 As is usual in the case of such near neighbours, there is 
 jealousy. 
 
 In old days when each commune in the Valais formed, 
 for purposes of every day, a separate State, the men of 
 Verthex and Veronnaz often battled over some small 
 scrap of territory, the corner of a vineyard or a slope 
 of pine trees ; and even now, if any one would know 
 the utmost scorn to be expressed by physiognomy, let 
 him only praise Veronnaz in the hearing of a man from 
 Verthex, or Verthex to a native of Veronnaz. The 
 ancient rivalry is now expressed in communal activities. 
 When Verthex, with a surplus, had installed electric 
 light, Veronnaz, with a deficit, must do the same ; and 
 when Veronnaz was presented by a wealthy foreigner 
 with a new organ for the church, Verthex must cripple 
 her resources in order to procure a finer instrument. 
 There is besides a difference in politics, Veronnaz being 
 clerical — that is, conservative — while Verthex is compact 
 
 171
 
 172 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 of anti-clericals, the radicals of Canton Valais, although 
 their views would brand them as extreme reactionaries 
 in any of the Protestant cantons. Both populations 
 are devout and even superstitious Catholics, but 
 Veronnaz theoretically admits the Church to be above 
 the State in temporal affairs, while Verthex holds the 
 opposite opinion. In Verthex, there are stories of 
 Veronnaz wisdom ; as, for instance, how they cleaned 
 out their church bell. Grass growing in the bell had 
 stopped its ringing. A steeple-jack discovered what 
 the trouble was and, coming to the ground again, 
 informed the council, which then debated what was to 
 be done. A neuvaine was proclaimed, then all the 
 village went on pilgrimage ; but still for all their prayers 
 and penances the bell was dumb. At last with infinite 
 expense they raised a monstrous scaffolding, fitted 
 with mighty pulleys and strong ropes, and so hauled 
 up a bull which ate the grass. And when the bell rang 
 true and clear once more, they went and sang Te Deum 
 in the church. Upon the other hand, the people of 
 Veronnaz have stories of the great humility of " those 
 of Verthex " ; for example, how a man from Verthex, 
 having strayed to Rome, rebuked the Pope at High 
 Mass in St. Peter's because the order of the service was 
 not quite " according to the use of Verthex." Even 
 so late as in the nineteenth century such jibes as these 
 caused bloody fights between the villages. And even 
 now the cantonal authorities are careful that the 
 gendarmes, who look after those two communes, come 
 always from another district and possess no local ties. 
 
 In the year 1896 occurred the last and strangest 
 outbreak of this ancient feud. 
 
 The vineyards of both villages are famous in the 
 neighbourhood, and all the population has an interest in 
 them. Vines are tender things, requiring care to save 
 them through the winter and protect them from disease 
 in spring. And even after everything possible has been 
 done to ensure a sturdy growth, there still remains a 
 danger in the sudden showers of hail which scourge the
 
 THE HAILSTORM 173 
 
 valley in the summer time. It is indeed a bitter trial 
 for the husbandman to look upon his vineyard after 
 such a shower has passed, to see the half-formed grapes 
 upon the ground, the crop destroyed ; and as such 
 storms are purely local, and capricious in their course, 
 the victim's sorrow is embittered often by the sight of 
 neighbouring vines untouched by the calamity. On 
 the 20th of June, 1896, a storm of hail and thunder 
 came near Verthex and Veronnaz. Happily it emptied 
 all its wrath upon the forest, only its gloom lay on the 
 villages, and not a vine was touched. But everybody 
 felt its terror, and that evening, after work, a deputation 
 of the Verthex elders, headed by the president, waited 
 on the cure at the presbytery — a white house with 
 green shutters — up beside the church. 
 
 The door was opened to them by a girl of twenty-one, 
 the cure's sister, on whose looks the graybeards com- 
 mented with rustic freedom, expressing their belief that 
 she would get a husband soon. She blushed at the 
 suggestion, and the only young man of the deputation, 
 the president's son, Maximin, blushed likewise, furiously, 
 though no one of the others saw him, for he came in 
 last. 
 
 ' Is Monsieur le cure disengaged, Mademoiselle 
 Sidonie ? " inquired the president when he had doffed 
 his hat and crossed the threshold. 
 
 ' Yes, Monsieur Riboulet," the girl replied. " I have 
 just cleared the table. Take the trouble to come in." 
 
 She turned the handle of an inner door, admitting them 
 into a room whose window framed the small walled 
 garden of the presbytery full of evening light, the cure's 
 flowers and fruit-trees, and two bee-hives on a bench 
 against the southern wall. 
 
 The president and his three friends tramped forward 
 with the solemn awkwardness which belongs to all 
 deputations of the people. Having grasped the cure's 
 hand with cruel strength and wished him a good- 
 evening, each in turn, they looked behind them, and 
 the president exclaimed : —
 
 174 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " But — sacred thunder ! — where is Maximin ? " 
 
 The young man suddenly appeared with rosy cheeks, 
 while Sidonie with marked composure shut the door 
 behind him. 
 
 " Monsieur le cure," began the president rhetorically. 
 " We come to make a petition on behalf of all the 
 vine-growers of this commune, who . . . desire . . . 
 desire ..." 
 
 Feeling unequal to the strain of further eloquence, 
 he suddenly relapsed to common speech, exclaiming : — 
 
 " Monsieur le cure, it is those devils of Veronnaz — 
 saving your presence ! They are at their tricks again 
 to get the better of us. Thou, Maximin, who hast more 
 education, explain the matter fully to his reverence." 
 
 Maximin then turned almost as red as if his thoughts 
 of Mademoiselle Sidonie had been the matter in debate 
 and, staring at the hat which he held fast with both 
 his hands, intoned : — 
 
 " Monsieur le cure, the case is this : It is now the 
 season of the summer hailstorms which destroy the 
 grapes. They of Veronnaz, when they see a storm 
 approaching, rush to the church — men, women and 
 children, helter-skelter, in a mass. The cure is already 
 there before them, living close at hand. He makes a 
 prayer to the good Lord, and the storm passes." 
 
 " Storms always do," observed the cure drily. The 
 deputation smiled, but with embarrassment. 
 
 The Church of Rome is not devoid of worldly cunning. 
 Knowing that the men of Verthex were all anti-clericals, 
 she had given them a cure of the most enlightened, 
 learned type, a graduate of many universities, while to 
 Veronnaz she assigned a half-inspired fanatic. The men 
 of Verthex sometimes wished the two priests could 
 have been transposed, for what was the use of being 
 anti-clerical in a parish where the cure was less super- 
 stitious than they were themselves. 
 
 " Aye, but they pass without the slightest damage 
 to the vineyards of Veronnaz. It makes one think," 
 remarked the president, as half ashamed.
 
 THE HAILSTORM 175 
 
 " Were any of the vines of Verthex ruined by a storm 
 last year ? " 
 
 " Thanks to God, no, Monsieur le cure, but the vines 
 of Aligny, which marches with Veronnaz on the other 
 side, were devastated. Those of Veronnaz openly make 
 boast that by their service in the church they turned 
 the storm off on to Aligny." 
 
 " There are always fools and liars in the world, may 
 God forgive them," said the priest dispassionately. 
 
 The members of the deputation looked at one another 
 sheepishly, and then at Maximin, as if imploring him 
 to help them out. He blurted : — 
 
 " We have the honour to request, Monsieur le cure, on 
 behalf of all the viticultors of this commune, that you 
 will hold a service in the church on the approach of 
 summer storms." 
 
 There was a moment of dead silence, which the 
 deputation spent in staring, some at the garden in the 
 sunset light and others at the pattern of the strip of 
 carpet in the room. And then the cure got upon his feet 
 and, after pacing up and down a minute, took his stand 
 beside the great stone stove and eyed them coldly. 
 
 He was a man of fifty only, but of withered mien. 
 With hands locked tight behind his back and feet apart, 
 he spoke his mind to them in level tones. When first 
 appointed to the cure of Verthex, he declared, he had 
 been told that his parishioners possessed advanced ideas, 
 and he had felt attracted, since all his life he had found 
 pleasure in the conversation of intelligent, enlightened 
 people. But now, what could he think, in face of this 
 absurd petition ? Had they no notion of the Majesty 
 of God Almighty that they could fancy that man's 
 prayers could alter and control His providence — as if, 
 he said, one were to pull a handle and to ring a bell ? 
 No, and again No. He would never countenance such 
 blasphemy — for that, though his petitioners were 
 innocent of bad intent, it really was. 
 
 " The cure of Veronnaz is then impious," growled 
 Monsieur Riboulet, a trifle nettled.
 
 176 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 "He is a clerical among the clergy, that is all ! " 
 replied the priest with sudden smile, abashing them. 
 " I am surprised to find that he has partisans in Verthex, 
 where it seems that I, the cure, stand alone for reason 
 and enlightenment." 
 
 The deputation stumbled out with ears as red as if 
 the cure's bees had had to do with them. 
 
 " He doubts the use of prayer," whispered one member 
 greatly shocked. " My faith, he is a freemason, and 
 nothing else ! " 
 
 Maximin, the last to leave the house, essayed to 
 whisper in the ear of Sidonie. She pushed him out and 
 closed the door with rage, then joined her brother in 
 the sitting-room, taking her sewing as her custom was. 
 The cure was still pacing to and fro. 
 
 " This, after fifteen years' endeavour ! " he ejaculated. 
 " It is time I was transferred to some new sphere of 
 work, for it is clear that my instructions are not suited 
 to the understanding of these peasants. Maximin 
 Riboulet — a lad whom I have taught since he was ten 
 years old ! He and no other was the spokesman. It is 
 desolating ! " 
 
 " He was made the mouthpiece of his father, much 
 against his will. He told me so as he went out. He 
 seemed ashamed," said Sidonie over her work. 
 
 " He ought to have refused in such a case," replied 
 the priest indignantly. He added in a thoughtful tone : 
 " For thee too, my cherished one, it would be better if 
 I were transferred. I would not have thee all thy life 
 keep house for me. But there is no one suitable for thee 
 to marry in a place like this." 
 
 Sidonie gave a careless little laugh, and then bent 
 low to bite a thread in two. 
 
 The cure kept reverting to the deputation. The 
 absurdity of their petition made him doubt the ground 
 of it. He questioned every word that they had said 
 about Veronnaz. Was there on earth a churchman who 
 would countenance such fetichistic folly nowadays ? 
 The cure of Veronnaz was well known to both of them —
 
 THE HAILSTORM 177 
 
 a great ecstatic certainly, a great enthusiast, but not 
 benighted. When Sidonie confirmed his doubts by 
 acquiescence he declared that he would call upon his 
 brother in the Lord, with God's permission, on the 
 following day and, in the course of friendly conversation, 
 learn the truth. 
 
 Accordingly upon the morrow, having breakfasted 
 on his return from Mass, he sauntered to Veronnaz by a 
 path through chestnut woods, a pleasant walk upon a 
 summer morning. Five minutes after he had gone, 
 Maximin Riboulet came up to the presbytery, bringing 
 a bouquet of pinks from the president's garden. He 
 was in his working blouse — in fact, was working in a 
 vineyard near at hand, where the " oeillets " had been 
 with him pending opportunity, reposing in a mug of 
 water in the shade. Sidonie implored him to be gone 
 immediately, and yet he stayed, with shoulder leaning 
 on the doorpost, to inquire : — 
 
 " What says he ? " 
 
 " Oh, do not ask me ! All is lost ! " She wrung her 
 hands. ' He is disgusted with thee. He would never 
 hear were I to ask him now." 
 
 " Wretched luck I " sighed Maximin. " It is the 
 affair of yesterday evening ? " 
 
 " What else ? It is sufficient. He is disappointed in 
 thee." 
 
 These two young people were in terror of the cure 
 who, as both knew well, had grand ideas for Sidonie, 
 which Maximin was far from likely to fulfil. It had 
 been arranged that Sidonie should seize the first occasion 
 which arose to ascertain her brother's views on this 
 momentous subject ; but she had not yet summoned 
 up the strength to do so. It was now too late. With 
 stricken heart expressed in gusty sighs, Maximin went 
 back to his labour in the vineyard. 
 
 The priest returned before the noonday angelus. 
 
 " I thought those worthy people were exaggerating," 
 he informed his sister with a scornful laugh. " Now I 
 have heard the story. It is this : Five years ago, the
 
 178 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 produce of the vines of Veronnaz was totally destroyed 
 by a great hailstorm. It was a calamity. In memory of 
 that affliction, a number of the people, of their own 
 accord, go to the church and pray on the approach of 
 thunderstorms. It is no worse than making the sign 
 of the cross, which everybody in this country does at 
 sound of thunder, a reminder of the chances of this 
 mortal life." 
 
 " Then, my brother, you will grant the petition of 
 poor Monsieur Riboulet ? " put in his sister. 
 
 " I ? . . . Never ! " cried the priest, and then stopped 
 short, restrained by his devotion to the priesthood 
 from expressing to her his whole thought, which was 
 that, what was tolerable in a mere ecstatic like the cure 
 of Veronnaz, would have been a crime in any person of 
 complete intelligence. He did not know the history of 
 the deputation which he had received. 
 
 Monsieur Riboulet the elder had one day encountered 
 the president of Veronnaz in the market-town of St. 
 Maurice. Feeling friendly, they had gone into a cafe 
 and consumed three decilitres, then three decilitres, 
 and then again three decilitres, together till their 
 tongues were loosed, and they spoke heart to heart as 
 brother-presidents and brother vine-growers. The hail- 
 storm season was at hand, and he of Veronnaz had 
 whispered in an awestruck tone that prayers in church 
 on the approach of thunderclouds had guaranteed his 
 commune against damage for the last five years. 
 
 " A good idea ! We ought to do the same," said he 
 of Verthex, who, returning home, had laid the scheme 
 before the village council, which accepted it without 
 debate. Only his own son, Maximin, when pressed 
 into the service of the deputation, had opposed the 
 notion, saying that the priest was certain to refuse with 
 scorn. 
 
 " Thou hast the new ideas, as people call them ; but 
 be assured that not a priest in all the world will share 
 them," said the anti-clerical amid applause from all the 
 elders.
 
 THE HAILSTORM 179 
 
 After the amazing failure of the deputation, the 
 president of Verthex once more met the president of 
 Veronnaz in the market-town. They drank together 
 as before, having acquired the habit, and Veronnaz 
 inquired whether the men of Verthex had adopted his 
 specific against hailstorms. Verthex answered with a 
 sigh :— 
 
 " Our cure will have none of it. He grew extremely 
 angry, although God knows it was a good idea, and 
 nothing impious." 
 
 " What kind of a priest can he be," exclaimed 
 Veronnaz scandalised, " who would deny the good God's 
 mercy in response to prayer ! " 
 
 " An estimable man enough, and very learned, but 
 averse to superstition," answered Verthex drily. There- 
 with the conversation fell into the pit of clerical and 
 anti-clerical. There were high words between the two 
 old men before they parted. VeVonnaz told the tale 
 when he reached home, and his whole commune felt a 
 thrill of triumph in their pious cure, over Verthex 
 which was hampered with an unbelieving priest. Men, 
 women, even children, when they happened on a man 
 from Verthex condoled with him upon his pastor's lack 
 of faith. It would grieve them to remember, while they 
 prayed in church, that damage would be happening to 
 the Verthex vineyards. " The remedy for that is easy," 
 answered those of Verthex. " Apply it if your sorrow 
 is sincere. Stop ringing your church bell and praying 
 when the storms approach. Be honest men, and bear 
 the common fate. By your own showing, it is cheating, 
 what you do ! " 
 
 But Veronnaz was not prepared to go so far as that. 
 
 The Verthex people put up with this banter, and 
 even turned the joke against Veronnaz, saying : " Hast 
 heard the latest of those imbeciles ? They verily 
 believe that the angelic hosts obey their orders ! " till a 
 certain day, unusually sultry from the dawn, when 
 Mademoiselle Sidonie, the curd's sister, had to go to 
 Veronnaz to interview the nun who kept the girls'
 
 180 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 school there. She started about one o'clcok, as soon 
 as she had washed up after dinner, tripping along the 
 path through chestnut woods, a basket on her arm ; and 
 though the distance was not great to come and go, she 
 had not yet returned when the great storm approached 
 at six o'clock. 
 
 Never was such a hailstorm known in all the valley. 
 The sky began to veil at half-past five with a thin mist 
 which steadily became more dense, until by six o'clock 
 it was as black as night. Everybody was engaged in 
 driving cattle, poultry, children, all creatures irrespon- 
 sible and yet of value, into shelter; and Monsieur 
 Riboulet's loud shouts for Maximin, whose help he 
 needed, re-echoed by the mountain-cliffs, were heard in 
 all the village, when sudden lightning flashed and 
 danced across the landscape, followed by a crash of 
 thunder louder than was ever heard. The lightning 
 lasted clear a minute, and then came the hail. It fell in 
 great white sheets. The pellets, large as sparrows' 
 eggs, bounced on the cobbled road before the presbytery 
 and on the dry earth of the vineyards underneath. 
 They hurt the face and hands of Monsieur le cure, who 
 had come out watching for his sister, driving him 
 indoors. "When he looked out of the window he could 
 see no farther than the beaten rose-bush which grew 
 close against the panes. Everything beyond was cur- 
 tained by the pelting hail. 
 
 The downpour lasted for ten minutes only, but when 
 light returned, the vines of Verthex had been stripped 
 of fruit and leaves. The people came and looked and 
 shook their heads, too sad to wail. 
 
 " If only Monsieur le cure had not his ideas," said 
 Monsieur Riboulet, with rueful looks to those around 
 him, " we might have saved our grapes like those of 
 Veronnaz. I heard their church bell going when the 
 darkness fell. May the malediction of heaven rest upon 
 them ! " 
 
 A minute later, when the priest himself came down 
 among the mourners, preaching resignation to the will
 
 THE HAILSTORM 181 
 
 of God, the president reproached him, saying gruffly : 
 " Ah, Monsieur le cure, all this might have been pre- 
 vented if you had been willing. It is the worst storm 
 we have known for fifty years. People will say it is a 
 judgment on us for impiety, though God knows that 
 we viticultors did our utmost to persuade you. The 
 vines of Veronnaz are safe, of course. I think the 
 tempest would have spared us also if we had held a 
 service in the church and rung the bell as they did." 
 
 " The vines of Veronnaz have suffered also, be 
 assured ! " replied the cure gently. But at that moment 
 came a cry of " Hola, men of Verthex ! " and some young 
 men of Veronnaz were seen coming from the chestnut 
 woods, springing down the terraces to join the group. 
 They raised their hands at sight of the destruction, 
 and then shook their heads with sad, but satisfied 
 grimaces. 
 
 " You should have done as we did ! " one of them 
 exclaimed compassionately. " Our vines are safe down 
 to the smallest grape. Do but go, and you will see the 
 devastation stopped by our communal boundary as if 
 by an unseen wall. You heard our church bell ringing, 
 doubtless, just before the storm. That is the cause of 
 our complete immunity." 
 
 The speaker uttered the last word with reverence 
 and lifted his soft hat. A grin appeared upon the faces 
 of the men from Veronnaz, a murmur as of angry 
 hornets came from those of Verthex. 
 
 " May I beg of Monsieur le cure to withdraw himself ?" 
 said Monsieur Riboulet with most unusual suavity. 
 " This is no fitting company for him." 
 
 ' No, Monsieur le president, I will not go," replied 
 the cure stoutly. " I know that your intention is to 
 fight, but I will not permit it." 
 
 He placed himself between the would-be combatants 
 and, facing the young men from Veronnaz sternly, 
 said : — 
 
 " You lie when you declare the hailstorm ended at 
 the boundary of your commune."
 
 182 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 The young men raised their hats. Their spokesman 
 answered : — 
 
 " Truly, Monsieur le cure\ things are as I said. If 
 you retain a doubt upon the subject, go and look." 
 
 As night was drawing near, this last suggestion 
 savoured of derision. The cure still declared their 
 statement to be false. But Verthex thought it true, 
 and could conceive of no more suitable rejoinder to it 
 than to beat them dead. Once more did Monsieur 
 Riboulet beseech the cure to withdraw, declaring : — 
 
 "It would be unseemly if a fight should happen in 
 your presence, yet a fight there will be ; and all the 
 village would be altogether desolated if, through in- 
 judicious interference, you should happen to be hurt." 
 
 The wizened little scholar would not budge. In a 
 loud voice he denounced his people's folly and credulity, 
 still vowing that the men from Veronnaz were telling 
 lies. 
 
 " Remove yourself from there, Monsieur le cure ! " 
 cried a man of Verthex. " You have your notions, 
 as we know too well. The vines of Veronnaz are safe, 
 while ours are ruined ; which means that we are not 
 the fools you thought us. There are such things as 
 miracles, for all your doubting. There are such things 
 as magic and sheer devilry. Eh bien, we know our 
 enemies and can repay them. Do you get out, and 
 leave us to the work." 
 
 The fight was going to begin, much to the curb's 
 horror, for in the present temper of the men of Verthex 
 he knew that nothing less than slaughter would content 
 them, when a voice cried loudly : — 
 
 " Ah the vineyards of Veronnaz are destroyed. I 
 come from thence and I have seen the thing with my 
 own eyes." 
 
 The speaker was the missing Maximin Riboulet, 
 who all unnoticed had appeared upon the scene. At 
 the same moment Sidonie, appearing likewise, came 
 to her brother's side and took his arm. 
 
 " Thanks be to God," shouted the folk of Verthex.
 
 THE HAILSTORM 183 
 
 " It is a lie," replied the young men from Veronnaz 
 hotly. " Our vines are safe to the last grape, the fact 
 is known." They seemed both shaken and alarmed, 
 however. 
 
 "It is evident you have not seen them since the 
 storm has passed upon them," said Maximin in tones 
 of grave commiseration. " Heaven ! Never have I 
 seen such perfect devastation. It is even worse than 
 what I now behold, if that be possible." 
 
 "It is quite true, what he says ; I too have seen it," 
 cried Sidonie in accents of emotion. " The storm came 
 on me as I crossed those very vineyards." 
 
 " How comes it that thou art not wet, my jewel ? " 
 asked the cure, feeling her sleeve which lay within his 
 arm. 
 
 " Maximin overtook me," was the whispered answer. 
 " He protected me." 
 
 " Maximin is a good boy. He shall sup with us this 
 evening," said her brother tenderly. 
 
 The young men from Verronaz had surrounded 
 Maximin, asking him questions. They were still in- 
 credulous, but their incredulity was slowly yielding to 
 his confident replies. It now transpired that they had 
 left Veronnaz at the first threat of the storm, simply 
 to gloat on the disaster of the men of Verthex. The 
 storm had come while they were in the chestnut woods 
 above the latter village, where they had waited till its 
 rage was spent. Now, realising that Veronnaz had 
 been smitten too, they hurried back with exclamations 
 of despair, pursued with execrations and loud jeers by 
 those of Verthex, who for the moment had forgotten 
 their own loss. 
 
 " All those of Veronnaz are wiseacres," chuckled the 
 president. " Say then, Monsieur le cure, have you heard 
 the story, how they cleaned their bell ? " 
 
 " A thousand times," replied the cure drily. " Let 
 that rest, I pray you. Come hither, Maximin, and 
 tell your father and all these people once again the 
 state in which thou hast beheld the vines of Veronnaz.
 
 184 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 It is for thee to put an end to their unhappy error. 
 Maximin has seen with his own eyes the havoc wrought, 
 my children ; and so too has my little Sidonie, whom 
 he protected from the hail. By great good luck they 
 were together, so we have two witnesses." 
 
 And he went on to preach a sermon to his flock, quite 
 unaware that there were any smiles among his audience, 
 or yet that Maximin and Sidonie were much observed. 
 
 Maximin supped that evening at the presbytery, in 
 such favour that Sidonie, when he had gone, took heart 
 of grace and let her brother see her feelings with regard 
 to him. There was a hint of disappointment in his tone 
 of voice as he remarked : — 
 
 " Well, after all, he is an honest lad, and a good 
 Catholic." 
 
 Maximin himself appeared next day, in Sunday 
 clothes and rubicund with shyness, supported by his 
 father, for the formal interview ; but Sidonie did not 
 appear on that occasion. The priest himself admitted 
 them, and showed them out. 
 
 Maximin's lot as an affianced bridegroom was less 
 blissful than he had anticipated. Mademoiselle Sidonie 
 kept him at a more respectful distance than she had 
 considered necessary in the time of dangling, and read 
 him many lessons on propriety. He saw his loved one 
 generally in the cure's presence, which made him long 
 the more for marriage, when she would be his alone. 
 Cold from a sense of duty with the son, Sidonie now 
 lavished tenderness upon the father. Old Monsieur 
 Riboulet was very often at the presbytery ; and in 
 the warmth of new relationship, his former awe of 
 Monsieur le cure as a deeply learned man was changed 
 to warm and loud-voiced admiration. For the priest, 
 in intimacy, had his genial side, could tell a story well, 
 and loved a joke. The president came round completely 
 to the cure's point of view. He now thought of the hail; 
 storm, which had wrecked his vines, with satisfaction as 
 a judgment on the men of Veronnaz. And this belated 
 view found favour with the anti-clericals, who shouted
 
 THE HAILSTORM 185 
 
 to Veronnaz : " God has punished you for the impiety 
 and ignorance of which you boasted. Repent, and use 
 your reason ! Be advised ! " 
 
 But Veronnaz, embittered by the loss of all the 
 grapes, were in no mood for self-abasement. They 
 replied with dreadful oaths : — 
 
 " We have done right. Our praying in the church 
 was efficacious many times, and if this once it 
 failed, that is because of some shortcoming on our 
 part." 
 
 Verthex retorted, laughing : " Pack of imbeciles ! 
 When our church bell is dumb, we will consult you. 
 Go home, eat grass, and kiss your cure's petticoats ! 
 Your vines were spoilt." 
 
 Veronnaz looked on Verthex as a nest of infidels, 
 while Verthex scorned Veronnaz as a den of apes. 
 
 Things reached a climax on the occasion of the wedding 
 of Maximin Riboulet with Mademoiselle Sidonie. The 
 cure of Veronnaz helped perform the ceremony, and 
 several personages from that village were among the 
 guests. The president of Verthex, father of the bride- 
 groom, being in facetious mood and held back by 
 respect from jokes befitting the occasion, amused 
 himself with an attempt to set the clergy by the ears. 
 During the banquet he spoke guardedly of hailstorms 
 and of prayers in church, rousing sly mirth among the 
 Verthex folk. Their cure scorned the bait ; but he of 
 Veronnaz — poor lean-jawed, earnest man ! — rose to 
 it instantly. All talk was hushed while the good priest 
 enlarged upon the mystic beauty and religious value of 
 a practice which every one in Verthex now regarded 
 with contempt. " And yet the vines were spoilt ! " 
 said Monsieur Riboulet, with roguish grin. 
 
 The cure' of Veronnaz said that that was owing to 
 some defect in the worshippers, probably lack of faith. 
 The cure of Verthex, in a tone to close the subject, 
 questioned : ' Might it not be owing to a lack of 
 ( hristian love, since some of them had sought to get 
 the better of their neighbours and had even boasted 
 
 A.OS.U. N
 
 186 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 that their prayers had that effect ? Prayer for purely 
 selfish ends is sinful, I believe." 
 
 The cure of Veronnaz quite agreed with him, and 
 was quite horrified to learn that any of his flock had 
 nursed such evil thoughts. The topic was submerged 
 in toasting of the bride and bridegroom, both as red as 
 peonies, who smiled inanely and avoided one another's 
 eyes ; but it came up again when all the guests streamed 
 forth, the men repairing to the various cafes of the 
 place, well filled already with the rougher sort. Their 
 cure's word of blame upon Veronnaz was new 
 light to the men of Verthex, who had not until then 
 esteemed it criminal for men to try and save their 
 crops by any means. But now they cried shame freely 
 on the people of Veronnaz, accusing them of lack of 
 Christian love. 
 
 Veronnaz had arrived in force to see the wedding. 
 The baser sort soon came to blows. They fought like 
 dogs. At one time Veronnaz, led by a giant known as 
 Big Jean Golat, held half the village street of Verthex. 
 The tide of battle even reached the chalet of the president 
 and there were frenzied cries for Maximin. The young 
 man that day married left his bride and rushed into the 
 street. The gendarme, after shouting himself hoarse 
 to no effect, was no more seen. Maximin was the 
 Verthex champion, and his coming, hardly hoped for in 
 the circumstances, saved the day. Foot by foot the 
 men of Veronnaz were forced back down the street, 
 across the " place," and out into the open fields. And 
 when at last they broke and fled, a shout went after 
 them : — 
 
 " Shame on you, for your lack of Christian love."
 
 HIS MAJESTY 
 
 A high beach of shingle stretching away into the wintry 
 haze on either hand, facing a vast expanse of greenish, 
 foam-flecked sea, under a sky more veiled than clouded, 
 shining with a watery beam : that must have been the 
 prospect which the shipwrecked man beheld, when he 
 opened his eyes after lying for a long while prone upon 
 the pebbles, exhausted from his struggle with the waters. 
 The waves kept breaking with an angry roar, followed 
 by the backdraft of the shingle like a long-drawn sigh. 
 That and the wail of seabirds was the only sound. 
 After blinking at the scene until his wits returned to him, 
 one can imagine that he climbed the beach to view the 
 land, shivering as he caught the full strength of the 
 wind. First there was a thin, stiff growth of yellow 
 bents, and brown, dead stems of ragwort, then a great 
 expanse of level marshland intersected by a lot of 
 ditches choked with dying reeds, and in the distance 
 rising ground with purple woods, a tower and threads 
 of silver smoke uprising from among the trees, denoting 
 human habitation. Towards that smoke he bent his 
 steps when strength returned. 
 
 For any man to cross those marshes in anything 
 approaching a straight line is a considerable feat. The 
 shipwrecked man performed it somehow, but it must 
 have been the work of many hours, and one may take 
 it that he started in the early morning, since his first 
 appearance in the village was at tea-time of a winter's 
 night. 
 
 Joe Watling and his wife and all their little ones were 
 sitting at tea, when loud knocks and a strange wailing at 
 the cottage door surprised them. Mrs. Watling went 
 and opened ; but at sight of a black face, great goggling 
 
 187
 
 i88 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 eyes, a fearsome mouth wide open, and long waving 
 arms, set on a human body which to all appearance 
 ended in a fish's tail (for the man was cased in weed and 
 slime from the waist downward), she started back. 
 The children shrieked and scrambled up the cupboard 
 stairs. The mistress of the house cried : " Lord, deliver 
 us ! " and Joe himself was frozen to his chair. The 
 creature made a hideous noise, resembling human 
 speech, but unintelligible. It pointed to its mouth and 
 to the food upon the table. When Mrs. Watling, jealous 
 of her children's bread, said : " No, you don't I " it 
 gave a blood-curdling cry and pounced upon a quartern 
 loaf. 
 
 Joe, starting from his chair with an indignant ex- 
 clamation, attacked the brute and tried to hold it, 
 but it curled round like a snake, as he said afterwards, 
 and bit his hand till he let go. It knocked down Mrs. 
 Watling, who opposed its exit, and with the loaf escaped 
 into the night. 
 
 Joe Watling seemed to bear no grudge against the 
 apparition when he spoke about it to the gentleman 
 for whom he worked — a Mr. Solesby — on the following 
 day. On the contrary, he spoke about it with a certain 
 reverence. 
 
 ' That come to dew us naught but good, I dew 
 believe," he stated, straightening his back from digging 
 while he rested on his spade. " We took and thwarted 
 'un, and then that bit me." 
 
 He solemnly unwound the rag which bound his 
 injured hand. " They can't abide for folks to take and 
 thwart 'em, I ha' ollus heerd. But my poor missus 
 were fair took aback, and ta' children was afeerd to go 
 to school this mornun'." 
 
 " Any idea what it was ? " asked Mr. Solesby. 
 
 " Couldn't say, I'm sure, sir. Some reckon as that 
 were a sperrit. But 'tis my belief that meant us naught 
 but good, not till I took and riled 'un." 
 
 For a week there was no other apparition. Then 
 some children coming home from school beheld the
 
 HIS MAJESTY 189 
 
 monster. It approached them with terrific outcry, 
 freezing their young blood. But some men at work 
 on a potato-clamp hard by, hearing the children scream, 
 ran out with pitchforks, and the monster fled. 
 
 " I fare more comferable-like now some one else ha' 
 seen that," Joe Watling told his master in triumphant 
 tones. " There's several thought as me and my poor 
 missus, and ta' children tew, was drunk or dramin'. 
 But now there's others seen that and can testify as 
 how that bain't no arthly, human thing." 
 
 "Which way did it run? " asked Mr. Solesby, begin- 
 ning to be moved by curiosity. 
 
 " Right up on to the walks by Marler's Grove." 
 
 Mr. Solesby walked by Marler's Grove — a coppice of 
 old beeches interspersed with modern firs upon the 
 outskirts of a great expanse of heathland — that very 
 afternoon, but he put up nothing more surprising than 
 a fat cock-pheasant. But that was no proof that Joe's 
 " sperrit " was not there, for those sheep-walks clothed 
 in a tall growth of whins could have concealed an army. 
 Only two years before, as Mr. Solesby (an observer of 
 all local wonders) knew, a skeleton had been discovered 
 quite by chance among the whins and identified by 
 rags of clothing as belonging to a man who had dis- 
 appeared one winter's night, and had been missing for 
 ten years. A broken ankle and hard frost had sealed 
 his fate. That showed the value of the furze-clad 
 wilderness as a retreat. 
 
 No doubt the stranger, having met with hostile 
 treatment, was shy of drawing near the haunts of men. 
 But the weather was so bleak just then that Mr. Solesby 
 felt much pity for any foreign creature out in it. It 
 was his belief, from the descriptions of it, that Joe 
 Watling's " sperrit " was a good-sized ape, escaped 
 from some menagerie, which, under stress of cold and 
 hunger, might do anything. 
 
 . In sight of Marler's Grove, two miles away across the 
 heath, there was a keeper's cottage. The people there 
 were startled by a knocking at the door at eight o'clock
 
 190 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 one night. The keeper opened and beheld a crouching 
 figure with a frightful face. He slammed the door and 
 fastened it, then got his gun. Going upstairs, he set 
 the casement open and leaned out. 
 
 " If thou art a human thing, speak ! " he solemnly 
 adjured ; and when the moaning still continued, " let 
 'un have it," as he said. 
 
 " That s'ruck out good tidily," he told Mr. Solesby 
 when the latter called to make inquiries on the morrow, 
 " and departed from us slow and threatening-like, a- 
 s'riekin' like old Nick. That show as how that b'aint 
 no human thing, dew that'd ha' up and answered my 
 plain question." 
 
 Mr. Solesby spent a long while searching for the 
 wounded creature, but could find no trace of it. And 
 then he grew aware that a more imperious and potent 
 curiosity had been roused concerning it. Sir Rupert 
 Carraway, the great man of the district, called on him 
 one afternoon. He said : — 
 
 " Rouse tells me that you think the creature is a 
 monkey. So do I. Keep a look-out for it, will you ? — 
 and let me know at once if you can find its lair. And 
 do impress upon the people that they must not kill it. 
 I'll give pounds if it is brought to me alive. Let that 
 be known. What do you think it is ? An ourang- 
 outang ? Or a gorilla ? From what Rouse tells me it 
 is bigger than a man. You know my passion for wild 
 animals. Don't let them harm it. My fear is that it 
 may be dead and dying at this minute all through the 
 terror of that damned fool, Rouse." 
 
 Mr. Solesby made Sir Rupert's wishes known through- 
 out the village with all the greater zeal because they 
 were his own. But the village people, though they 
 touched their foreheads to Sir Rupert's edict, were 
 recalcitrant. Besides the natural instinct of the poacher 
 to set traps for any wild thing which the squire preserves, 
 there was the feeling that by thus protecting something 
 evil and malignant, Sir Rupert was transgressing higher 
 laws than those of man. The people were resolved to
 
 HIS MAJESTY 191 
 
 hurt the monster and to kill it if they could, before it 
 injured them. The monkey theory they flouted after 
 much discussion ; while the notion that it was some 
 kind of spirit had lost ground. The idea most favoured 
 now was that it was a Russian — a term in common use 
 among the country-folk to designate a creature rushing 
 suddenly and darkly to no righteous end. 
 
 It is to the stranger's gift for sudden disappearances, 
 that Mr. Solesby, no mean judge of dialect, ascribed 
 the name ; but the rector of the parish then maintained, 
 and still maintains against all argument, that it was 
 derived from the well-known habit of the Russian 
 peasant of devouring fowls uncooked, which he dis- 
 covered in a learned work and chanced to mention to 
 old Mrs. Barlow when condoling with her on the depreda- 
 tions in her hen-roost. 
 
 For the stranger's source of food-supply became 
 apparent, when many fowls — a score at least — were 
 missed within a fortnight from a farmyard less than 
 half a mile from Marler's Grove. The one policeman 
 who perambulated twenty square miles of sparsely- 
 populated country was informed of the affair, and 
 paid a lengthy call on Mrs. Barlow. He told Joe 
 Watling, on his way back through the village, that in 
 his opinion those fowls had not been taken by a fox or 
 bird of prey. He was a cautious man, and said no more ; 
 but his grand air of mystery suggested to Joe's mind 
 the Russian ; and the idea that the creature, in addition 
 to its other crimes, was no better than a common thief, 
 was well established in the village mind before the 
 proofs were found. This happened on a night when 
 two men, going to the brick-kilns, which are situated 
 in a pit upon the border of the heath, beheld the dreadful 
 creature sleeping by the furnace-mouth. They fled in 
 terror with loud cries of " Lord preserve us ! " When 
 they returned with reinforcements from the nearest 
 cottages, armed with reap-hooks, choppers, forks and 
 even, in one woman's case, a poker, the monster was no 
 longer there ; and the two workmen, who had given
 
 192 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 the alarm, were looking foolish when some one noticed 
 the pink bones and bloodstained feathers of a fowl upon 
 the ground. That was conclusive evidence. The 
 Russian was a gipsy thief, as well as murderous. 
 
 Some washing had been spread to dry upon the 
 whins behind a cottage on a sunny morning. A sheet, 
 a counterpane, a flannel shirt and an old pair of woollen 
 drawers vanished while the housewife was indoors. 
 They had been stolen by the Russian, all agreed. 
 
 Then some bold spirits recollected that there was a 
 little hut — a rough affair of posts and some dry whins — 
 in Marler's Grove, and went up in a body to explore it. 
 They were frightened near to dissolution by an awful 
 figure clad in flowing white, which came forth from the 
 entrance of the hut and stretched its arms towards them. 
 Headlong they ran along the road to Barlow's farm, 
 where they at length plucked up the courage to return. 
 The thing had vanished, as its custom was. Approaching 
 with the greatest care, they peeped into the hut, and 
 saw the bones and feathers of a lot of fowls, besides 
 a heap of sheep's wool, rags, dead leaves and so forth, 
 on which the Russian slept, as could be plainly seen. 
 This they were going to disperse vindictively, when one 
 bethought him of a better plan. Instead, they went 
 and fetched two scythe-blades from the farm, and hid 
 them in the heap, the sharp edge upwards. It was by 
 that time dusk, and they retreated in a hurry. When 
 they revisited the hut next day, they were delighted 
 to discover stains of blood. 
 
 This cruel exploit reached the ears of Mr. Solesby, 
 who brought it to the knowledge of Sir Rupert Carra- 
 way, who himself rode round the village in a towering 
 :age, upbraiding every relative of the young men con- 
 cerned whom he could come across. According to the 
 evidence of the delinquents, the creature was much 
 taller than a man ; his arms and hands were something 
 like a man's, but " black as sut, and much more scraggy- 
 like." Sir Rupert, quite convinced that it was some 
 transcendent ape, was ten times more incensed by this
 
 HIS MAJESTY IQJ 
 
 description. He called the young men evil names, and 
 gave command for a grand beating of the heath. He 
 could not bear to think of such a glorious specimen 
 bleeding, perhaps to death, undoctored, starving. The 
 whole of a dull winter's day, from eight o'clock in the 
 morning until dusk, the squire with all his men and 
 Mr. Solesby searched the tract of whins between the 
 cottage of the keeper Rouse and Marler's Grove, 
 without result. Sir Rupert, in despair, expressed a 
 fear that those young blackguards had driven the 
 creature from the district by their cruelty. He rated 
 them again with great severity, and immediately 
 thereafter offered twenty pounds and permanent 
 employment to whichever one of them should bring to 
 him the beast alive. The young men set their tongues 
 out when he rode away. 
 
 Sir Rupert did not give up hope in disappointment, 
 having set his heart on the possession of that ape. 
 Mr. Solesby was invited to the Hall one afternoon, and 
 shown a small, new, red-brick building, with the mortar 
 not yet dry, prepared for the reception of the foreign 
 guest. Part of the facade was open save for iron bars. 
 Apart from that, it bore no likeness to a cage. Lady 
 Carraway, who went with them to look at it, called it 
 with some disdain the squire's new toy ; and, when Sir 
 Rupert dwelt upon its beauties at great length, pointing 
 out the means by which it could be warmed in winter 
 to a certain temperature, she frankly yawned. 
 
 Mr. Solesby was as interested in the preparations as 
 Sir Rupert, being an ingenious little man who loved to 
 keep small beasts and birds alive in cages, or stuffed in 
 glass-faced cases which he made with his own hands. 
 Properly impressed by the magnificence of the abode, 
 he spoke of its prospective inmate as " His Majesty," 
 which pleased Sir Rupert greatly ; and His Majesty 
 became the creature's name between them. 
 
 The village people had no sympathy for these 
 enthusiasts. For them the monster was a wicked 
 Russian, not an ape at all, nor in the least majestic.
 
 194 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 Not one of them now dared to cross the heathland after 
 dark unless it were in company and with a gun. The 
 children who lived out in that direction were escorted 
 home from school by male relations who got release 
 from work for that specific purpose. 
 
 Every one imagined that the Russian was still some- 
 where in the parish, though it was ascertained that he 
 had quite forsaken Mailer's Grove ; till, late one evening 
 Farmer Mayhew, coming from Saxmundham market in 
 his gig, stopped at the Oyster Inn and told how, at 
 a place quite five miles distant, he had seen the thing. 
 It had sprung out on him from a group of fir-trees on a 
 heathy knoll by the roadside, waving its hands about 
 and grinning horribly. It knelt down in the road. The 
 ghastly apparition in the gloaming caused the mare to 
 shy and nearly over-set the cart. The farmer, scared, 
 had laid his whip across the Russian's face. 
 
 ' I made 'un s'riek, I tell 'ee, man or divil ! " he 
 declared with glee. 
 
 : ' A good thing tew ! " replied his audience with one 
 breath. 
 
 Even- one was glad to know the gruesome thing had 
 left the parish. 
 
 Upon the following afternoon Sir Rupert Carraway 
 drove a high dog-cart up to Mr. Solesby's garden gate, 
 and there alighted, handing to his groom the reins. 
 
 " You've heard the news," he asked, " about His 
 Majesty ? Pack up a toothbrush and your sleeping 
 things and come along. I've got my suit-case in the 
 cart, we're going to Saxmundham, to the Bell, to-night. 
 I've telegraphed for rooms and also to my agent, to 
 have the latest news of our friend's whereabouts ready 
 for us by to-morrow morning. We'll have him this time 
 if it takes a week." 
 
 Mr. Solesby was soon ready, and they drove away, 
 both in high spirits, which were not decreased by the 
 good cheer they found awaiting them at the Bell Inn. 
 There one of Sir Rupert's myrmidons brought them the 
 news that the creature was out somewhere on the
 
 HIS MAJESTY 195 
 
 walks behind a lonely farm-house in the occupation of 
 a man named Read, whose fowls kept disappearing. 
 This Read had been intent upon destroying it until he 
 heard it was protected by Sir Rupert Carraway. Then 
 he desisted ; but as for going near the creature, or 
 bidding anybody else go near it, without leave to shoot 
 or strike in self-defence, he refused to entertain the 
 thought. To this man Read the two friends hastened. 
 The distance was a short three miles. The day was fine. 
 Sir Rupert rubbed his hands as they walked up the 
 pathway to the farm-house door. The place lay in a 
 shallow valley, a kind of inlet of the cultivated country 
 to the heath." To all Sir Rupert's exhortations the man 
 Read replied : — 
 
 " You can dew what yow like, gentlemen." 
 
 He would not join the hunt himself, nor lend a man. 
 Thev were still endeavouring to rouse his valour or 
 cupidity, when a man arrived in frantic haste upon a 
 bicycle, and jumped down at the gate. He came with 
 tidings that the " Rooshian," as the people called it, 
 had been seen again, at a place not more than two miles 
 off as the crow flies, but a good five by road, in the 
 direction of Iken. It had attacked a girl, the daughter 
 of a labouring man named William Grice. 
 
 The hunters clambered back into the dog-cart. By 
 dint of asking everybody whom they met upon the road 
 and stopping at each cottage gate to make inquiry 
 after William Grice, they ultimately found the very 
 man at work uprooting beet in a large field. 
 
 " I'm goin' to settle that ef I can ketch ut, and I 
 means to try my best," he answered grimly, when Sir 
 Rupert asked about the monkey. " Monkey or what, 
 that mobbed my Sukey suffen crool, I'll pay that ef I 
 ketch ut, sarten sure." 
 
 For further information he referred the gentry to the 
 sufferer herself, his daughter, whom they would find at 
 home and ailing in a dreadful way. He pointed to a 
 thread of smoke which rose against the dark line of the 
 heath, remarking : —
 
 196 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " That's the place. Follow the drift arter yow passed 
 the waterin' and you can't mess ut." 
 
 Observing these directions they soon found the 
 cottage. The girl, though shaken from her terrible 
 adventure, was sensible and told them all she knew. 
 At twilight on the previous evening she had been 
 returning from the village shop, where she had stayed 
 to gossip, carrying a basket full of purchases, when the 
 monster stood before her in the lane which crossed the 
 heath. He knelt down in the road. 
 
 " And ye could tell he worn't no Christian, for he 
 crossed hisself like what the ancient Romans used to 
 do," she told them. 
 
 With one hand he kept pointing to his mouth, which 
 was much larger than the mouth in human kind. He 
 was something like a blackamoor, she thought, but even 
 more unnatural. Then he rubbed his hands and fell 
 a-jibbering ; and when she shrieked and tried to run 
 away, he sprang on her and stopped her mouth and 
 pushed her down upon the grass by the roadside. 
 
 " And then I s'pose he must ha' thought as he heard 
 some one comin' for he cut and run, snatchin' the 
 shawl what I was wearin' and my basket full o' grocery." 
 
 " Now, which way did he run, can you remember ?" 
 inquired Sir Rupert, in the manner of a kindly magistrate. 
 
 " Straight for that wood of fir-trees, you can see the 
 tops from here." She showed them through the little 
 cottage window. " And then I got home somehow. I 
 can't tell no more, bein' as I were well-nigh dead wi' 
 fright," the girl concluded. 
 
 Sir Rupert thanked her for the information, presented 
 her with a gold coin, which she accepted, blushing, wished 
 her good-morning, and went out with Mr. Solesby. 
 
 " We want a great big net, and some good men," he 
 said when they were once more in the dog-cart. He 
 drove back to Saxmundham to despatch a telegram to 
 his head-keeper, bidding him come at once with all the 
 men whom he could muster at short notice. Then 
 after searching in the shops of the small town without
 
 HIS MAJESTY 197 
 
 success, the friends drove on to Aldeburgh where, after 
 much trouble, they at last succeeded in purchasing a 
 net which wholly satisfied Sir Rupert. It was then too 
 late to start the hunt upon that day ; but the baronet 
 decided that they ought to speak to William Grice 
 again in order to ensure that he did nothing rash. They 
 reached the cottage on their second visit after nightfall, 
 leaving the dog-cart in the lane, and stumbling up the 
 rutted driftway in the dark. They found the cottage 
 crowded to the door with yokels. Pitchforks, scythes, 
 a gun and other weapons leaned against the outer wall. 
 
 " We see that, sir, but we ha'n't cotched un, not this 
 go," cried William Grice at sight of the first gentleman. 
 " Please God, we'll finish that to-morrer, howsomdever." 
 
 He told how he had raised the hue and cry, bidding 
 all those who set store by their girls to come and help 
 him. " And these trew friends was not found wantin'," 
 he exclaimed emotionally, looking around him at the 
 faces with a tearful eye. 
 
 The wood to which the Russian had repaired in 
 Sukey's tale, being a fir wood, had no cover for a fugitive. 
 The monster naturally, therefore, was not there. The 
 hue and cry emerged upon the walks beyond. By then 
 it was already dusk ; and it was solely owing to that 
 accident that the " ghashly brewt " — as one of the 
 pursuers called it — escaped a painful death on this 
 occasion. They had come upon it suddenly among the 
 whins. So strange and horrible was its appearance 
 that for a moment they were paralysed with fear ; and 
 so the monster got away with no more than a prod in 
 the loins from some one's pitchfork. They had lost it 
 in a perfect wilderness of " hulver-bushes," whins and 
 brambles which just there broke the level of the heath ; 
 and after searching till all daylight failed, they had 
 returned. 
 
 Sir Rupert was enraged by a report of their pro- 
 ceedings. He cursed their impudence for interfering in 
 the business, their lack of sportsmanship, their cruelty. 
 
 " Hew be you a-talkin' tew, I'd like to know," cried
 
 198 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 William Grice. " That ha'n't assoiled your daughter, 
 dew yow'd change your tune ! " 
 
 Sir Rupert loftily commanded all the yokels to leave 
 the ape alone. They told him in plain language he 
 could go to hell. 
 
 He was exceedingly upset by this rebellion. It was 
 with difficulty that his friend persuaded him to come 
 away. 
 
 " I had so hoped that we could keep the matter 
 private, he said miserably as they stumbled back 
 together, arm in arm, along the driftway to the lane. 
 " But now I see that we must call in the police, to cow 
 those scoundrels." 
 
 Accordingly, on their arrival at the inn, Mr. Solesby 
 went at once to the police-station, while Sir Rupert 
 gave directions to his keeper, whom he found awaiting 
 him. Eight decent men from the estate had been 
 collected and were then carousing in a pothouse of the 
 town. Sir Rupert's orders were that they should go at 
 once on to the heath near William Grice's cottage 
 and keep watch all night in order to frustrate the 
 efforts of that man and his adherents, by main force, 
 if need be. The keeper went off straightway to collect 
 his men. Then Mr. Solesby came back with a sergeant 
 of the police, who with a constable, had been placed at 
 the disposal of Sir Rupert Carraway. Sir Rupert told 
 the sergeant the whole story of the monkey and of the 
 superstitious folly of the country-people, bidding him 
 be ready for a start at daybreak on the morrow. 
 
 That daybreak when it came was chill and rainy. 
 As they drove out through the misty country in their 
 cart, the two policemen following on bicycles, the 
 hunters shivered and felt unaccountably depressed. 
 Nor was the news which they received upon arrival at 
 the scene of action reassuring, for the keeper stood 
 there waiting for them, with his men behind him, all of 
 them with the dejected look of persons who have had 
 the worst of it. 
 
 " We done our best to stop their game, Sir Rupert,"
 
 HIS MAJESTY 199 
 
 said the leader, " but that weren't no use. They was a 
 sight tew many for us, " was his sad report . ' ' And they're 
 out huntin' for the creature now, this minute. Some- 
 wheres over yonder. Yow can hear 'em hollerin' ! ' 
 
 Sir Rupert leapt down from the dog-cart ; so did 
 Mr. Solesby. The two policemen laid their bicycles 
 upon the grass. All four set off as fast as they could 
 go in the direction indicated ; while the keeper and 
 his men, thus reinforced, recovered spirit and went 
 after them. Suddenly the baronet remembered the 
 great net, and sent a man to fetch it from the dog-cart. 
 He and the others waited till it came and had been given 
 to the sergeant of police, with full instructions how to 
 use it most effectively. 
 
 Then once again they hurried forward. But the 
 sturdy growth of whins, the lack of any path, made 
 going difficult and often painful. The rain, which at 
 the dawn had been a drizzle, now came down in sheets. 
 They had got near enough to see the labourers at search 
 among the furze-bushes when a shout informed them that 
 the louts had found. Sir Rupert yelled to them for 
 God's sake not to hurt the creature, promising twenty 
 pounds among them as reward for their obedience. 
 " That net ! " he cried. The sergeant of police, bearing 
 the net above his head in order to escape entanglement, 
 dashed forward through the whins. 
 
 Two labourers had come upon the Russian un- 
 expectedly, where he was lying huddled in a grassy nest. 
 
 They raised a shout of triumph and struck down at 
 him with all their might. The outraged father, William 
 Grice, came striding up and kicked the monster on the 
 head, exclaiming : — 
 
 " That there'll larn yow to assoil my Sukey, bo' ! " 
 
 And he was going to transfix the Russian with the 
 fork he carried, when the sergeant of police opposed 
 him with Sir Rupert's net, for lack of better weapon, 
 and ordered all the others to desist at once. 
 
 " A pretty mess ! " exclaimed the representative of 
 law disgustedly. " What are ye ? Savages or what,
 
 200 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 I'd like to know ! . . . This ain't no monkey, sir," 
 he told Sir Rupert, who was drawing near. " It's just a 
 blackamoor, and well-nigh dead already of exposure, I 
 should say, without their meddlin'. Here's your net, 
 sir. That's no use, as you can see." He looked round 
 on the group of labourers with bitter scorn, adding : 
 " I guess you'll have to answer for this here, together, 
 all of ye. And let me tell you, that'll be a hangin' 
 matter, by the looks of it." 
 
 The rustics gaped and goggled at this information, 
 dazed by the light it shed upon their late pursuit. They 
 showed compunction, one among them wailing : — 
 
 " Gawd knows I niver thought that were a human 
 thing ! " 
 
 But William Grice contended : " We be right to kill 
 ut. That assoiled my Sukey." 
 
 As a matter of fact, it may be here remarked, the 
 persecuted, wounded negro did not die till some weeks 
 later, in the workhouse infirmary, and not of the wounds 
 he had received, but of consumption. In the interval 
 he was able to converse with one who understood his 
 jargon, and so the story of his shipwreck became known. 
 But everybody who was present on the heath that 
 morning supposed him to be either dead or dying. 
 
 They took the body up and bore it carefully, under 
 instructions from the constable, down through the 
 whins to William Grice's cottage. 
 
 " I thought you knew for sure it was a monkey, sir," 
 observed the sergeant of police in guarded tones, as he 
 with Mr. Solesby and Sir Rupert followed the procession. 
 
 " People assured me that it was a monkey," said 
 Sir Rupert angrily. " Confound them ! Making 
 everybody look a fool ! As if I hunted black men. 
 You — you told me, Solesby, that it was a monkey. 
 
 Hunting a wretched nigger It's disgusting ! And," 
 
 he concluded plaintively, holding up the shapeless mass 
 that he was carrying, wet and heavy with the rain, as 
 
 if it symbolised his disappointment, " what the 
 
 am I to do with this d d net ? "
 
 THE DERELICT 
 
 It was a day of soft autumnal glow. White cumuli of 
 cloud arose like snow-capped mountains on the far 
 horizon of the Sussex landscape with its woody dells, 
 and villages along the heights, its nestling homesteads 
 and every here and there among the trees an oast- 
 house with its trim, white cowls. An old man leaning 
 on a staff, which had evidently been uprooted from 
 some hedge and roughly trimmed, drew near a decent 
 cottage on a hill. The little garden by the roadside 
 was ablaze with dahlias and chrysanthemums. Birds 
 were chirping in the orchard. A vague delight was in 
 the gaffer's face as he approached the gate, as if he had 
 found something precious to him in a dream. 
 
 He went up to the door and opened it without knock- 
 ing, then stood upon the threshold, stupefied. The 
 room inside was strange to him. He rapped upon the 
 door. A busy woman came round from the back and, 
 catching sight of him, exclaimed : — 
 
 " We don't want nothing, thank you, not to-day." 
 
 " My name's John May," replied the old man dully. 
 " I've come a long way, and I'm glad to rest." 
 
 " You get along ! " the woman cried more sharply. 
 " We don't want any of your sort round here." 
 
 " There's something wrong," the old man muttered, 
 looking puzzled. " Haven't I told you as my name's 
 John May ? This is my place. It's took me months to 
 find it." 
 
 "Ah, you're the Mr. May what used to live here ? " 
 exclaimed the woman in a less forbidding tone. " We've 
 been here two years now come Michaelmas. You'd like 
 to look around, perhaps, for old times' sake ? " 
 
 " I had an accident. My head ain't clear like what 
 a.o.s.u. 201 o
 
 202 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 it was," faltered John May. " It took me days and days 
 to find the place. I reckon I'll step in and rest my limbs." 
 
 " I'm sure you're welcome," said the woman, with a 
 doubtful glance, for Mr. May's appearance was not 
 over-clean. 
 
 Already he had taken leave for granted and sat 
 down upon a chair, placing his bundle on the floor-cloth 
 and his staff against the wall. The woman shouted : 
 " Jenny ! " and a girl of ten came slowly from the 
 orchard, where she had been playing. Her mother ran 
 and seized her by the arm. "Run to the police-station," 
 she commanded in a whisper, " and my compliments 
 to Mr. Bate, and ask him to be good enough to step up 
 here. There's some one come as I don't like the look of." 
 
 The child departed at a run. The woman waited 
 where, unseen of the old man, she could have heard 
 directly if he moved about. She heard him coughing and 
 then talking to himself, and then she heard him snoring. 
 He had gone to sleep. She looked in to make sure that 
 he was really sleeping and, having watched him with 
 disfavour for a while, was thinking of returning to her 
 work in the back premises, when the constable arrived. 
 He knew John May — " a looney," he proclaimed him — 
 and went and shook him by the shoulder, crying 
 pleasantly : — 
 
 " Why, Mr. May, this ain't your house no longer ! 
 And the other cottage what you took is let again. They 
 sold you up to pay the rent and what you owed about 
 the place, supposin' you was dead and gone. But 
 there's a bit of money over, so I hear, if you apply to 
 Mr. Jones at Woodfield." 
 
 " I had an accident. My wits ain't what they were," 
 murmured the old man in complete bewilderment, 
 allowing the constable to lead him out into the sunlight. 
 
 " I'm sorry for the old chap," Mr. Bate declared 
 at parting from the woman of the house. " He was a 
 respectable and thriving man six years ago, when his 
 wife died. She used to tend him like a child, and 
 when she died he seemed to lose his spirit. I know for
 
 THE DERELICT 203 
 
 certain that he's got a daughter well-to-do, but no one 
 in the place knows where she's living now, and he — 
 he can't remember nothing, poor old soul." 
 
 " That comes of pamperin' a man," replied the woman. 
 
 The policeman took the old man to his cottage and 
 sat him down to tea, having first seen him wash his 
 face and hands at the pump in the yard. 
 
 " What do you think of doing, Mr. May ? " he asked 
 benevolently. 
 
 " I ain't fit for much these days. I had an accident. 
 The most as I could do, without no capital, 'd be a 
 back-door trade. There's lots folks throw away as 
 other folks 'd pay as much as sixpence for." 
 
 " And that's a fact," said the policeman heartily. 
 
 " I couldn't go back to a labourer. My missus 
 
 wouldn't hear of that. She had her pride " He 
 
 broke off suddenly, bemoaning : " My head ain't what 
 it was, you know. I had an accident." 
 
 " I tell you what, Mr. May. You come along with 
 me to Woodfield. There's a fine house there where 
 they'll put you up quite comfortable and keep you just 
 as nice as your good lady used to do. Then, when the 
 spring comes, you can go to Mr. Jones in High Street, 
 and get that bit of money what I told you of, and start 
 your peddling round the country." 
 
 " What d'you mean ? " 
 
 " Ever heard of the Union ? Not a bad place really, 
 though some folks miscall it. . . . Why, what's the 
 matter with you, Mr. May ? I couldn't take you there 
 without you wished it. Don't be afraid ! " 
 
 But John May's eyes were full of sudden terror. 
 " The workhouse . . . my poor missus ! " he kept 
 muttering. " I ain't a pauper. I don't owe no money, 
 and I done no harm to nobody." 
 
 " That's all right, Mr. May. Don't be afraid," cried 
 the policeman and his wife together. But all the old 
 man's faith in them was gone ; he knew no peace of 
 mind till he was on the road again, with three good 
 irriles between him and their dwelling.
 
 204 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 Weary to death, he sat down by the wayside in the 
 shade of trees. A horseman bringing home his team from 
 water passed him, whistling " Nearer, my God, to Thee." 
 
 " Is there a farm near by ? " inquired John May. 
 
 " Just through that gate," was the reply. " That's 
 where I work." 
 
 " Is there an empty grange where I could sleep ? " 
 
 " Can't say, I'm sure. You ask the governor." 
 
 John May rose up and limped along behind the 
 spanking cart-horses. After passing up a drive across a 
 field, he came into a prosperous farmyard surrounded 
 on three sides by forest trees. 
 
 " I had an accident," he mumbled, when confronted 
 by the farmer. " My head ain't what it was. I lost 
 my wife. Is there a grange where I could sleep about 
 the place ? " 
 
 " Well, who are you, and where do you come from ? " 
 asked the farmer irritably. 
 
 "I'm John May. I belong to Fairlands, Woodfield 
 way." 
 
 " Well, I'm jiggered ! What has happened to you, 
 man ? I've seen you often down at Woodfield market 
 years ago." 
 
 " I had an accident. My head's turned queer. And 
 there's folks what wish to put me in the workhouse, 
 though there's money coming to me. I've done no 
 harm, and God won't let 'em do it." 
 
 The farmer called his wife out from the house. 
 Whispering together, they surveyed the old man's 
 figure from a little distance, in doubt, as Christian 
 people, whether they ought not immediately to bid him 
 welcome to the house itself. In the end they shook 
 their heads. The woman went indoors. The farmer 
 led John May across the rickyard to a little wooden 
 structure in the field beyond. 
 
 " You turn in there. It's empty. As long as you like. 
 No one'U disturb you," he informed him gruffly ; and 
 later he sent out a meal of bread and cheese and a great 
 jug of tea to the old man, who, sitting at the door of
 
 THE DERELICT 205 
 
 his new home, gazing upon the quiet meadow in the 
 starlight, with great trees beyond, praised God that he 
 had come to rest at last. When the farmer came to see 
 him in the morning, John May said : — 
 
 " I'd like to stop here. It's like Heaven, and it 
 makes my head seem clearer." 
 
 " As long as you like," was the reply. " My missus '11 
 set you up with a few odds and ends — an old kettle, and 
 a cup and saucer, and a plate, and I'll throw in a truss 
 o' straw for bedding, so as you can make things snug." 
 
 " The Lord reward you both ! " said John, with tears 
 of gratitude. " I'll pay my rent. I'll go this morning 
 into Woodfield, where there's money waiting for me." 
 
 " You keep your money. That's all right," answered 
 the farmer. 
 
 His wife, who knew the Fairlands neighbourhood, had 
 told him the old man's pathetic story : how he had 
 squandered nearly all his savings on a marble cross for 
 his wife's grave and, being lost without her guidance 
 and by nature feckless, had sunk within two years to 
 the position of a cottager, happy to do odd jobs for 
 any one who needed help. But he was then past sixty, 
 and a little deaf. One day, when he was working for 
 the local wheelwright, shifting wood, he failed to hear 
 a warning shout, with the result that a great piece of 
 timber struck him on the head. He had been taken in a 
 carriage to the county hospital, where he remained so 
 long a while that all the neighbours had forgotten him. 
 And he had not been seen at Fairlands for two years. 
 
 " I'm sorry for the poor old soul," the farmer's wife 
 declared. " I wouldn't grudge him any help that we 
 can rightly spare. But he's got himself into such a 
 state, I couldn't have him in my kitchen." 
 
 The farmer acquiesced in her decision with a sense of 
 shame, which John May's fervent blessings rendered 
 active. He was better than his word about providing 
 comforts. 
 
 When the old man came back from his tramp into 
 Woodfield, he had two pounds seventeen shillings and
 
 206 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 eightpence in his pocket knotted in a piece of rag, and 
 carried on his shoulder an old sack containing tea and 
 sugar, some potatoes and a saucepan. He called at the 
 back door for half a pint of milk, insisting upon paying 
 for it. Then, having carried these provisions to his 
 grange, he gathered sticks and lit a fire beside the hedge, 
 feeling as happy as a king in independence. His wife 
 had always wished him to be independent and to pay 
 his way. She would be pleased to know he had a small 
 place of his own, and cash in hand. 
 
 On the next day he set out early with his sack and 
 called at various farms and cottages, collecting bottles, 
 bones, and rabbit-skins where these were to be had. 
 At noon he found a sheltered spot by the roadside, 
 and there sat down and made a fire of twigs and cooked 
 his dinner, which consisted of sweet tea and baked 
 potatoes. Then he resumed his rounds. And when the 
 sack grew heavy, he took it to a man in Woodfield who 
 bought rubbish, selling its contents at a trifling profit. 
 This was his occupation, no matter what the weather, 
 for two years ; till people grew familiar with his story 
 and no longer pitied him, though the wretchedness of 
 his appearance grew no less. His rounds occasionally 
 led him past the Fairlands churchyard, where he would 
 spend an hour in tending his wife's grave. The farmer 
 and his wife no longer heeded him ; and no one willingly 
 went near his little grange. In those two years he 
 neither washed nor changed his clothes. The rain 
 would often wet him to the skin, and his wading into 
 streams and ponds in search of watercress, for which 
 he knew good customers, would often case him to the 
 waist in liquid slime. He took no care. In the severest 
 winter weather he still went his round, and cooked his 
 dinner out of doors with some rough screen. Good- 
 natured housewives told him that he ought to go into 
 the workhouse till the spring returned. "When any one 
 had shouted this into his ear, for he was deaf, he would 
 reply :— 
 
 " Not likely ! When I've got my living, independent.
 
 THE DERELICT 207 
 
 I've been a man well off and well respected, till I had 
 an accident. My daughter's a rich woman. What'd 
 she or my poor missus think of father in the workus? 
 My daughter, when she comes to hear of my misfortunes, 
 '11 reward all them as have been kind to me." 
 
 It was his dream on his bad days, that his rich 
 married daughter would one day reappear in such 
 majestic fashion as to shame all those who had been 
 arrogant to him, her father. It rankled in his mind that 
 folks did not believe him when he told them he had 
 once been in a good position. The neighbourhood had 
 changed in all those years, and very seldom did he see 
 a face which he remembered hazily ; while, what with 
 dirt and unkempt hair and ragged clothing, he himself 
 was quite unrecognisable for anybody who had known 
 him in old days. 
 
 " You ought to have a tub, John," said his landlord 
 with disgust. "I'll make you a present of a copperful o' 
 boiling water and a bar o' soap, if you'll agree to use it." 
 
 " No, thank ye ! " was his answer. " I should take 
 my death. I know the filthy state I've got into. I 
 know I couldn't go into a house like this. But washing 
 rough with soap 'd about kill me, unless I was to go into 
 a house to live. Wait till my daughter comes along. 
 Then I'll clean up." 
 
 He grew so deaf that only with the greatest difficulty 
 could he be made to grasp the meaning of a word cor- 
 rectly. But no one seriously interfered with him ; and 
 he was happy in his dreams about his wife in heaven and 
 his wealthy daughter, till a gentleman new come into 
 the neighbourhood was moved with pity by the sight 
 of such an object cooking his dinner by the roadside 
 on a winter's day. Though John May could not hear 
 the words the stranger uttered, he saw the kind ex- 
 pression of his face, and found relief in telling him the 
 story of his former greatness, the death of his dear wife, 
 his accident and all his troubles, and how he had a 
 daughter somewhere, well-to-do. The stranger, as a 
 charitable man, was shocked to see a human being thus
 
 2o8 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 degraded. He went to see the parson of the parish, 
 who sent him to the squire, who was a magistrate. 
 The squire was sympathetic, promising to make in- 
 quiries. These took the form of a sharp question to the 
 village constable who, thinking himself blamed for 
 letting old May be at large, replied : — 
 
 " Yes, sir ; I know the man. The children call out 
 after him. But he carries on a sort o' trade ; he doesn't 
 steal, nor beg, and there's no law — more's the pity — 
 to compel him to the Union, though there's no doubt 
 but that's where he should be, by rights." 
 
 " Well, keep an eye on him, and see what can be done. 
 If I can help in any way, just let me know. It's a shame, 
 in a Christian country, for a man to live so like a beast." 
 
 The policeman understood that he was ordered to 
 pursue John May relentlessly with a view to making 
 things too hot for him in Hansted parish. The poor old 
 outcast had lit his fire by the wayside ; the constable 
 came upon him and, exclaiming : " Come, clear out o' 
 that ! " proceeded to kick the sticks apart and trample 
 out the embers. The old man took his sack upon his 
 back and tramped off with tears and prayers to God, 
 sped by the scornful admonition : — 
 
 " Get to the workus, that's the place for you ! " 
 
 He went up to a cottage door, a cottage where he was 
 accustomed in his rounds to call for rabbit-skins. But 
 the woman who looked out upon him was a stranger. He 
 told the latest story of his persecution in resentful tones : — 
 
 " He trod on two potaters, as was nearly done. Ain't 
 folks afraid of God, to go and trample on good food ? " 
 
 The woman listened with compassion, then, looking 
 at him hard, exclaimed : " Why, never ! Mr. May ? " 
 
 He did not hear her. She repeated, shouting, " Mr. 
 May." 
 
 " Aye, that's my name. I had an accident." 
 
 " You remember, surely, Mrs. Hill at Fairlands ? 
 She moved to Lewes several years ago. I'm her daughter 
 Amy. You remember ? I and my husband have just 
 come to live here."
 
 THE DERELICT 209 
 
 "I've got a daughter married independent. She'll come 
 somewhen to help me, if she hears of my misfortune." 
 
 " Where is your daughter living ? " shouted Amy. 
 
 " In the drapery." 
 
 "She writes to mother sometimes ; I know that much." 
 
 " I had an accident, you know. My head went queer." 
 
 " Well, of all the unfortunate things ! " 
 
 Amy, who was exceedingly good-natured, dismayed 
 at the sad state of one whom as a child she had respected, 
 wrote that same evening to her mother, demanding the 
 address of Mr. May's relations. In course of time she 
 got the information. 
 
 Mr. May's daughter was a Mrs. Jerniman, living at 
 21 Mersey Street, Birkenhead. 
 
 After a few days' reflection and talking of the matter 
 over with her husband, Amy wrote to Mrs. Jerniman, 
 informing her of the condition of her worthy father. She 
 got an answer by return of post. Mrs. Jerniman would 
 come to Hansted on the following Tuesday, and had much 
 pleasure in accepting Amy's invitation for the night. The 
 day on which this letter came was Wednesday. 
 
 " Your daughter's coming," she told Mr. May, by dint 
 of shouting, on Friday morning when he came up to her 
 door. " Coming one day soon to stay a night with me." 
 
 She did not think it wise to name the day, lest by 
 too sudden an appearance he should scare his daughter. 
 
 Tuesday came, and about three o'clock in the after- 
 noon the station fly drew up before the cottage gate, 
 and out of it there stepped a stout and comfortable 
 lady, richly beaded. She stepped into the cottage for 
 a moment, but would not sit down. 
 
 " You understand, my dear," she said benignantly, " I 
 can't have father with us up at Birkenhead. It wouldn't 
 do. But I'm sure I should desire to help him all I can, and 
 hire a room for him and pay a woman to look after him, 
 or make him an allowance, or whatever seems the best. 
 But first I want so much to go and look at mother's grave. 
 I've never seen it, but I hear it's beautiful. You'll come 
 too, won't you, dear ? I kept the fly on purpose."
 
 210 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 Together they were driven at the shuffle of the old 
 white fly-horse up to Fairlands church. There they 
 alighted from the carriage, and passed through the lych- 
 gate. As they turned the corner of the church, Amy 
 caught sight of what at first appeared to be a heap of 
 rags lying at the foot of the marble cross which marked 
 the resting-place of Mrs. May. Mrs. Jerniman already 
 had brought out her handkerchief. 
 
 " Please wait a minute," whispered Amy. " It's 
 your father." 
 
 They waited in a stricken silence, watching the old 
 man, who was weeding a small bed of roses on the grave ; 
 till at last, as if suddenly aware that he was overlooked, 
 he rose up hastily and hobbled off. Then the two 
 women ventured to draw near the marble cross, and 
 stood a long while gazing at it. Mrs. Jerniman breathed 
 hard behind her pocket-handerchief. 
 
 " A lovely headstone, isn't it, my dear ? " she snuffled 
 when at length they turned away. " Genteel is quite 
 the word, and so well cared for." 
 
 " Your father cares for it, they say. That's almost 
 all he seems to recollect of days before his accident." 
 
 The visitor from Birkenhead made no reply. They 
 went back to the carriage, where for a little while they 
 sat in silence, gazing at the hedgerows as they drifted 
 slowly by, till all at once the elder lady burst out weeping 
 and exclaimed : — 
 
 " I can't. It's no use trying. I can't face him. 
 The Lord knows I have always lived a Christian womaft, 
 and I meant to do my Christian duty by him when I 
 came to-day. I never thought he'd sunk so low as that. 
 My dear, don't think too hard of me, but I can't meet 
 him. Cyril and all his folks are quite genteel, and I 
 have always let them understand that we're the same. 
 I can't have anything to do with father as he is. Don't 
 let him know I've ever been here, poor old dear ! I 
 feel it's wicked, but I can't do nothing personally. You 
 wouldn't take him in and do for him yourself — now 
 would you ? — even if I paid you something handsome ? "
 
 THE DERELICT 211 
 
 " No, that I wouldn't — not for any money ! I know 
 how it is. But sometimes I do feel so sorry for the poor 
 old gentleman. It's pitiful." 
 
 " If you think a bit of money will do any good, I'll 
 give that gladly. But I won't appear. I daren't, my 
 dear, and that's the truth of it." 
 
 " A half a crown a week might come in handy to him. 
 But he's not in want. And I do believe he's happier 
 like that than any way that one could think of for him 
 being used to it. If I could stop the children plaguing 
 of him sometimes, and the policeman harrying of him 
 like a vagabond " 
 
 " Don't ! Don't, my dear ! I can't endure to hear it. 
 I'll leave five pounds with you to give as you see need. 
 I'm going back as far as town to-night. Don't think 
 too hard of me ! " 
 
 When John May came again to Amy's cottage door 
 she told him that his daughter could not come to see 
 him yet awhile. She was not sure the old man under- 
 stood what she was shouting. He was delighted with the 
 gift of half a crown, asked God to bless her, and went 
 upon his way with smiling face. The policeman had 
 grown weary of his persecution, which had been under- 
 taken from a sense of duty without animosity, and for 
 some weeks the vagrant led a quiet life, except for the 
 assaults of children, which he now regarded as a plague 
 in nature on a par with thorns and stinging-nettles, and 
 the bite of insects. He was feeling settled and con- 
 tented once again when, going home one evening to his 
 little grange, he found the farmer, his kind landlord, 
 and his wife standing by the stackyard fence surveying 
 it with great disfavour. 
 
 " You've made a fine mess, John," the farmer shouted 
 in the tenant's ear. " If it was anybody else, I'd thank 
 you to clear out that filth, and wash the shed and dis- 
 infect it, if you could ! " 
 
 John altogether failed to get the meaning of so long 
 a speech. 
 
 " No one could clean it ! " said the farmer's wife.
 
 212 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " But let him stop there till the other people come. 
 They may not mind him pigging there ; he does no 
 harm. And if they do, they can burn the shed, the 
 state he's brought it to. Nothing could ever make it 
 sweet again. Does he know we're leaving ? " 
 
 " I've told the old chap often enough. But he's got 
 pretty near stone-deaf." 
 
 John May hardly ever crossed the farmyard in those 
 days, but approached his dwelling by a path through a 
 coppice and a gap in a hedge, both of his own making. 
 He bought the few provisions which he needed on his 
 daily rounds. He thus saw nothing of the pageant of 
 the farmer's moving ; and was utterly amazed one 
 evening when a man and two rude boys came up while 
 he was supping in the doorway of his little grange, and 
 told him to be gone. He could not hear the words, but 
 saw the gestures and the threatening faces. With in- 
 dignation he informed them that the place was his, 
 bidding them go and ask the farmer if they doubted ; 
 and, when they found they could not make him under- 
 stand, they went away. After an hour, when it was 
 dark, they came again, and with them the policeman, 
 his old enemy. He could not understand things in the 
 least. What right had they to come on private land ? 
 Where was the farmer ? Where was law and order ? 
 
 They drove him out, and threw his kettle and his 
 saucepan after him. He stuffed the two utensils in his 
 sack, which he had clutched from force of habit, and 
 utterly bewildered went off into the woods. 
 
 It seemed to him that Satan was unloosed on earth, 
 that Christian charity was bound and scourged and all 
 men had forgotten God Most High. It was late autumn. 
 He floundered in and out of ditches filled with sop of 
 rotting leaves ; lay down to rest and then got up again, 
 chilled to the bone and stiff in every limb. Wet branches 
 splashed his face and clothing when he moved, and when 
 he stopped dripped moisture on him steadily. Yet he 
 preferred the dank, inhospitable woodland to the haunts 
 of men, whom he imagined changed to devils for the nonce.
 
 THE DERELICT 213 
 
 But in the end sheer weariness and pain made him for- 
 get the cause of his terror, and endeavour to return. 
 
 Then he perceived that he had somehow lost his sack. 
 While trying to retrace his steps among the trees, he 
 stepped into a pond, and sank up to his middle in dead 
 leaves and mud. It took him time to flounder out, 
 and when he had at last succeeded he made straight 
 for home, of which he now knew the direction through 
 his accident. There was but that one piece of water in 
 the wood. The matter of his sack was left till morning. 
 
 He was awakened by noises at the entrance to his shed, 
 which was but little bigger than a good-sized kennel. 
 
 " He's in there — the old stinking badger ! Bring 
 the dogs ! Let's 'ave a bit o' sport with him, to pay for 
 all our trouble," cried his enemies. 
 
 John May, of course, heard only a vague roaring, 
 but he feared mankind, and so, when they withdrew a 
 little from the opening, he crept out. 
 
 They set two dogs on him for fun. He tried to run, 
 but fell down on his face while the dogs worried him. 
 At length they called them off. He rose with difficulty 
 and staggered down the meadow to the wood. All 
 through that day he tried to find his sack, but failed to 
 do so. The loss of it preyed on his mind, above his 
 other troubles, of which it seemed the token and the 
 mystic cause. That night he slept in a small gully in 
 the wood, and in the morning tried to find another 
 dwelling, but in vain. Even those who were the kindest 
 to him shook their heads decidedly when asked to let 
 him sleep upon their premises. One man, however, 
 when he mourned his sack, produced another from an 
 outhouse and bestowed it on him. Made happy for the 
 moment by this benefaction, John May set off upon his 
 round as usual. He slept that night beneath a hedge, 
 but was so stiff when he arose next morning that he 
 recognised the need of shelter with the winter coming on. 
 But though he offered to pay a shilling a week for the 
 mere right to creep into a corner of a cartshed, no one 
 of those he asked would give him leave.
 
 214 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 At last, when night came on again, and he was weary, 
 he thought that he might venture back to his old lair. 
 Such evil influences could not last for ever. His enemies 
 would have departed, he imagined, and his friends 
 returned. 
 
 Creeping through the wood and up the meadow with 
 precaution, he reached the shed unnoticed and there 
 spent the night. He was awakened in the morning by 
 a curious heat. They had set fire to the wooden building 
 while he slept. Somebody seized his feet and dragged 
 him out, only a little singed, but nearly dead with 
 fright. He had reached the road before he noticed that 
 his sack, the one which had been given to him, had been 
 left behind. He went back, meaning to claim it, till he 
 saw the group of men and boys around the burning 
 grange, and then he turned and ran, bereft of all his 
 wits, half -blind and with a singing in his ears. Along 
 the road he fled till he could go no more, but lay down 
 by the hedge to die. 
 
 There the policeman, warned by passers-by, found 
 him a little later, quite insensible. A group of persons 
 from the nearest cottages had gathered round. 
 
 " No, he ain't dead," the constable replied to questions, 
 " but not far off it by the look of him. The workhouse 
 infirmary, that's the place for him. But how I'm going 
 to get him there's what puzzles me." 
 
 While he was still debating, a carter with a steaming 
 tumbril of manure came up the road, and hearing what 
 the matter was, advised : " Heave him up here. He'll 
 lay warm and soft in the muck and about as clean as 
 he's been used to layin', I'll be bound ! " 
 
 So old John May was thrown up on to the muck-cart. 
 The carter, walking at the horse's head, with pitchfork 
 held up like some kind of ensign, whistled " Onward, 
 Christian Soldiers," and the policeman, vexed that he 
 would have to miss his dinner, followed at a careless 
 distance, chewing a stalk of grass which he had plucked 
 from the hedgefoot.
 
 REHOBOTH 
 
 Half an hour after noon of a fine October day the 
 double doors beneath the shadow of the pillared portico 
 of Salham Hall opened to let out three persons ; two 
 of them yokels in their Sunday best, the third a small 
 cock-sparrow of a man with prominent brown eyes of 
 piercing glance and a thick black moustache. In any 
 garb one would have known this last individual for a 
 Radical and an orator of an aggressive type ; clad as 
 he was, in black, and with a soft black hat, he was 
 evidently a dissenting preacher and presumably a 
 Welshman. A condescending voice behind them said : 
 " Good-day to you. Take care : there are four steps ; " 
 the warning being needed since the two embarrassed 
 countrymen were walking backwards. It caused them 
 to take heed where they were going for a moment, so 
 that it was not until their heavy boots scrunched gravel 
 that they made their answer : " Good- day to you, 
 Sir John ; and no offence, I hoop, as none intended." 
 
 By then the door was shut. 
 
 The yokels stood stock-still and gazed about them, 
 as if the sight of lawns and trees and cattle grazing in 
 the sunlight had been unforeseen. The man in black 
 strode off determinedly in the direction of the lodge on 
 Salham High Street. As if afraid of being left alone, 
 they set off at the double and rejoined him. 
 
 "Offence, indeed!" he snorted, with contempt. 
 " Can there be any question of offence from us to him ? 
 He is the vessel of offence — he and the Jesuit who eggs 
 him on to persecute us. But the Lord is on our side. 
 Though we wander in the wilderness, yet He will not 
 forsake us. Nay I He will bring us back once more into 
 the holy place." 
 
 215
 
 216 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 He added in a mundane tone : "I did not like your 
 cringing manner to the man." 
 
 " I don't wonder as yow fare on-sensed, Mr. Evans," 
 replied Job Smith, a large man with a bushy auburn 
 beard and a most lamentable, bleating tone of voice. 
 " That dew seems hard as that there little place where 
 we ha' met in prayer and praise for such a sight o' years 
 should be took from us sudden, like this here." 
 
 " Hard ? It is iniquitous, an act of tyranny. What 
 would the Jesuit in disguise say, think you, if any one 
 should close his church in such a manner ? " 
 
 The Jesuit in disguise was Salham's rector. 
 
 " Beg pardon, Mr. Evans, but that bain't the same. 
 The church is different, that's an old foundation. But 
 our Rehoboth wasn't never freehold ; that was let on 
 ninety-nine years' lease, and we've paid a peppercorn 
 rent for that every year to the Hall. And now the lease 
 is nearly run, Sir John be in his rights not to renew. A 
 bargain's a bargain, that's how I see it." 
 
 The speaker this time was Nathaniel Drew, the 
 carpenter. 
 
 " It may be as you say, in law," replied the pastor 
 coldly, " but his treatment of us is iniquitous. If the 
 baronet had sought a higher rent, we might have paid 
 it, but to turn the house of prayer into a parish-room 
 where dancing and such sinful pastimes are allowed — 
 that, I say, is sacrilege, is wickedness. He deems us 
 quite defenceless, but we have a weapon — prayer. Let 
 us devote ourselves to prayer from this day forth." 
 
 " Maybe the Lord'll know that was a bargain and'll 
 hold us tew ut," muttered Drew. 
 
 " You ought to be ashamed to talk so," snapped the 
 pastor. " You know the Scripture : ' Knock and it shall 
 be opened unto you. Ask and ye shall have.' " 
 
 " I guess that's right," bleated Job Smith ecstatically. 
 " The Lord maybe'll save Rehoboth if we take and 
 wrastle wi' un like what Jacob done." 
 
 " That is our faith," replied the preacher firmly. 
 
 By then they were in Salham High Street, walking
 
 REHOBOTH 217 
 
 sometimes on the pavement, sometimes in the road, 
 according as the path before the shops was clear or 
 crowded. A butcher, standing in a cavern full of meat, 
 called out : — 
 
 " Well, what luck, deppytation ? " in a scoffing tone, 
 and many were the mocking smiles which they en- 
 countered. 
 
 No further conversation passed between them till 
 they reached Rehoboth, at whose gate some members 
 of the chapel, chiefly women, waited to learn the out- 
 come of the deputation. Conspicuous in point of 
 splendour of attire, in plush and bugles, stood forth 
 Mrs. Bellingham, the only person of the congregation 
 who had private means. She was a liberal subscriber 
 to the chapel teas, and paid the best part of the pastor's 
 stipend. He hastened to her now, and told his story ; 
 the while he tapped two fingers playfully upon the 
 cheek of her fair daughter, Doris, who was there beside 
 her — a girl of eighteen, fresh from an expensive boarding- 
 school — and then they all moved on into the chapel for 
 the business meeting to discuss the news. 
 
 ' It's the most disgraceful thing I ever heard," said 
 Mrs. Bellingham. '* Isn't it, Doris ? " 
 
 ' Dreadful ! " agreed her daughter, with a little 
 narrowing of the eyes — a little wince — which made their 
 colour seem of deepest violet. Her mouth was so 
 felicitously shaped that every time she opened it she 
 seemed to smile. 
 
 " The Lord will not allow it, I feel sure." 
 
 " We must throw ourselves upon His mercy," groaned 
 the minister. " We must devote our hearts and souls 
 to earnest prayer and intercession. Has anybody 
 something to propose ? " 
 
 Job Smith stood up and in his wailing voice began : — 
 
 " Dear brethren, as we was comin' here, Pastor Evans 
 he said suffen what struck me all of a heap, with Gospel 
 light a-shinin' round, like when I were convarted. He 
 mentioned, solemn-like, these blessed words : ' Knock 
 and it shall be oopened unto yow : ask and ye shall hev',' 
 a.o.s.u. p
 
 218 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 and he said as that was his belief as how, was we to take 
 and wrestle wi' ta Loord, like Jacob done, until the 
 mornun', we could save Rehoboth. Now, Pastor Evans 
 and brethren, I propose as how we take and hold a 
 reg-lar campaign o' prayer this comin' week — a watch- 
 night meetin' every evenun'." 
 
 There was loud applause. 
 
 "An excellent idea!" said Mr. Evans, with sup- 
 pressed excitement. 
 
 " Beautiful, I call it ! " murmured Mrs. Bellingham, 
 whose social light was in the chapel services. 
 
 " Beautiful ! " echoed Doris, with a lovely blush. 
 
 " What is it, Mr. Drew ? " inquired the minister of his 
 companion, who had risen, and was standing hat in hand. 
 
 " I must be goin' now," was the reply. " I've got my 
 work. But I'll stand in wi' what the meetin' here 
 decides." 
 
 With that, and nods all round, Drew clattered out. 
 
 " Prayer-meetin's every night," he muttered in his 
 beard. "Well, I suppose that can't dew nobody no harm." 
 
 Out in the road he stood a moment and surveyed 
 Rehoboth. In shape like a child's Noah's ark, upon a 
 patch of greensward with a straight path leading up 
 from gate to door ; of dull red brick with roof of slate, 
 and wealth of gutter-piping for its sole adornment, the 
 chapel stood upon a by-road leading out of Salham, 
 on the edge of marshland ; on either hand a row of 
 dingy cottages, and opposite, allotment gardens sloping 
 to a swamp. It was a building as unlovely as can be 
 imagined ; yet to Drew and others its unloveliness was 
 dearer than the beauty of the fine old parish church, 
 admired of artists. From his childhood it had been the 
 centre of his inward life, the only place on earth where 
 he was somebody. Everywhere else he was of no 
 account, a mere subordinate. Within those walls he 
 felt himself of the elect, was free to lift his voice in 
 prayer and testimony, to try his wings in thought, 
 his wits in argument, without the fear of a rebuke or 
 sneer.
 
 REHOBOTH 219 
 
 " A mortal pity ! " his soul groaned. " Maybe she'll 
 build another." He referred to Mrs. Bellingham. 
 " But that 'ont never be the same. More like she'll 
 take and leave us afore long. That gel o' hars, 'ont 
 rest content wi' such as us. And children drag their 
 parents, I ha' seen that, times. A mortal pity we're 
 to lose the little place." 
 
 With that he turned from contemplation of Rehoboth 
 and strode away in the direction of his work. 
 
 Now it happened that the rector of Salham had 
 witnessed the return of the deputation down the High 
 Street as he came out of the post-office at a quarter to 
 one. He went back to the rectory to luncheon, a prey 
 to curiosity which could only be satisfied by conversation 
 with Sir John himself. Accordingly, at three o'clock 
 that afternoon, he walked up to the Hall and saw the 
 aged baronet, whom he found reclining in a long deck- 
 chair in a veranda on the sunny side of the house, resting, 
 for his health had latterly begun to fail. 
 
 " I am very glad that you were firm with them," he 
 said, when he had heard the story of the deputation. 
 " That chapel is no use at all in Salham. It seats two 
 hundred, and the congregation can't be forty. The 
 boys and girls go there to flirt on Sunday evenings 
 when it rains. They call it, as I hear, the courting-shop. 
 I have always held that in this part of England one 
 could extirpate dissent by closing chapels. It is all in 
 the buildings. Our people go to any building where 
 there's singing." 
 
 " I had as good as offered 'em another site to build on, 
 and a shed in which to hold their services meanwhile," 
 Sir John informed him ; " but since that preacher- 
 fellow was so rude to me, the offer's off." 
 
 " I'm glad to hear it," said the rector in a manner of 
 reproof. 
 
 " Sir John is sadly changed," he told his wife on his 
 return. " I want to get this matter of Rehoboth settled 
 quickly." 
 
 Next day he visited the squire again, and told him.
 
 220 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " They're going to hold a week of prayer at Rehoboth 
 to try and turn your heart ! They're having handbills 
 printed : 'A Campaign of Prayer.' That woman 
 Bellingham, no doubt, is paying for it. Her daughter, 
 by the way, has grown a very pretty girl. I suspect 
 that she accounts for many in the Sunday evening 
 congregations. From what Reade the barber tells me, 
 they are quite in earnest. Really the superstition of 
 these people is extraordinary. They are centuries 
 behind the times." 
 
 " You mean to say they think they're going to keep 
 the chapel through their howling ? " asked Sir John, 
 becoming purple in the face. 
 
 " Yes ; Reade assures me they expect a miracle." 
 
 " And they've got handbills out ? " 
 
 " They'll be on every gate and barn-end by to- 
 morrow evening." 
 
 " Well, it's blasphemy, that's all it is, and the police 
 should stop it," cried the baronet. The rector, less 
 impulsive, set it down to idiotcy. 
 
 Returning through the town, he met a faithful member 
 of his flock, the grocer, to whom he spoke at length upon 
 the subject of Rehoboth, expressing satisfaction that 
 the courting-shop would soon be closed. Liking to let 
 his parishioners perceive occasionally that he knew 
 their talk and could appreciate its humours, he spoke 
 of it as " ta coortin' shawp " with a sly grin. " We'll 
 stop their little game on Sunday evenings. They must 
 come to church." 
 
 The grocer laughed, obsequiously, raised his hat and 
 went his way, repeating the divine's remarks to every- 
 body. They were received by the wealthy with respect, 
 but by the poor with scorn and indignation. " What 
 so he want to mell for ? " was the feeling of the rougher 
 sort. " Bain't poor folks not to be allowed no liberty ? 
 And bain't them chapel folks as good as him, the 
 dommed old badger ? " 
 
 Nor were there wanting champions of religious 
 toleration, neither church nor chapel nor anything but
 
 REHOBOTH 221 
 
 public-house, who, at news of a design upon the part of 
 some lewd spirits of the church to " rag " the coming 
 meetings at Rehoboth, swore by God and by the devil 
 to defend the place ; who stood guard truculently over 
 pasted handbills which the church faction wanted to 
 tear down, and generally took Rehoboth under their 
 protection. And so it chanced that when the great 
 campaign of prayer began on Sunday evening, the 
 chapel by the marshes was for once quite full, while 
 the approach to it was guarded by a group of stalwarts 
 who sat smoking at the hedge-foot or on garden 
 walls. 
 
 The eyes of Pastor Evans, on the rostrum, ranged 
 with excitement over all the unfamiliar faces ; he 
 prayed and preached with more than his accustomed 
 eloquence. The roughs from the back lanes of Salham 
 had never listened to such words before. Some of them 
 blubbered, some applauded wildly ; one man, a red 
 nose in the midst of tangled hair above a dirty orange 
 neckerchief, got up and openly confessed his sins. The 
 pastor spoke with feeling of the persecution suffered 
 by that congregation, of the design to close Rehoboth, 
 the only place in Salham where the Word was preached 
 in all its purity. The church was dead, and had a 
 deadening influence on all who entered on its broad 
 and flowery way. Rehoboth was a living fountain of 
 the spirit. Why then did the ungodly wish to close 
 Rehoboth ? Because it shamed them ; because the 
 congregation of Rehoboth was composed of men as 
 poor as were the twelve Apostles, and the rich and 
 powerful do not like the poor to shame them. " They 
 seek to crush us out," the preacher cried. " But will 
 they be allowed to do so ? " 
 
 " Naw, naw ! " roared the crowd. " We 'ont let 'em 
 dew ut." A man cried : " Damn 'em. It's the same 
 wi' pubs, they're ollus hard upon the pore." 
 
 There were shocked calls for order. 
 
 Evans prayed once more ; encouraged by Amens and 
 shouts of " Glory I " and then there was an interval for
 
 222 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 silent prayer, when individual sobs and moans could 
 be distinctly heard. 
 
 Drew kept an anxious watch for rowdyism, and Mrs. 
 Bellingham, with other women members, was a little 
 scared. Doris sat up in the gallery, where it was almost 
 dark ; that was her place as member of the choir. 
 Never had she known such rapture as she felt this 
 evening, for her hand was being held and fondled by 
 the man she loved — a man whom she had never spoken 
 to, but often seen, one who fulfilled her dream of all 
 a youth should be, being good-looking, reckless and a 
 gentleman. He was in truth the graceless son of 
 Salham's rector, who called himself an artist, read 
 French novels, and bred sporting dogs. He had made 
 soft eyes at her since her return from school, secretly, 
 for fear of Mrs. Bellingham, who took a lofty and 
 affronted tone with all the gentry ; and had slipped into 
 the chapel gallery to-night, as twice before, muffled 
 unrecognisably, so as to be near her. There were too 
 many people in the gloom around them to permit of 
 even whispered conversation ; but a note was passed, 
 her hand was held and fondled intermittently for several 
 hours, and thus an understanding was at last established. 
 As the congregation streamed forth after midnight he 
 did contrive to whisper ; " Every night this week ! " 
 and that was all that she had ever heard from him. 
 
 The concourse was much less upon the following even- 
 ing, but the proceedings were more fervent and exciting. 
 Again and again did Mr. Evans exhort the meeting to 
 devotion in such terms as these : — 
 
 " Pray, I beseech you. Pray with might and main. 
 Aye, wrestle with the Lord in prayer. Pray with all 
 your hearts and souls until the veins stand out upon 
 your temples and your heart is like to burst with stress 
 of anguish, that this great tribulation may pass over 
 us." 
 
 Some of the ruffians who had " got religion " on the 
 previous night obeyed him literally ; for, not knowing 
 what prayer was, they held their breath and thus attained
 
 REHOBOTH 223 
 
 the state he recommended. One of these " led in prayer " 
 by invitation of the pastor in a grumbling tone, be- 
 ginning :— 
 
 " Tis a crool thing, O Lord — ta croolest thing I ever 
 see in all my days. This here little place, where I and 
 others ha' received a blessin', to be took away and 
 turned into a pairish room. Don't let 'em dew ut, Lord. 
 Larn them as wants to dew ut, for Thy Mercy's sake ! " 
 
 A hymn was sung with fury, and then Mrs. Bellingham 
 stood up and prayed in a meek, tearful voice : — 
 
 " Lord, if it be Thy will. ... I am only a weak 
 woman, but Thou knowest I have done my best to save 
 Thy tabernacle. If a higher rent was laid upon us, I 
 had offered to defray it at my own expense (groans of 
 applause). Alas, there was no choice. The wicked had 
 resolved on our destruction. . . . O Lord, have mercy 
 on Thy faithful people, on this congregation, on every 
 one of us assembled here in prayer to-night. O Lord, save 
 Rehoboth for us. Turn not Thy face away. . . ." 
 
 The benefactress of the chapel here broke down 
 completely. There were cries of " Hallelujah ! " 
 " Glory ! " and " Amen ! " 
 
 The gallery that night was empty save for Doris 
 Bellingham and her aspirant. 
 
 " Do you know, I love Rehoboth," he was whispering. 
 " The primitive Christian atmosphere appeals to me. 
 I like to hear the prayers in dialect." 
 
 "Oh, do you?" whispered Doris, with fastidious 
 emphasis ; adding, after a moment's hesitation : " I — 
 I hate it. They are all so common. I do so long to get 
 away, clean out of it, to people who can understand." 
 
 " Of course," he said, " Perdita is a princess, and 
 knows herself an exile till she goes to court. But as a 
 spectacle I find it interesting and quite touching. I had 
 never been inside a chapel in my life before." 
 
 The storm of prayer and indignation raged below, 
 increasing as it drew near midnight, until several of the 
 congregation were offering petitions at the same time, 
 loudly. There were sobs and moans. A hymn was
 
 224 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 sung, and then they all poured out into the rainy 
 night. 
 
 " Oh, what a blessed meetin' ! " said a labourer's wife 
 to Mrs. Bellingham, dropping a curtsey as she came 
 beside her in the porch. " You spoke lovely, mum ! " 
 
 " God bless you, Mrs. Rugg," replied the benefactress. 
 " Have you seen Miss Doris ? " 
 
 " Here I am, mother ! " 
 
 Doris stood there, serenely smiling, with the words, 
 " To-morrow, darling ! " ringing in her ears. 
 
 It was on the following morning (Tuesday) that all 
 Salham was excited by the news, first published by a 
 servant from the Hall, that Sir John Fanting had been 
 taken seriously ill. Groups of the townsmen gathered 
 to discuss the tidings in the various inns ; and great 
 was the indignation of all reputable church-people when 
 they heard it suggested that this illness was God's judg- 
 ment on the squire for his ill-treatment of Rehoboth. 
 
 " You ought to be ashamed to say such things," 
 Johnson the butcher shouted at Job Smith, who dared 
 to proffer this opinion in his shop. But it was the 
 remark of one of the new converts of Rehoboth, hereto- 
 fore a godless poacher, of the name of Minter, which 
 scandalised and angered half the town. This man had 
 the audacity to cry out in the hearing of a group of 
 decent tradesmen : " Sarve ta ole badger right I That's 
 ta Loord's dewun, that is — all in answer to our prayers. 
 We'll pray ta ole badger dead, we will — ta parson tew, 
 afore we've done." 
 
 " You'd better mind what you're a-sayin', my fine 
 feller, or you'll find yourself in quad," he was informed 
 severely. 
 
 " I've got religion, I have," was his solemn answer. 
 
 " Some one ought to put a stop to their Campaign of 
 Prayer — a disgrace to the town I call it," cried the 
 butcher, a strong churchman, when he heard of Minter's 
 outburst. " Rank blasphemy, that's all it is. I'll go 
 up, dinner-time, and see the rector. He's a magistrate." 
 
 The rector strongly counselled inactivity, but the
 
 REHOBOTH 225 
 
 more ardent spirits of his flock were bent on vengeance. 
 An attack was made upon Rehoboth that same night, 
 but the chapel was well guarded ; the assailants were 
 repulsed with bloodshed. The sounds of strife were 
 audible within the building. Evans turned very pale, 
 while he exhorted the congregation to keep calm. He 
 waxed more fierce than ever in denunciations of the 
 tyrants. Job Smith put up a prayer for their forgiveness 
 which was hailed with loud Amens. Up in the gallery 
 Doris shrank into her lover's arms for safety. A hymn 
 was sung to drown the shouts of battle, and when the 
 last notes died away, the fight was over. 
 
 Next morning (Wednesday) as Nathaniel Drew was 
 walking down the High Street under drizzling rain, he 
 saw a figure which he knew emerge from the post-office 
 and stride towards a dog-cart waiting farther up the 
 street. In the upright form, the golf-cap, leggings and 
 gray burberry, there was no mistaking Captain Fanting, 
 Sir John's son and heir. Drew hurried up to him. 
 
 " Hallo, Drew ! What is it ? " was his greeting. 
 
 " If you please, sir, I should like a word wi' you." 
 
 " I can't stop long. My father's ill, you know. They 
 telegraphed for me yesterday. To-day he seems a good 
 deal better, I am glad to say." 
 
 Drew told the story of Rehoboth in few words, 
 concluding with : "A bargain is a bargain, that we 
 know. But, ye see, sir, that fare rayther hard on us." 
 
 " I think so too, by Jove ! " said Captain Fanting. 
 " This is the very first I've heard of it. I'll see what I 
 can do to help you when my father's a bit better. It 
 couldn't hurt us to renew the lease." 
 
 " I thank ye kindly, sir. My dooty to Sir John and 
 to her leddyship." 
 
 Drew stood and watched the captain drive away, and 
 then went to the house of Pastor Evans. 
 
 " I reckon I ha' done a stroke o' business for Rehoboth," 
 he remarked, with self-congratulation, as he told his 
 story. " More than all the meetin's would ha' done 
 without me."
 
 226 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " The Lord chooses whom He will — aye, even dumb, 
 unthinking beasts — to answer prayer," replied the 
 preacher. 
 
 " Hew be yow a-callin' stinkin' beasts, I'd like to 
 know." 
 
 " You mistake me, Mr. Drew. I was thinking of the 
 ravens which were sent to feed Elijah, and the lion 
 which was raised up to devour the prophet in the way." 
 
 " Oh, ah. I beg yer pardon. That's all right. Well, 
 I reckon I ha' done a stroke o' work this mornun'." 
 
 " Please God, it may be so ! " said Pastor Evans ; 
 who referred to Captain Fanting that same night in 
 chapel as " a mighty helper, who has been raised up in 
 answer to our faithful prayers. I hear that it is so. 
 We are no longer friendless in the earthly sense. Let us 
 then renew our humble crying and petitions that the 
 fulness of God's mercy may be showered on us." 
 
 Up in the darkness of the gallery, Doris and her lover 
 talked in close embrace. 
 
 " My mother will oppose it. She so hates your 
 people." 
 
 " They'll oppose it, too. But, thank the Lord and 
 my old aunt, I'm independent. There's nothing for it ; 
 we must run away." 
 
 " You'll take me right away from stupid Salham ? " 
 
 " We'll go and live in Italy, or where you like." 
 
 " I couldn't go so far away from mother. It would 
 break her heart." 
 
 " Why ? She could come and stay with us, you know." 
 
 " I would rather, if it could be done, some other way 
 — less violent. Couldn't you make your people call on 
 mother, and have it all respectable ? " 
 
 " They think me mad. They will oppose the match 
 with all their might. And if I asked your mother for 
 you, she would kick me out." 
 
 " I don't know that she would if — " Doris nestled 
 to him — " if she was quite sure that your people very 
 strongly disapproved. She hates them very much 
 indeed."
 
 REHOBOTH 227 
 
 " I couldn't do it on those terms. No, we must run 
 away. They'll all be angry just at first, but they'll get 
 over it. We'll write and ask forgiveness of your mother, 
 and then come and see her." 
 
 " I never want to come to Salham, once I've left it. 
 She could come to us." 
 
 The prayers, the cries and sobs below went on until 
 the singing of the final hymn. 
 
 On the next night (Thursday) there were fewer 
 worshippers ; but still the chapel was well filled, and 
 great enthusiasm reigned till nearly midnight ; when 
 all at once a hideous din outside brought terror-stricken 
 silence on the congregation. There was the noise of 
 fighting mingled with the crash of what is called " rough 
 music " — a beating on tin kettles and on home-made 
 drums, a blast of penny whistles, mouth-organs and 
 Jews harps. 
 
 " Let us sing to the praise and glory of God," Mr. 
 Evans had begun, as soon as he recovered from his first 
 amazement, when angry men began to push in at the 
 chapel door, and a stentorian voice, the voice of butcher 
 Johnson, bellowed : " Stop it, do you hear ? Sir John 
 is dead." 
 
 " Er — indeed ! " said Mr. Evans ; "we will then con- 
 clude our service by singing, as I said " 
 
 " Stop it, I say, and hook it ! " bellowed John- 
 son. 
 
 The hymn was given out, however, and begun ; but 
 by misfortime it was one of praise to God — a jaunty 
 tune. It savoured of thanksgiving. " Blasphemy ! " 
 was shouted from the doorway. " Give it 'em : " and 
 in a moment angry men were all about the chapel, 
 cudgelling the male part of the congregation ; hustling 
 them towards the door, smashing the pews and all the 
 furniture. The shrieks of women rose above the tumult. 
 Lamp after lamp was smashed down and extinguished. 
 Resistance soon died out. The congregation, one by 
 one, escaped as best they could. The mob of church- 
 people was in possession of the building.
 
 228 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " Oh, let us go ! " said Doris, weeping. " I am 
 frightened." 
 
 " Stay where you are ! They'll never come up here. 
 It's dark, and they can't see us," whispered her 
 adored. 
 
 " My mother may come up to look for me." 
 
 " She'll feel sure that you've run back home." 
 
 They sat there close together in the darkness till the 
 last disturbers had retired, and then slipped down the 
 stairs. The chapel door was off its hinges. There was 
 wreckage on the path — black objects casting shadows 
 in the pallid moonlight. 
 
 " We'll go the long way round," observed the youth. 
 
 " Oh, let me run straight home," the maiden 
 whispered. 
 
 " Not if I know it. Roughs are still about. We'll 
 go round by the fields." 
 
 They took the path across the marshes, watched by 
 ranks of pollard willows, like scared human heads. 
 
 Suddenly he stopped and clasped her in his arms. 
 
 " I tell you what," he cried, " you shan't go home 
 at all. We'll run away to-night and get it over. We'll 
 walk to Ellersford and catch the early train." 
 
 " No, no ! I can't ! Don't ask it ! " 
 
 *' Why ? " 
 
 " I've got no things." 
 
 " We'll fit you up in town. It'll be just as hard for 
 you a fortnight hence. We've made our minds up. 
 Better get it over ! " 
 
 She still continued to resist in words long after she 
 had set her feet upon the road to Ellersford. 
 
 On the day following Sir John Fanting's funeral, 
 Nathaniel Drew happened to meet the new baronet 
 walking in the town, and ventured to remind him of 
 his promise in connection with Rehoboth. His speech, 
 though meek, produced a formidable frown. 
 
 " Don't speak of that," was the abrupt reply. " I 
 was quite willing to renew the lease. But since you 
 people have been boasting that you prayed Sir John
 
 REHOBOTH 229 
 
 to death, I'm hanged if I'll have any more to do with 
 you." 
 
 " Don't heed what people say. That's nonsense, 
 sir ! " 
 
 " It strikes me as exceedingly offensive nonsense. 
 I won't have such a nest of evil superstition on my 
 property. Not another word, please, Drew. My mind's 
 made up." 
 
 Rehoboth ceased to be a chapel, and became a parish- 
 room, where smoking concerts, even dances, are now 
 held. The former pastor, Evans, had a call to Wales. 
 Mrs. Bellingham left Salham in great tribulation to seek 
 and, with God's help, reclaim her fallen child. And 
 there were other changes, all disastrous to the congrega- 
 tion, which shortly ceased to have a corporate existence. 
 But still, among its scattered members, and in the 
 alleys and low public-houses of the town, Rehoboth is 
 regarded as triumphant. 
 
 " We prayed Sir John to dead, and that's the fact 
 we did," Minter, relapsed to his old habits, tells his 
 fellow-rogues. " And if we'd kep' that up the week, as 
 farst intended, there bain't no doubt but what we 
 should ha' prayed ta chapel freehold and ta rector blind. 
 But they kind o' funked that, when they heerd Sir John 
 was dead, and when them blackguards come along and 
 smash ta farniture, and so they give up o' the Thursday 
 night." 
 
 The story is too well authenticated to admit of doubt. 
 And it gives a sort of comfort to those social outcasts to 
 reflect that persons poor and unregarded like themselves, 
 having no power save faith, there in their own town, 
 prayed a great man dead. For what has once been 
 done may be repeated.
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 
 
 Suddenly a noise of singing mingled with the howling 
 of the wind, which had been blowing hard all day. Miss 
 Brett, who had been sitting reading in an easy-chair, 
 went to the window of her cottage living-room, and 
 looked in the direction whence the noise proceeded. 
 She represented Providence in Easterwick much as 
 the policeman represented law and order, and the noise 
 was of a nature to arouse her vigilance. The sky was 
 thickly clouded, rain was falling. The cottages, tarred 
 or red or whitewashed, round the village green, all 
 looked like persons buttoned up against the weather. 
 A child in cloak and hood, bearing a jug with care to 
 shield its precious contents from the rain, came hurrying 
 from the direction of the Old Ship Inn, opened a cottage 
 door and disappeared. There remained no human being 
 out of doors ; yet, still above the caterwauling of the 
 wind, there was that sound of singing at the pitch of 
 raucous voices, the sound lugubrious, yet somehow 
 rollicking, which had disturbed Miss Brett. 
 
 " We've mide up our moi — oi — oinds to sile er — wy. 
 Sile er — wy ! Sile er — wy ! " 
 
 The door of the smallest cottage within sight was 
 opened. A tall young woman in a very clean white 
 overall appeared expectant in the aperture. And then, 
 at the corner where the road from the seaport of Sear- 
 mouth debouched upon the village green, appeared a 
 group of which the aspect, reckless in itself, was rendered 
 more so by the accidents of wind and rain. A sturdy 
 seaman still in his first youth supported three old women 
 and one young one, all five persons being closely linked 
 together, the young sailor in the midst. The women 
 
 were in Sunday clothes. They seemed to find it difficult 
 
 230
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 231 
 
 to place their feet, once raised, upon a spot of ground, 
 and so advanced unevenly and in a waving line ; and 
 all the while, with heads thrown back and crimson faces, 
 they sang of their irrevocable mind to sail away. They 
 were all drunk, though one of the women, the sailor's 
 grandmother, was nearly eighty, with death and judg- 
 ment in her eyes. Miss Brett forsook the window, and 
 hastened to put on her hat and cloak. 
 
 When she emerged upon the green, the group of 
 roisterers were drawing near the cottage where the tall 
 white-clad young woman held the doorway. She was 
 in fact the sailor's lawful wife. He shouted : " Come 
 on, Jenny. Put your mack on and come round to 
 mother's. We ha' had a day in Searmouth, and now 
 we're goin' to make a night of it in Easterwick." 
 
 " Not I ! " said Jenny from the height of scorn. 
 " Come yow in home, Jack Skellett. I never knew as 
 yow was back, not till Jim Ostler told me. That ain't 
 the way to treat a wife, and so I'll have ye know. Be 
 quick indoors, all on yer, there's some one comin' ! ,: 
 
 But Jack and his adherents, far from hastening as 
 she adjured them, swung round to gaze at the approach- 
 ing some one. And before they were aware of anything, 
 Miss Brett was on them — a short, stout woman, un- 
 imposing and ill-dressed, yet unmistakably of gentle 
 birth. 
 
 " What is all this ? Jack Skellett, I'm ashamed of 
 you — disgracing yourself and disappointing your pretty 
 young wife when she's been so much looking forward 
 to your coming home. As for you, Mrs. Skellett senior, 
 I'm still more ashamed of you, and your old mother too, 
 and Mrs. Cox and Mrs. Rumbelow. One expects such 
 bestiality from men ! . . . Mrs. Cox, how dare you take 
 your daughter with you on a drunken bout ? ' 
 
 The faces of the revellers assumed a hang-dog look. 
 They let go one another's arms and rolled about in situ, 
 unable to stand still or to retreat without support. 
 Jack, with a great lurch forward, touched his seaman's 
 cap and, with an irresponsible chuckle, murmured
 
 232 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 something about giving his mother, grandmother, two 
 aunts and cousin there present a good time. 
 
 " And so yow hev\ old dear," his mother answered 
 with a hiccup. " Don't yow heed nobody. Who's she, 
 sh'd like to know. Interferin' ole blowbroth ! " 
 
 Dorothy Cox, aged seventeen, laughed rudely and 
 began to sing again, taking the arm of Jack. Quick as 
 a flash, Miss Brett laid hands on her, and dragged her 
 off, commanding : — 
 
 " Jenny, take your man indoors and dust his jacket 
 for him. I'll drive off these geese." 
 
 Young Mrs. Skellett did as she was told, her husband 
 in his fuddled state proving amenable ; while Miss Brett 
 read a stinging lecture to his female relatives. The 
 lookers-on from neighbouring doorways took her part. 
 Utterly worsted, the old women took to flight, though the 
 girl Dorothy kept up a Parthian fire of strong invective. 
 Miss Brett returned to her own place, and, sinking down 
 once more into her easy-chair, laughed till the tears ran 
 down her rugged cheeks. 
 
 She lived among the poor and knew their lives. Jack 
 Skellett had that day returned from sea. His mother's 
 cottage was upon his homeward road. He had gone in 
 and, finding a warm welcome, had forgotten all about 
 his wife expecting him. With his usual good-nature, 
 now increased by family affection and the sentiment of 
 home-coming, he had asked his mother and his grand- 
 mother, his two aunts and his cousin Dorothy to have a 
 drink ; and as the charms of Easterwick were limited 
 to a small public-house, he had led his family-party into 
 Searmouth, which could boast of eight and thirty 
 licensed houses, to make what he called a day of it. 
 His mother and his granny and his aunts ! Could 
 anything more innocent, more purely dutiful, be well 
 imagined ? But Miss Brett frowned when she re- 
 membered the girl Dorothy, who had probably been 
 made drunk for the first time. 
 
 She had come through harsh experience to the belief 
 that all the older people were quite hopeless. Though
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 233 
 
 she reasoned with them from a sense of duty, in her 
 heart she viewed their failings with a cold indulgence. 
 All her warmth was for the young. Her hopes were 
 always on the children, decreasing gradually from a 
 passionate delight in babies to a sad solicitude for girls 
 and boys of twenty-one. For all, both old and young, 
 she had a kindness. No curate ever worked among the 
 poor as she did ; no relieving-ofncer was ever half so 
 thorough in investigating claims of need. 
 
 Miss Brett put on the kettle for her tea. She liked 
 events, and had acquired a curious sympathy for all the 
 sins and follies which it was her business to denounce 
 and punish when she could. Coming from the sick-bed 
 of a poor old man, the soul of piety, that afternoon, she 
 had been much depressed until Jack Skellett's escapade 
 came to revive her spirits. It was a good thing Vera 
 Plowman had not seen the group of roisterers, or she 
 would have deluged them with tracts and prayers for 
 months to come, doing no good. Vera Plowman was 
 the rector's daughter, a " girl" past thirty, of whose 
 goodness there was no dispute, though some might 
 doubt her knowledge of realities. Miss Brett had a 
 sincere regard for Vera Plowman, which made her 
 anxious to ward off from her the shock which certain 
 facts give to religious optimism. As for the rector, dear 
 old man, he was past interference, though nothing in 
 the natural world had power to shock him. He was a 
 folklorist and wealthy, and his one idea of helping 
 people appeared to be to dole out money recklessly. 
 Loving them both, Miss Brett stood forth between the 
 rector and the people's greed, just as she stood between 
 the rector's daughter's goodness and the people's sins ; 
 defending thus the one oasis in her struggling life, 
 for only at the rectory could she find those fair 
 illusions which she needed on occasion for her mental 
 comfort. 
 
 She was dining at the rectory that very evening. 
 Clad in a gray silk dress quite out of fashion, high-necked 
 and with a collar of old lace, protected by a waterproof, 
 a.o.s.u. Q
 
 234 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 an umbrella and goloshes, she tramped a mile through 
 muddy lanes and up the rectory drive. 
 
 Miss Plowman, in full evening dress, was sitting 
 writing with her back towards her when, divested of 
 her dripping outer shell, she came into the large, bright 
 drawing-room. The white-haired rector rose to greet 
 her, bidding her draw near the fire, which she was glad 
 to see, though it was summer technically. 
 
 " What tidings from Boeotia ? " he inquired ; Bceotia 
 being his pet name for his parishioners. 
 
 Miss Brett began the story of Jack Skellett's outbreak, 
 while Mr. Plowman sat and rubbed his hands before the 
 blaze. The narrative was interrupted by the call to 
 dinner, but was continued at the rector's own request 
 as soon as they were free from the attendance of the 
 maidservant. The old man was both interested and 
 amused. He said : — 
 
 " You know, of course, that our folk here are a peculiar 
 people. There is a stronger mixture of Norse blood in 
 Easterwick and Searmouth than can be traced among 
 the villagers inland. In fact, one is led to suspect a 
 regular colony of rovers. I once began a monograph 
 upon the subject, but had to give it up for lack of real 
 material. They do not intermarry with the inland folk. 
 . . . Now, this behaviour of young Skellett in celebrating 
 his return from sea by wassail with his most respected 
 relatives suggests the feast which the home-coming 
 viking gave his family. There is something dear to the 
 imagination, and certainly extenuating, in his choice of 
 boon companions." 
 
 " Father, how can you ! " cried Miss Plowman 
 wildly. 
 
 " Jenny had a rod in pickle for him, I could see," Miss 
 Brett continued. " She's a capable young woman. She 
 comes of a horrid family, those Woollings, but her 
 cottage is a miracle of cleanness. I have a liking for 
 Jenny, and I hope she'll give it him." 
 
 " I should think she'd drive him from the house till 
 he repented," said Miss Plowman.
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 235 
 
 << 
 
 I expect she'll keep him in the house for days," 
 replied Miss Brett. 
 
 Her expectation was belied, however, for that very 
 night when she regained her cottage, having been 
 escorted thither by the rectory gardener with a lantern 
 and a stick, she had but had the time to get a light and 
 doff her outdoor clothes when a knock came at the door, 
 and Jenny's weeping voice implored : — 
 
 " May I come in, miss ? I'm in trouble." 
 
 " It's Jack," the tall girl sobbed, when she was in the 
 room. ' He've gone and left me, 'cause I told 'un 
 what I thought about sich going's-on." 
 
 " He'll come back, never fear ! " replied Miss Brett 
 consolingly. " When once he's sober, he will see what 
 a big fool he's been to waste his hard-earned money on 
 drink." 
 
 " That ain't the money," blubbered Jenny, " what 
 I'm vexed for. 'Tis that crafty little slink, Dot Cox, his 
 cousin what he took along wi' 'un. I taxed 'un with it, 
 and he railed at me like one on-sensed, and swore as it 
 was har he'd have, and not a stingy bitch like me. And 
 out he go and slam the door. And — 00 ! — 00 ! — now 
 I'm sure he've gone to har — ta dutty hussy, what've 
 tried to catch 'un. . . ." 
 
 After hearing the outpourings of her woe till she 
 grew calmer, Miss Brett led Jenny back to her own 
 cottage, and there remained till long past midnight, 
 trying to soothe the weeping girl with the assurance 
 that Jack was not so wicked nor so foolish as she thought 
 him. When his brain cleared he would be penitent, and 
 ready to return at the first word of kindness. 
 
 " I 'ont go runnin' arter 'un, mind yow ! I ha' my 
 pride," said Jenny fiercely. 
 
 " I'll go myself and talk to him to-morrow." 
 
 " Ah, if yow would ! " 
 
 Miss Brett believed that the girl's fears were moon- 
 shine, and left her without serious anxiety on her account. 
 When she recrossed the green at last to her own dwelling, 
 the rain had stopped and stars shone calmly down upon
 
 236 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 the sleeping village which the wind still buffeted. She 
 took the change as a good omen. But in the morning, 
 when she went to Mrs. Cox's house to seek the truant, 
 she was told that Jack had gone, and so had Dorothy. 
 Good Mrs. Cox denounced her nephew and her enter- 
 tainer of the day before as " Nawthun' better nor a 
 willan — may ta Loord reward 'un ! " while Mrs. Skellett, 
 Jack's mamma, emerging from next door, kept saying : 
 " Ta Loord's will be done." 
 
 Miss Brett had no opinion of those women, and did 
 not stay in parley with them longer than the time 
 required to ascertain beyond a doubt that Jack and Dot 
 had gone together. Then she went back to Jenny, who, 
 to her immense relief, when once she knew that Jack 
 had really left her for that " dirt," assumed a resolute 
 and calm demeanour. 
 
 " You can force him to support you by the law," 
 Miss Brett informed her. 
 
 " I'd ha' to catch 'un farst," was Jenny's answer. 
 " No, miss, I guess as I'll let well alone. I'd like to keep 
 on this here little place, bein' as I've made it nice. I 
 won't go back to mother's if ye paid me. Sich a pigstye ! 
 If I could get some washin' and maybe a job o' charm' 
 now and then I could dew nicely, better'n I ever done 
 along o' Jack." 
 
 " I'll do my best to help you," said Miss Brett. 
 
 She liked the spirit of the girl in taking Jack's desertion 
 of her as an insult, not a woe ; that seeming to her mind 
 the only way for women to regard the wrongs which 
 they receive from men and keep their dignity, which has 
 to be maintained unless the race is to go down. More- 
 over, Jenny, though past twenty, was within the age 
 which Miss Brett counted hopeful and still lovable. 
 She helped her, therefore, to the utmost of her 
 power, and recommended her sad case to Vera 
 Plowman. 
 
 Miss Plowman's goodness proved at once responsive. 
 Regarding marriage as a sacred m/stery, the rector's 
 daughter saw Jack Skellett's crime almost as sacrilege.
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 237 
 
 Her spirit yearned towards the victim of so foul a wrong. 
 She went next day to call on Mrs. Skellett junior ; and 
 Miss Brett, from her own window, could observe their 
 interview, which took place at the cottage door. Jenny 
 was no fool. Playing up to Vera's tone of deep religious 
 sympathy, she gave a most pathetic smile and dropped 
 a touching little curtsey, every line of her tall figure 
 advertising martyred innocence. As usual she was 
 beautifully clean and neat. 
 
 Miss Plowman fell in love with her at once, and after 
 that came almost every day to see her. Occasional 
 work was found for Jenny at the rectory, and all the 
 servants' washing was entrusted to her. Miss Brett 
 was secretly amused at the infatuation, knowing that 
 Jenny Skellett was no saint. She was a. little shocked 
 when, one day at the rectory, the rector's daughter 
 showed her the Madonna of a Spanish master, inquiring, 
 " Who does that remind you of ? " and when she could 
 not think, suggesting : " Jenny Skellett. She is so 
 good and patient, and I call her lovely," said Miss Plow- 
 man fervently. And then the resignation and the 
 dignity of her maimed life. I feel that one can never 
 truly realise." 
 
 Miss Brett could not but smile a little at her friend's 
 delusion, but did not think it proper to impugn it so 
 long as it befriended one who was in real need. But 
 that delusion long outlasted Jenny's want. Months 
 after Jack's elopement she was still the same pure 
 martyr in Miss Plowman's eyes, although Miss Brett 
 knew that she had consoled herself a hundredfold, 
 earning the reputation of a village Messalina, while 
 working hard and having none of the untidiness which 
 girls of such a character are wont to show. Miss Brett, 
 who spoke her mind to all offenders, taxed young Jenny 
 Skellett with her naughtiness, and got the flat denial 
 she expected ; qualified, however, by " And if I had ! 
 What then, I'd like to know. That's my affair. I'm 
 independent. I don't ask no one for advice, nor yet for 
 money."
 
 238 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 Jenny's diction had improved through intercourse 
 with Vera Plowman. 
 
 Without a doubt she was a person of decided character; 
 the pity was that her decisions were all wrong. 
 
 When Vera called upon Miss Brett one day and told 
 her, as a sacred and pathetic fact, that Jenny Skellett 
 was with child, Miss Brett had difficulty in suppressing 
 the remarks which nature prompted her to make on the 
 occasion. But a girl — they called her that though she 
 was thirty-three — who could ascribe to sailor Jack's 
 paternity a child which was not likely to be born till 
 twelve months after he had left the place — was not of 
 age to hear the sinful truth. So Miss Brett held her 
 tongue before Miss Plowman, speaking out to Jenny at 
 their next encounter, when she adjured her to make a 
 full confession to her benefactress, and repent. 
 
 " Why, that'd kill her," was the scornful answer, 
 " she's that innocent. She'd have a fit or suffen, and 
 I'm fond of her, and then I should feel fit to kill myself. 
 I'm not a-goin' to kill my babe afore it's born, for you, 
 miss, nor for nobody. The way I'm in, sich strife'd 
 be the death o' me." 
 
 Miss Brett was driven in her secret conscience to 
 admit the presence of a sort of natural right on Jenny's 
 side. Besides, the girl had passed beyond the stage 
 which Miss Brett viewed as possible salvation to that 
 which she regarded with the vast indulgence of despair. 
 So, after that attempt to move her to confess her sin to 
 Vera privately, she gave up the adventure, not without 
 relief. The village, as she knew, was grinning at Miss 
 Plowman's innocence, but everybody felt, as she did, 
 loth to smirch it : for there was something exquisite 
 about poor Vera's chaste excitement, her preparations 
 for the birth, her holy rapture with the infant when it 
 came and when, as godmother, she rocked it in her 
 arms beside the font. 
 
 " She would drop the poor little wretch on the pave- 
 ment if I told her it is what they call a child of shame," 
 Miss Brett reflected as she watched her at the ceremony ;
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 239 
 
 with some degree of scorn, for she herself was of opinion 
 that the human race began afresh with every new-born 
 child, so great was her delight in infants of whatever 
 parentage. " It is best to leave her in a fool's delusion, 
 where she does no harm." 
 
 The months went by and Jenny Skellett was once more 
 expecting an addition to her family. At the time when 
 her new hope of increase became apparent to the casual 
 observer, Vera Plowman, as it happened, was away upon 
 a visit to some cousins in " the Shires," as the whole 
 of England outside Anglia is called in Easterwick. 
 There was much discussion in the village as to whether 
 it were better that she should be told the news on her 
 arrival, or be left to find out for herself. 
 
 " She can't never think as this one be Jack Skellett's, 
 for simple as she be," said Mrs. Rumbelow to Kate, a 
 housemaid of the rectory, when the latter stood to gossip 
 at the former's gate on her afternoon out, " yow marn 
 spake freely this time." 
 
 The housemaid quite agreed on the necessity, but 
 doubted, when it came to action, whether she would 
 ever dare to speak such tidings to Miss Plowman's face, 
 without she gave her some kind of a lead or opening. 
 
 Miss Plowman came and, on the very afternoon of 
 her arrival, she happened to ask Kate for news of Jenny 
 Skellett. 
 
 " She don't go out to work just now, and for good 
 reason," said the housemaid, blushing. Everybody 
 blushed before Miss Plowman's goodness. 
 
 " What do you mean, Kate ? " said the mistress 
 sharply. 
 
 " Well, miss," replied the damsel, blushing furiously 
 and with a manner of defiance, " since you ask me, 
 there's another baby on the way." 
 
 " Goodness me ! Has Jack been home then ? " asked 
 Miss Plowman, wondering. 
 
 " No, miss, and that's the fact," was the succinct 
 reply. 
 
 It took some seconds for Miss Plowman s mind to
 
 240 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 grasp the new and horrible ideas which this reply 
 presented to it. When she did catch their import, she 
 was mightily indignant, exclaiming : — 
 
 " Kate, how can you say such things. I fear you are 
 a very wicked girl. I don't believe a word of your most 
 slanderous suggestion." 
 
 u It's only what all Easterwick is saying," murmured 
 Kate in contrite tones. 
 
 " Jenny Skellett ! It's impossible. I can't and won't 
 believe it. I shall go and ask her. It is a cruel shame 
 to say such things behind her back." 
 
 " Folks say 'em to her face, miss," said the housemaid 
 stoutly. 
 
 " Well, I won't believe it." 
 
 Half an hour later, Miss Plowman, very upright, very 
 pale, traversed the village green, with the appearance 
 of one dead but for the sense of duty. Miss Brett caught 
 sight of her and, noting the direction of her march, 
 put on her hat and dashed out in pursuit. It was to save 
 poor Vera's life she thus pursued her, saying to herself : 
 "Jenny at bay will kill her. She will die." 
 
 Miss Plowman knocked one rap at Mrs. Skellett's door, 
 which opened instantly, revealing Jenny, brazen. 
 
 " Is it true what I have heard about you, Jenny ? " 
 the rector's daughter asked in solemn and reproachful 
 tones — " her church voice," Mrs. Skellett said when she 
 described it afterwards. 
 
 "I'm sure I don't know what you've heard, miss ! " 
 was the saucy answer as Jenny stood with crimson face 
 and arms akimbo, the tell-tale figure much in evidence. 
 
 " Why, Jenny, that you are — you are " Miss 
 
 Plowman gulped convulsively with flaming cheeks and 
 downcast eyes — " that you are going to have another 
 baby ? " 
 
 " That's quite right, miss." 
 
 " Well, all I can say is, I call it simply disgusting ! " 
 
 Then Jenny's tongue was loosed. The word dis- 
 gusting seemed to her offensive language deserving a 
 retort, lady or no lady. She poured out words such as
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 241 
 
 poor Vera Plowman had never heard addressed to any 
 one before, concluding, with a high-pitched laugh 
 and in a mincing tone intended to take off the lady's 
 speech : — 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed, miss. That ain't disgustin', not at 
 all. That's only nater ! " 
 
 Miss Brett, while hurrying to the rescue, overheard this 
 passage, which took less time in fact than in narration. 
 She was in time to seize poor Vera's arm, just as she 
 turned away from the cottage door which, for a final 
 insult, had been slammed in her face ; and to conduct 
 the injured creature back across the green, supporting 
 her with strength and sympathy. It relieved her 
 greatly to discover, which she did not do until they 
 reached the rectory gate, that the tremors which kept 
 agitating Vera's frame were due to anger. If the views 
 the rector's daughter then expressed concerning Jenny 
 had been heard by Jenny in the flesh they would have 
 cowed her utterly. 
 
 "I'm going straight to father," Vera said, when they 
 had reached the house. " She must not stay in Easter- 
 wick. I'll never rest again till I have punished her for 
 her deceit and her disgraceful, brazen rudeness. Such a 
 creature ! " 
 
 Miss Brett escorted her into the rector's presence, but, 
 at sight of her father, Miss Plowman suddenly and un- 
 accountably gave way to sorrow and could only say, 
 " You tell him ! " sobbing helplessly. 
 
 " A very rude, ill-mannered person," said the rector, 
 when he heard Miss Brett's account of the affair. " We 
 have undoubtedly been much deceived in her. It is 
 always disconcerting to detect hypocrisy in any one 
 whom one has loved and tried to benefit." 
 
 " But, father, I must see her punished ; she must 
 leave the place ! " cried Vera, stamping. " Miss Brett 
 has not repeated half she said to me, the words she used. 
 No woman could repeat them. They are too defiling." 
 
 " I don't see how I am to punish her," replied the 
 rector. "I am not her landlord. And when a woman
 
 242 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 is about to have a child is not the moment to be hard 
 on her, no matter what her crimes. That is acknowledged, 
 I believe, in every law." 
 
 " Ah, how much better if she died before the child 
 was born ! " 
 
 " It might be ! " said her father seriously ; " but one 
 cannot tell. Heaven only knows what fate may hold in 
 store. And so, since our knowledge of what is to be is 
 merely speculative or conjectural, we let people live 
 even though we may think ill of them, and suffer children 
 to be born to sorrow as the sparks fly upward. What 
 you have told me of this woman's character, Miss 
 Brett, is very interesting — her cleanliness, her industry, 
 her perfect independence of the various fathers of her 
 children. It bears upon the subject of an article which 
 I have long been writing upon — matriarchy — which 
 seems, as far as we know, to have been the earliest form 
 of family life for humankind. It is strange that this 
 young woman should revert to it, no doubt from some 
 obscure, primeval instinct. I should like to call on her 
 and ask her a few questions, but I suppose it would not 
 do in my position." 
 
 " Hardly ! " exclaimed Miss Brett. 
 
 " Father, how can you, upon such a subject ? " 
 wailed his daughter, once more bursting into tears. 
 
 For some time Vera could not bear the sight of Jenny 
 Skellett, who, for her part, had no wish to meet Miss 
 Plowman face to face, feeling ashamed of her indecent 
 outburst in that lady's presence, which all the neighbours 
 blamed as wanton cruelty. Miss Brett suspected that 
 they each still nursed a secret fondness for the other ; in 
 other words, that their consuming present hatred was 
 but a variation of their former love. For such mutual 
 attractions she considered are not all delusion on the one 
 hand and hypocrisy upon the other, but must partake 
 of natural inclination if they last a month. She knew 
 that Jenny was forever in Miss Plowman's mind, and 
 Miss Plowman in Jenny's. The sight of each, though in 
 the distance, put to flight the other.
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 243 
 
 One afternoon Miss Brett received a visit from the 
 rector, a most unusual honour, for nowadays he seldom 
 went beyond his sheltered garden. He had come down 
 in the wagonette to visit a sick woman who had been 
 a servant at the rectory in former days ; and before 
 driving home came to his friend for gossip and a cup of 
 tea. Miss Brett was much delighted, for she loved the 
 scholarly old man, with all his limitations and defections 
 as a parish priest. 
 
 " The most extraordinary thing," he said, as he sat 
 down in her small living-room and looked around him 
 with a gratified expression. " I fully meant to take my 
 Bible down to read to poor dear Anne ; but by mistake 
 I took a very learned book on necromancy — I will show 
 it to you presently — which happened to be also on my 
 study table. When I was in Anne's room I noticed my 
 mistake and told her of it ; but she, poor soul, had set 
 her heart upon my reading to her, and begged me so to 
 read 'a bit,' no matter what, that I read her part of a 
 most interesting chapter about evil spirits and the 
 charms by which they were invoked ; and after I had 
 finished she declared that it had done her good. Now 
 that is really curious, seeming to indicate that it is the 
 modulation of the human voice, and not the meaning 
 of the words, which soothes sick persons." 
 
 Miss Brett was more amused than shocked. She 
 asked to see the book. He gave it to her with the words : 
 " A valuable work." And then he asked her kindly to 
 point out to him the dwelling-place of Jenny Skellett — 
 " the matriarch," he called her — from the window. 
 She did so, and he stood in contemplation of it. 
 
 " The cottage and the garden look uncommonly well 
 cared for," he remarked at length. " I should much like 
 to have in mind the likeness of the matriarch herself. 
 She used, I know, to work up at the rectory ; but I never 
 noticed her, being quite unaware at the time that she 
 was anything out of the common. Now there are one 
 or two points in her case which need elucidating. Does 
 she make the men — her husbands, we will say, in terms
 
 244 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 of matriarchy — work for her ? . . . You say she does ? 
 — in their off-time ? So I supposed. Now comes the 
 question : do they work for her together in some kind 
 of order or rotation like the members of a guild, or 
 separately and unknown to one another ? If there 
 were proof of their collaboration — even in the case of 
 only two of them — it would constitute a very interesting 
 modern instance, and would support a theory I am 
 propounding in my little work. I should be glad, too, if 
 you could discover for me other local cases of women 
 living a hard-working life under the same or similar 
 conditions." 
 
 " My dear Mr. Plowman ! " cried Miss Brett in comic 
 horror. " You talk as if your one desire was to have 
 women live in such a way — as if you would create such 
 cases if you could, to suit your theory." 
 
 " No," said the rector gravely. " I should not do that. 
 For cases fostered or promoted I could not admit as 
 genuine." 
 
 It was at this point of their conversation, as they 
 stood together at the window, that Miss Brett gave a 
 start and cried : — 
 
 " Why, gracious me!" 
 
 " What is it ? " asked the rector, always interested. 
 
 " Why, there's Jack Skellett crossing the grass by 
 Kersey's woodshed — the missing husband of your 
 matriarch ! " 
 
 " Never I You don't say so ! How extremely 
 interesting ! I wonder now if he will join the guild of 
 husbands, or stalk apart in patriarchal pride — not 
 monogamic, strictly, as I understand." 
 
 " I wonder how he dare come back," exclaimed Miss 
 Brett. " I am afraid there will be trouble in the parish." 
 
 " You think he will make war upon the guild. Then 
 he had better go away again. I do not like the look of 
 the young man at all. Please, dear Miss Brett, keep me 
 informed of all that happens, either personally or through 
 Vera, who, although a true reporter, is rather narrowly 
 ecclesiastical in her opinions, don't you think ? Her
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 245 
 
 conversation sometimes savours of white sheets and 
 guttering tapers and the Inquisition — darker ages than 
 our own ! " 
 
 On the next day, having made inquiries of Mrs. 
 Rumbelow and Mrs. Cox, Jack Skellett's aunts, Miss 
 Brett was in the act of setting out to bear the news 
 which she had thus collected to the rectory, when Vera 
 Plowman came up to her cottage door, saying with 
 bated breath : — 
 
 " Jack Skellett's home again, I hear from father. 
 Is it true ? " 
 
 " Quite true," replied Miss Brett. 
 
 " I am so glad ! " cried Vera, her eyes shining with a 
 supernatural light. " For Jenny's sake." 
 
 Miss Brett was quite unable to perceive a cause for 
 joy ; she could only guess that Vera, with her strong 
 ideas on marriage, expected Jack to punish Jenny in 
 some signal way. It was with a sense of cruelty that 
 she replied : — 
 
 " Dorothy Cox is with him, figuring as Mrs. Jack. 
 By some means or other he's got money ; and they 
 think of taking a small farm." 
 
 " Oh, but that must not be, when Jenny is his wife. 
 She can and must reclaim him and his money, and 
 give that other creature the disgrace she has so richly 
 earned." 
 
 " She can hardly do that, after all that's happened on 
 her side." 
 
 " Oh, but she must try ! " said Vera earnestly. 
 " It may be the saving of both of them. They 
 ought to let bygones be bygones, and forgive each 
 other." 
 
 " What will become of Dot and her child in that 
 case?" asked Miss Brett, amused but much bewildered 
 by these swift decisions. 
 
 " I don't know what would become of her and I don't 
 care, but I suppose that she could look after herself 
 as did the lawful wife whom she has wronged so cruelly. 
 It is a little difficult, I know. But married people ought
 
 246 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 to be united. And it is our clear duty to unite them if 
 we can." 
 
 Miss Brett could hardly trust her ears, when Vera 
 said, after a minute, spent in rosy-red reflection, " I 
 have more than half a mind to call on Jenny," nor her 
 eyes, five minutes later, when they told her, looking 
 through the window, that Vera, who had just that 
 minute said good-bye to her, was making straight 
 across the green for Jenny Skellett's door. Possessed 
 by natural curiosity as well as by a generous impulse to 
 protect poor Vera, whom she regarded as a child at play 
 with fire, she quickly donned a coat and hat and followed. 
 
 " Of course he's still your husband," Vera was re- 
 marking sweetly, when Miss Brett arrived. Her godchild 
 clung about her knee ; the other baby, nearly a year old, 
 was sprawling in a corner on the floor and Jenny was 
 expecting yet another, or Miss Brett's eyes had deceived 
 her more than once of late. 
 
 '' I hadn't thought about him that way, miss, and 
 that's the fact," smiled Jenny. 
 
 " Oh, but you must, dear ! It is the time to let by- 
 gones be bygones." 
 
 " That's just what I was thinkin', miss, and so I've 
 been to see her." 
 
 " Her ? . . . You mean that dreadful woman ? . . . 
 Oh, how could you ? " 
 
 " It was about the washin', miss. I called about their 
 custom, and I'm glad to say I got it, though there was 
 several besides me a-cravin' for it. You see, Jack 
 Skellett and his present wife, they're well-to-do. . . ." 
 
 " You mustn't call that wicked girl his wife. I'm sure 
 it's criminal, and there are laws against it. . . . What- 
 ever did she say ? " 
 
 " Just what you did, miss, about our lettin' bygones 
 be bygones." 
 
 " But Jack Skellett is your husband and not hers at 
 all. You were joined to him by law and by the church. 
 And now that you have both sinned equally. ..." 
 
 " That may be so with gentry, but we take more
 
 CHILDREN OF NATURE 247 
 
 freedom," Jenny interrupted, not without respect. 
 " I reckon all that down among the bygones." 
 
 " But you must claim your legal rights. If you will 
 not assert them, I shall do so for you." 
 
 " You'd better let things be, Miss Vera, though I 
 thank you kindly. Why should I mob him ? I've lived 
 free myself." 
 
 " You should not take a pride in all that, Jenny." 
 
 Flushed with a high and laudable resolve, Vera 
 departed. Once more she carried a petition to her 
 father, and Miss Brett escorted her into the rector's 
 presence, wishing to hear that father's views upon this 
 strange crusade. 
 
 They found the old man seated at his study table 
 writing, surrounded by high shelves of learned books. 
 He listened to his daughter's story, poured out in a 
 torrent, with concern. 
 
 " It is a muddle in the parish, I agree," he murmured. 
 " But there is really nothing we can do effectually. 
 In dealing with primitive races the first rule laid down 
 by every one who ever had to do with them is this : 
 respect their marriage customs." 
 
 "But, father, this is not some foreign country; this 
 is England. The marriage customs here are governed 
 by the Church's law." 
 
 The rector smiled a smile of triumph and uprose. 
 Going to a certain bookshelf he took down four bulky 
 volumes and placed them on the table, saying : — 
 
 " My love, if you will wait a minute I will prove to 
 you on good authority that the Church in every age has 
 made concessions tacitly to local custom, and particu- 
 larly in this matter of sexual relations." 
 
 " Father, how dare you," cried Miss Plowman wildly, 
 and she fled the room.
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 
 
 This is the story of one Rogers, who was curate-in- 
 
 charge of the parish of Millingham in Suffolk at the 
 
 beginning of the nineteenth century, as I heard it from 
 
 the lips of the present rector of Millingham, when we 
 
 sat together by his study fire one winter's evening, with 
 
 a strong wind howling in the fir-trees round the house. 
 
 From the year 1725 to the year 1850 Millingham knew 
 
 little of its rectors, all of them pluralists, who lived 
 
 elsewhere, occasionally at the other end of England. 
 
 Each visited the parish only once, to be inducted, and 
 
 except for an occasional subscription to some local 
 
 charity, gave no further heed to it except to draw the 
 
 income of the living and to pay a curate, who inhabited 
 
 the modest parsonage, performed the services, visited 
 
 the poor, and reared a family as best he could upon a 
 
 stipend varying at different times between the sums 
 
 of forty-five and eighty pounds a year. The curate's 
 
 lot in life was far from gay. His education and the 
 
 relative refinement of his wife, where these existed, 
 
 raised him above the lesser farmers, with whom alone 
 
 his means allowed him to associate on equal terms. 
 
 The greater farmers patronised, the gentry more or less 
 
 ignored him ; the labourers respected when they could, 
 
 and occasionally, if tradition may be trusted, loved the 
 
 man. Mr. Rogers was the last but one of these curat es- 
 
 in-charge at Millingham, and he is still remembered in 
 
 the parish as a " character." He hired a large part of 
 
 the glebe and farmed it so successfully that a neighbour, 
 
 going round the fields with him, and thinking favourably 
 
 to impress the cleric by a pious thought, remarked that 
 
 he had great cause to be thankful to Almighty God. 
 
 " The Almighty ha'n't got nawn to dew wi' that, bo' I " 
 
 248
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 249 
 
 grunted Parson Rogers. " I gie thanks to that old 
 muck-cart over yonder." 
 
 He spoke the broadest dialect when in the fields, and 
 legend has it that he did so in the pulpit too. Yet that 
 he had some scholarship is proved by the document in 
 his handwriting lately discovered in the parish chest ; 
 wherein, embedded in Johnsonian English, lie classical 
 quotations, both correct and apposite. And that he 
 was a man of rigid principles is shown by his behaviour 
 to his daughter Margery. 
 
 This Margery was beautiful and wilful in her youth. 
 She flouted all the well-to-do young farmers who paid 
 court to her, till gossip murmured that she had ideas 
 above her station, and would come to grief. She was a 
 tomboy and extremely fond of riding. One of her 
 suitors offered her a hunter. Her father would not hear 
 of her accepting such a present. 
 
 " If you accept the horse, you must accept the man," 
 her father told her. 
 
 There ensued a furious scene, and in the end, as they 
 relate, " he took and give her a good hidin' " — a 
 privilege of fathers in those good old days. Margery, 
 after that, declared rebellion. She vowed that she 
 would run away with the first man who offered. The 
 parson locked her in her bedroom underneath the eaves, 
 while he and his three sons with friendly labourers kept 
 watch around the house by day and night. One o r two 
 of her admirers, who attempted rescue, received broken 
 heads. Yet, after but a week's imprisonment, she got 
 away unrescued — through the human weakness of the 
 man on guard beneath her casement, it is said. However 
 that may be, she walked five miles in rain, bare-headed 
 and without a cloak, to Malby Hall, where young 
 Squire Malby and some boon companions sat up late 
 over their wine Malby had never been among her open 
 suitors, but rumour says the pair were deep in love. 
 
 Loud was the welcome she received from the gay 
 gentlemen, who wrapped her in Malby's cloak and set 
 her on the table while they toasted her ; and before 
 A.O.S.U. R
 
 250 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 daybreak the next morning she and Andrew Malby were 
 riding side by side upon the London road. Parson Rogers 
 called the neighbours to his house and publicly and 
 solemnly erased her name and surname from the sacred 
 list which had been kept for generations on the fly-leaf 
 of a Bible. He thus disowned her as his daughter, and 
 he swore that, were she never so repentant, came she to 
 never such a depth of misery, she should not pass the 
 threshold of his door again. 
 
 But Margery, against the general expectation, was not 
 ruined. Malby was young and deep in love, and she 
 was masterful. The pair were duly married up in 
 London ; and thus the daughter of rough Parson Rogers, 
 the crony of small farmers and the ploughman's oracle, 
 became a lady of condition in the neighbourhood. 
 Malby, they say, sought reconciliation with his father-in- 
 law, since Margery herself was anxious to be reconciled. 
 But Parson Rogers kept his vow and his displeasure. 
 
 " I ha' nawthun' agen yow, Squire," he told his 
 daughter's husband. " You acted arter your kind and 
 in the pride o' life. But she's an ondutiful child : she 
 disobeyed her lawful father ; I ha' done wi' har." 
 
 He devoted himself more than ever to his farm-work. 
 When called once to a deathbed from the harvest-field, 
 he is reported to have said, as he slipped on his coat with 
 anxious glances at the sky, " If there come rain to- 
 morrer old Betty Mutt's soul'll ha' to answer for this 
 barley ! That impatient ! " And his farming prospered 
 so that, from being merely a poor curate like his prede- 
 cessors, he became a personage consulted by the farmers 
 round, and thus, as he was always Parson Rogers, the 
 Church took honour from the agriculturist. Little by 
 little he increased his holdings until he farmed a matter 
 of two hundred acres, and in those times must have made 
 an income of about four hundred pounds a year. Yet still 
 he craved more land, not, they declare, through avarice, 
 but from desire to make experiments upon a larger scale. 
 
 There is an eighty-acre farm — " a four-hoss farm," in 
 local parlance — distant about a mile from Millingham
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 251 
 
 across the marshes, called at the present day the 
 Neutral Farm, because of an uncertainty about the 
 ownership. At that time it was common knowledge 
 that the place was Millingham Church property, though 
 for several years it had been occupied by a tenant of the 
 Earl of Bannockburn, the chief landlord in the district, 
 and the absentee rectors of Millingham may or may not 
 have had the rent from it. Mr. Rogers never doubted 
 but they had received it. The agent of Lord Bannock- 
 burn, a Mr. Smith, performed some acts of ownership 
 upon this farm ; which coming to the ears of Mr. Rogers, 
 he was mightily incensed, the more so that he long had 
 coveted those eighty acres. One morning he bestrode 
 his chestnut cob, and rode away into " the Shires," as 
 Suffolk people say, to see his rector, who resided in a 
 stately mansion near to Ely. The interview was 
 satisfactory, it may be presumed, for immediately on 
 his return he called on Mr. Smith, the agent aforesaid, 
 and peremptorily forbade him so much as to cut a stick 
 upon the farm in question ; and on the following 
 Sunday, in the pulpit, he spoke vehemently from the 
 well-known text, " Cursed is he that removeth his 
 neighbour's landmark." His lordship's agent happened 
 to be of the congregation. There was a quarrel after 
 service in the churchyard. Smith vowed that he would 
 have the parson pilloried ; the parson vowed to visit 
 Smith in prison. They parted in great wrath on either 
 side. The curate, as the rector's representative, claimed 
 owner's rights on the disputed land, gave notice to the 
 tenant that the rent in future should be paid to him, 
 prevented Lord Bannockburn's representative from 
 intruding on the property, and even spoke of instituting 
 legal proceedings to recover the worth of the fall of 
 timber in the past ten years. The agent of Lord Bannock- 
 burn breathed vengeance. He sent letter after letter to 
 the earl in London, informing him of what was going 
 on. At length after some three months of correspondence 
 the earl himself appeared upon the scene. 
 
 He was the second Earl of Bannockburn, to whom old
 
 252 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 people in that part of Suffolk still allude in conversation 
 as the wicked earl, not, perhaps, without a certain 
 relish for his wickedness. He was popular, one learns, 
 among his tenants, chiefly because he put the agent in 
 his place. They say that Lady Bannockburn — long- 
 suffering woman — never in her life set eyes on Brandish 
 Hall, the Suffolk mansion whither her despotic lord 
 came every autumn for the shooting, with his harem. 
 
 Yet though he had that reputation with regard to 
 women, he was not in any sense besotted or a slave to 
 them ; preserved a head for business and affairs of 
 state ; and had a perfect passion for the land, by no 
 means rare among the men of fashion of that day. 
 When down at Brandish, he would take an interest in 
 the estate, walking about like any common man. He 
 had consulted Mr. Rogers upon more than one occasion, 
 putting his questions with a shrewd intelligence which, 
 together with his condescension in thus questioning a 
 homespun man, had made a strong impression in his 
 favour on the parson's mind. To any mention of his 
 lordship's wickedness Mr. Rogers would reply : "I 
 daresay you and me would be no better in his place, 
 bo' ! " In short, he had felt flattered by his lordship's 
 notice ; and he was no doubt still more flattered by a 
 visit from the earl one winter's morning, when his 
 lordship deigned to sit beside his kitchen fire and quaff 
 two bumpers of his home-brewed ale. A portrait in the 
 gallery at Brandish, painted about that time, presents 
 Lord Bannockburn as a square, upright man, of middle 
 age, his face clean shaven, high-nosed, with a ha.ughty 
 look about the eyes, thin-lipped and square of chin — ■ 
 an uninviting face, but one which had some consider- 
 able charm in animation, so tradition sa}^s. 
 
 " What is all this I hear from Mr. Smith ? " inquired 
 the visitor. " I gather that he has behaved towards you 
 with unpardonable rudeness, in his zeal for what he deems 
 my interests. I understand from him that you claim the 
 Valley Farm on behalf of the rector of Millingham. Is 
 that so ? Well, on what now do you base the claim ? "
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 253 
 
 " On title-deeds and other documents m our possession, 
 and on common knowledge," was the parson's answer. 
 
 " That sounds conclusive," said the earl, reflecting. 
 " I personally have no knowledge of the matter. I 
 spent last evening in the muniments room at Brandish, 
 trying to find some document relating to it. There is 
 none. Therefore, it may be, as you say, that the farm 
 is not my property. But I must confess that I have 
 always understood that it formed part of the estate. 
 My father used to boast that he had brought this Suffolk 
 property into a ring fence, and that farm runs a wedge into 
 the heart of it. Moreover, Smith informs me that we have 
 received the rent unquestioned since he has been agent 
 here. I take it you are sure that what you say is true ? " 
 
 " I hold the proof, my lord." 
 
 " Then I am truly sorry for a misapprehension which 
 must have worn the look of robbery. I beg that you 
 will pardon Smith for his mistaken zeal on my behalf. 
 He knew no more than I did that the case was so. We 
 must refund the money we have taken wrongfully." 
 
 " That's right, I reckon," replied Mr. Rogers. " But, 
 seeing as it's a mistake, I don't suppose the rector'll be 
 that hard upon your lordship." 
 
 ' We must come to some arrangement." The earl 
 rose to go. He said as if upon an afterthought : — 
 
 ' Perhaps you would be good enough to let me see the 
 documents which you have mentioned at some future 
 time ? " 
 
 ' If you'll step up with me to the church this minute 
 I'll show them to your lordship now, and welcome ! " 
 
 " I have no time this morning, I regret to say. Well, 
 let me see. How best can we arrange it ? I'm only 
 down at Brandish for a day or two, and I am quite 
 alone. Will you come up to-morrow afternoon and dine 
 with me ? A lonely meal is indigestion, I find. We will 
 have Smith in after dinner to discuss this business, and 
 you will kindly bring the documents with you." 
 
 The parson .mswered : " Without fail, my lord." 
 
 In the narrative which he has left of these events,
 
 254 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 Mr. Rogers has described with bitter humour his immense 
 elation at this mark of favour from the great man of the 
 neighbourhood : how he rode about the parish on his 
 cob, informing people casually in the way of small talk 
 that he was to dine with the earl alone at Brandish on 
 the morrow ; how he carefully forgot to state the business 
 purpose of the visit because it might take something 
 from the honour in the estimation of his neighbours ; 
 and how, upon the following morning, he unlocked the 
 church, opened the parish chest and found the documents 
 relating to the Valley Farm. These he put together 
 in a " skin portfolio " of his, which he carried with him 
 when he rode to Brandish in the afternoon, " arrayed," 
 as he is pleased to tell us, " in my decent coat of black, 
 short cassock, my black breeches, silken hose and shoes 
 with silver buckles, my three-cornered hat." He 
 describes, too, how upon the road one after another of 
 his flock accosted him, beseeching him to pray the 
 Lord (meaning, of course, the earl) on their behalf. 
 One had lost a cow and was in straits for money ; 
 another was behindhand with his rent. He readily 
 agreed to be their intercessor, and heart-felt blessings 
 followed him along the lanes. 
 
 His account of his arrival at the hall is florid and 
 minute. It is considered as the grandest moment of his 
 earthly life. "The palace," he declares, "though half shut 
 up, revealed to me the utmost dignity of human life. A 
 janitor, resplendent as the peacock in his pride, conducted 
 me through lofty halls and sounding galleries, furnished 
 with rare works of art and foreign treasures, into a cham- 
 ber where I deemed that I had lost my sense of hearing, so 
 sudden did my feet fall noiseless on thick carpets." 
 
 Here he was met by the earl, when, as he says, 
 "surrounding splendours vanished and were seen no 
 more." He had eyes for nothing but " that noble 
 presence, that most gracious smile." 
 
 "I am glad to see that you have brought those 
 papers," was his host's remark. " We will go through 
 them at our leisure after dinner."
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 255 
 
 The guest could only bow and shuffle with his feet. 
 
 The dinner was " an epic feast " ; the wine was 
 " nectar " ; the conversation of the earl " a mirror of 
 high life." His lordship condescended to refer to Mrs. 
 Malby kindly, blaming the parson's obstinacy in re- 
 fusing to receive her. Malby, he frankly said, had been 
 a fool to marry her ; but, as things proved, he might 
 have done much worse. " He married against my advice 
 and that of all his friends. But he did marry her. I don't 
 see what you have to grumble at," the host declared. 
 
 " It is her rebellion against my authority, my lord. 
 Filial obedience is a sacred duty." 
 
 " But when filial disobedience has endowed you with 
 a wealthy son-in-law, I call you a curmudgeon not to 
 sing Te Deum," the earl cried. 
 
 At this point Parson Rogers interrupts his narrative 
 in order to applaud his lordship's freedom ; implying 
 that had the earl expressed his mind less plainly to one 
 so vastly his inferior, being who he was, he might have 
 been suspected of duplicity and all those hollow arts by 
 which the great cajole the small. His manner was 
 devoid of affectation. " He spoke to me as one whom 
 he had known from childhood ; he even swore at me ; 
 leading me to admire his magnanimity and candour no 
 less than the effulgence of his worldly state. At his 
 lordship's pressing invitation I drank freely of the 
 various wines, the best I ever swallowed or am like to 
 taste — too freely, though I thought not at the time." 
 
 After sitting at the dinner-table for two hours, Lord 
 Bannockburn arose and led his guest into another 
 room, where a great fire was burning underneath a 
 carven mantelpiece. On entering this room the parson's 
 head swam and he stumbled. " His lordship in the 
 kindest manner helped me to a chair." 
 
 " Smith is certain to be late," remarked the earl as 
 he sat down. " We might glance through those papers 
 before he arrives." 
 
 Mr. Rogers had carried the portfolio with him duti- 
 fully to the dinner-table and on into the room where he
 
 256 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 now sat — a room which, to the best of his remembrance 
 at the time of writing, was furnished entirely in black, 
 but this impression, he confesses, " may be due to the 
 event which there befell." He took up the portfolio and 
 began to fumble with the strings. 
 
 " Wait ! ' cried his lordship, who then rose and 
 rang a bell beside the chimney- place. " Bring the 
 Madeira and two glasses," he commanded the domestic 
 who came, as silent as a ghost, in answer to the summons. 
 
 " We may as well be comfortable while we do our 
 business," said the earl, and Mr. Rogers, as he owns, 
 felt deeply grateful, knowing well that never more, in all 
 his earthly pilgrimage, would he taste such a Madeira. 
 
 He tells how slumber came upon him heavily, seeming 
 an emanation of that baleful room. He had the sense of 
 being plunged into the heart of some great, awful building 
 such as a prison or a madhouse, far from human kind. 
 This sensation he experienced repeatedly, and every 
 time would start awake to see the glowing fire, and the 
 earl engaged in a perusal of the documents concerning 
 Valley Farm by the light of three tall candles set in 
 silver candlesticks upon a desk or table at his back. 
 The glimmer of the candle-flames enhanced the gloom 
 around. The room was vast and lofty, illumined only 
 by those candles and the glowing fire. He must, he 
 thinks, have been to sleep in earnest for a moment when 
 he was startled by the earl exclaiming : — 
 
 " Mr. Rogers ! " 
 
 "Yes, my lord! " he faltered, sitting up in some confusion, 
 asking pardon for his somnolence. The earl was on his feet. 
 
 " Mr. Rogers, I desire that you should witness what I 
 am about to do. This document in my hand is the title- 
 deeds you have been good enough to show me. Do you 
 see and recognise it ? " 
 
 " Yes, my lord." 
 
 " Thank you ! " 
 
 His lordship went up to the fire, and placed the parch- 
 ment in the centre of the glow, holding it with the tongs, 
 till it was quite consumed.
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 257 
 
 " I was like paralysed, powerless to move. I sat 
 and stared incredulously at the crime. I gasped : 
 'My lord ! My lord ! But Mr. Smith 
 
 " Smith will not come," replied his lordship gravely. 
 He bade me take another glass of wine and I obeyed 
 mechanically, feeling in truth in great need of a cordial." 
 
 " These papers are the various leases and agreements 
 which you brought to show me," said the earl. " Kindly 
 witness this transaction as you did the other. . . . 
 Don't look so scared, man. We are burning parchments. 
 Gentlemen of your profession used to burn live human 
 flesh not long ago." 
 
 The parson, paralysed as he described himself, " held 
 down in my seat as by some unseen hand," saw all the 
 documents consumed in the same manner. 
 
 " There is nothing else, I fancy," said the earl when 
 this was done. " You have my leave to tell what you 
 have seen to everybody, if you dare." 
 
 This permission was accompanied by a terrific glance, 
 " not menacing nor wholly scornful, but of power." And 
 then the parson lost all consciousness. " I must have 
 had a fit or something," he remarks, for once colloquial. 
 
 He was sent home honourably in the earl's own 
 carriage, the coachman carrying a note to his son John 
 announcing that his worthy father had been taken ill 
 at Brandish Hall, and that Lord Bannockburn desired 
 to be informed of the due progress towards recovery of 
 one whose friendship he so highly valued. These 
 circumstances, known to all in Millingham, increased the 
 consequence of Mr. Rogers in the neighbourhood. Even 
 now old country-folks will tell you how the earl esteemed 
 plain Parson Rogers more than all the great folks. 
 
 The victim of deception was in bed two days. It 
 was a week ere he felt strong enough to undertake the 
 ride to Cambridgeshire in order to inform his rector of 
 the crime he had been forced to witness. He was on the 
 point of doing this, as he expressly tells us, when a letter 
 reached him from his " noble patron," as he sometimes 
 calls him — for Bannockburn presented him to a small
 
 258 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 living of some fifty pounds a year, carrying with it the 
 status of a vicar though without a residence — saying 
 that the rector of Millingham had been informed already 
 of his curate's recent illness and delusions, and was 
 glad to hear of his complete recovery. 
 
 From that he understood that, if he rode to Ely, he 
 would be treated as a madman, and his tale discounted. 
 But as a man of conscience, and, moreover, vexed at 
 being so completely duped by anybody, he was bent 
 on doing something to defeat the earl. Accordingly 
 he rode off, not to Ely, but to Malby Hall, and became 
 in a manner reconciled to Margery, though still adhering 
 strictly to the letter of his vow. He never let her come 
 into his house, nor is there any reason to suppose she 
 ever wished to do so. Andrew Malby, as the parson 
 knew, cherished a grudge against Lord Bannockburn, 
 for having once in London laid a vulgar bet concerning 
 Margery. Having heard the story of the title-deeds, he 
 readily agreed to claim the Valley Farm, which did in 
 fact adjoin his property ; and pressed the claim through 
 lawyers with so much effect, that Bannockburn, aware 
 of Mr. Rogers in the background, was glad to com- 
 promise the matter. The farm was declared neutral, 
 to be held by each estate in turn for three-year periods, 
 an arrangement which has lasted till the present day. 
 
 " My noble patron bore no malice for this plot of mine 
 to rob him of some part of his ill-gotten gains," the 
 parson writes. " Rather he seemed to value me the 
 more for not submitting tamely to so great a wrong. 
 It is thanks in a great measure to his lordship's influence, 
 benevolently exercised in their behalf, that my three 
 sons have reached the good positions which they now 
 enjoy." One had a doctor's shop in Ipswich, another 
 was employed upon Lord Bannockburn's estate, and 
 the third, after rising to the rank of sergeant in a march- 
 ing regiment, had a commission purchased for him by 
 the same good angel. 
 
 The rapprochement with the Malbys did not last for 
 long. The parson, living all alone — his sons had gone
 
 A HUNDRED YEARS AGO 259 
 
 into the world — fell soon into a drunken way of life, 
 frequenting taverns and carousing with the neighbouring 
 farmers, with the daughter of one of whom he contracted 
 a second marriage in his sixty-seventh year. The bride 
 was thirty-seven years his junior, but she seems to 
 have been honestly attached to him. She took her 
 wifely duties seriously, and for two years he was again 
 respectable. It was in this interval, as he himself 
 relates, that, troubled in his conscience by the crime of 
 which he was in some sort an accomplice — and which 
 he regards as " robbery of the poor " — though how 
 the diversion of a certain sum of yearly rent from the 
 pocket of the always absent rector of Millingham to 
 that of the occasionally present Earl of Bannockburn 
 can be said in any manner to affect the poor, it is not 
 easy to perceive — troubled by the crime, I say, yet not 
 caring to reveal the matter to a living soul after the 
 benefits he had accepted from his noble patron, he 
 determined, since he could not make amends, to leave 
 at least a full confession of his guilt in writing. He looks 
 back on his time of drunkenness as on a period of 
 aberration. " A man," he says, " must face the truth, 
 or he will lose his soul." But his young wife died in 
 childbed, and in his grief on that occasion he drank 
 hard once more. It is a matter of common knowledge 
 that he fell off a plank into a ditch, and was drowned 
 in about a foot and a half of mud and water, one night 
 when staggering home from a carouse at that same 
 Valley Farm concerning which his conscience had been 
 so much exercised. The labourers from far and near 
 flocked to his funeral, to which the Malbys sent their 
 carriage and the earl a wreath. 
 
 " Now is not that a curious story ? " said the present 
 rector of Millingham, leaning forward in his chair to 
 poke the fire and looking round at me. " Only a hundred 
 years ago, and yet the life of which it tells is almost as 
 remote from ours to-day as that of Timbuctoo." 
 
 I remarked that I was truly glad that times had changed.
 
 260 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 " I don't know," mused the antiquary, gazing hard 
 into the fire, " I don't know. At least at that time every- 
 body in the country had his place and knew it. There 
 was sycophancy, an exaggerated reverence for persons 
 highly placed, but very little snobbishness, as we now 
 understand the word. Now when I first unearthed that 
 manuscript, I was full of it. I thought that every one 
 in any way connected with the parson's narrative 
 would be as pleased as I was at my great discovery. 
 I went to the present Lord Bannockburn, and what do 
 you suppose he said ? He took an angry tone, and told 
 me that if I thought to base a claim upon those papers, 
 I should lose my money ; that the alleged confession 
 of a drunken parson, unauthenticated and unwitnessed, 
 was no evidence. I laughed at him, protesting I had 
 no designs, but only thought the story interesting in a 
 human sense ; which he at length agreed that it might 
 be, to some people. 
 
 ' ' I told the present Malbj's all about it when dining 
 at their house one evening. Mrs. Malby at the time 
 professed to be profoundly interested, so did they all. 
 When I told them that I wanted to include the contents 
 of the manuscript in a little volume of parochial anti- 
 quities, every one in the drawing-room expressed delight 
 at the idea. But the next day Colonel Malby came to 
 see me here in private, and then I heard his real opinion 
 of my project. It was impossible — atrocious. If I did 
 such a thing I should be deservedly " cut " by every 
 decent person in the neighbourhood. And what do you 
 imagine was the ground of his objection ? Simply this : 
 that some of Parson Rogers's descendants are small 
 farmers in the neighbourhood, and the Malbys do not 
 wish to be connected with them in the public mind. 
 'One doesn't like to be reminded of a blot on one's 
 escutcheon,' he observed heraldically. 
 
 " Of course I gave up all idea of publication, but 
 really I don't know — I do not know that I should call 
 the present state of our society greatly superior to that 
 which Parson Rogers has described."
 
 THE RISING TIDE 
 
 Some people of the name of Briggs had taken Greenlands 
 — the modern house whose lodge and iron gates, breaking 
 a long extent of new oak fence, may be observed outside 
 the village on the Chelmsford road — and, as usual in the 
 country, there was curiosity. The local gentry, led by 
 Lady Parasang (the dowager), decided after brief in- 
 spection that the new arrivals were " nice people," 
 worthy of admission to their social circle. Mr. Briggs 
 was a retired civil servant, an unobtrusive, perfectly 
 well-mannered man, clean shaven, wearing pince-nez, 
 a great reader. There were two girls at home, and a 
 young boy at Rugby — a good school — and three quite 
 little children in the nursery. But Mrs. Briggs it was 
 who made the chief impression, for she did all the 
 talking and she did it well ; offending none of the polite 
 traditions which govern the first call in quiet neighbour- 
 hoods still uninvaded by the class of householder who 
 goes to London every day. 
 
 The villagers, however, who knew nothing of such 
 shibboleths, reserved their judgment till the Briggses 
 came their way ; thinking it likely that, like many of the 
 gentry, the new arrivals would prove sheer nonentities 
 so far as local trade or gossip was concerned. But Mrs. 
 Briggs had certain strong proclivities ; and it was upon 
 the villagers — " the poor " she called them — that she 
 focussed her attention when once she had assured the 
 social status of her house. 
 
 She was the daughter of a clergyman long since 
 deceased, and as a girl had helped her father in his 
 parish; thus acquiring in her youth the instinct of 
 trained sheep-dogs for rounding up a flock wherever 
 sen. And, idolising as slv did her father's memory, 
 
 261
 
 262 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 she was inclined to view the shepherds of to-day as 
 hirelings only. At Holly Grove the vicar was an amiable 
 man, but old and much averse to visiting. He did his 
 duty in the church and school, and nothing more. An 
 earnest worker was thus needed in the parish. 
 
 " I always think we have a duty to the poor," she 
 told her daughter Ruby ; "we ought to do our best to 
 brighten and improve their lives." 
 
 And so the poor of Holly Grove, who had been left in 
 peace for years, were presently astonished by the 
 apparition of a comely dame, dressed out in serviceable 
 tweeds and stick in hand, who knocked peremptorily 
 at cottage doors and entered, smiling, followed by a 
 nervous girl. 
 
 " How are you, Mrs. Sawnor ? " — She had taken 
 care to get the name quite right beforehand ; " they 
 think so much of that," she told her daughters — " I'm 
 Mrs. Briggs from Greenlands. I hope you do not mind 
 my dropping in like this ; but I like to get acquainted 
 with my neighbours. I always think we ought to hold 
 together in a little place." 
 
 And she would go on to inquire the size and contents 
 of the cottage, the names and ages of the children and 
 the husband's earnings, with a resolute, unflinching 
 kindness which compelled an answer even from a ruffled 
 wife who thought her visit impudence, and the tightness 
 of her coat and skirt indecent for so full a figure. 
 
 " Well, she have got a face ! " said Mrs. Sawnor on a 
 Saturday evening when she stood to make her weekly 
 purchases in Dawson's shop. " She marches into my 
 house as cool as cucumbers at tea-time, and asks the price 
 of everything we had to eat. And yet you can't help 
 answerin' and feelin' kind o' pleased until she've gone, 
 she's that contagious ! " 
 
 "Ah, you may say so, drat her," said another customer. 
 " That make ye want to bob only to catch her eye. 
 And I ain't bobbed to no one since I were a gel so 
 high ! " 
 
 Mrs. Dawson, capable and silent woman, safe
 
 THE RISING TIDE 263 
 
 depository of the village secrets, tying up their parcels 
 at the counter, said : — 
 
 " That's just her way, I reckon. She've been trained 
 like that." She did not think it fitting to inform the 
 gossips that she herself had suffered from the lady's 
 inroad. She held herself above the cottage folk, so 
 added simply : " You see, you han't been used to 
 nothing of the kind. Some places get it regular. 
 We've been more fortunate." 
 
 Indeed the peasant folk of Holly Grove had been so 
 long a law unto themselves that they had come to call 
 their simple lives their own, and looked to no one 
 but themselves for comfort, guidance or amusement. 
 That seemed a shocking state of things to Mrs. Briggs. 
 The village was dismayed to hear that earnest lady 
 inveigh against the vicar for neglect of duty, and 
 announce her own intention to repair his errors by 
 starting bible-classes, sewing-parties, clothing clubs. 
 She was, as Mrs. Sawnor put it, " that contagious " 
 that even while the women scoffed at the idea of such 
 activities, they found themselves entangled in them, 
 and even taking Mrs. Briggs's view that they were 
 somehow good. The lady bountiful was charmed with 
 the response to her reviving call. 
 
 " We must give them something nice for a reward," 
 she told her daughters after the sewing-party and the 
 bible-class had run a month. " They have nothing to 
 amuse them in the winter evenings. We must get up 
 something. You remember the old penny readings in 
 dear Hedgeburgh ? " 
 
 Her daughter Jean, who had a joyous nature and, 
 being seventeen, no social flair, begged earnestly for 
 dancing in the village schoolroom. But Mrs. Briggs 
 repelled the notion as unsuitable for people in that 
 class of life. " Your grandfather," she told her daughter 
 " disapproved of it. The morals of the poor were his 
 incessant care — so much so that he would not let us go 
 among them in low evening dress. I always think how 
 wise he was in that. They have a different life to lead,
 
 264 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 and different customs, which are best for them. And 
 some things, he would often say, they cannot 
 understand." 
 
 It was at length decided that the youthful Briggses — 
 Ruby and Jean and Jack, who would be home from 
 Rugby — should give an entertainment in the village 
 schoolroom after Christmas, with what assistance 
 they could get from other gentry of the neighbour- 
 hood. 
 
 " Poor things ! It will be quite a treat for them," 
 said Mrs. Briggs with pathos. " They have had nothing 
 done for them at all for years. We can charge a shilling 
 for the better seats — with just a few at eighteenpence 
 for our own friends — and all the back ones can be six- 
 pence. They always like to pay for things like that. 
 Your grandfather said often that they have their pride, 
 which it is our duty to respect and to preserve. We 
 must not pauperise them." 
 
 Her daughters were delighted, not on grounds of 
 public kindness, but because they both were fond of 
 dressing up. Their mother promised to invite some 
 London cousins, and Lady Parasang, approached, said 
 she would have her house full at the time, and doubted 
 not but she could furnish them with some performers. 
 The scheme was to be kept a secret from the village. 
 And so it was until the time drew near enough to make 
 it necessary to provide for the arrangement of the 
 schoolroom and erection of a stage. Then Lady Para- 
 sang, again approached, told Mrs. Briggs to seek advice 
 of Mrs. Dawson at the village shop, a notionable woman 
 who knew everything about the place. 
 
 " Get the right side of her," said Lady Parasang, 
 " and you need give yourself no further worry. Tell 
 her what you want, and she'll find men to do it. I have 
 faith in her." Her ladyship went on to tell how once, 
 when driving in her carriage, she had bowed to one of 
 Dawson's daughters by mistake for an acquaintance — 
 " She was so nicely dressed, my dear ; it might have 
 been any one, I do assure you " — a story which seemed
 
 THE RISING TIDE 265 
 
 bad to Mrs. Briggs, and did not prepossess her in the 
 Dawsons' favour. 
 
 By that time two short farces, a violin concerto and 
 some songs were in the wind, and there were merry 
 evenings twice a week at Greenlands, when some thirty 
 bright young people — of whom ten were the performers — 
 met together for the purpose of rehearsal. 
 
 Mrs. Briggs did go and call on Mrs. Dawson, who 
 wore a doubtful air when she first heard the news. 
 Opposed to such a cool demeanour, Mrs. Briggs's tone 
 and manner became the more enthusiastic to describe 
 the treat in store for Holly Grove. 
 
 " My young folks are preparing it as a surprise," she 
 said. " But I felt that I really must tell you. It seemed 
 to us so pitiful that nothing has been done for all the 
 people here. They have nothing to amuse them in the 
 winter evenings." 
 
 ' Well, what do you want me to do, ma'am ? " 
 questioned Mrs. Dawson, in a manner which sorely 
 disconcerted Mrs. Briggs, who had not yet so much as 
 hinted that she came with a request. 
 
 " I did think," she faltered, with a pleading smile, 
 " that perhaps you would be good enough to help us 
 with advice about arranging the school and putting up 
 the platform, and all that. It's such a business I " 
 
 " John Sawnor generally sees to that. I'll tell him, 
 if you like, to call and see you. And I daresay I could 
 find you other help." 
 
 " That is so good of you. I think I'll leave it all to 
 you if you don't mind. We must make you a member of 
 the committee. You must come to Greenlands to our 
 rehearsal on Saturday." 
 
 " I'm afraid I can't do that, ma'am. Saturday's my 
 busy day. But I'll tell John Sawnor what to do, about 
 the schoolroom." 
 
 " Thank you so very much. I am so truly grateful 
 to you. Lady Parasang herself assured me that I should 
 find you everything that's kind and good." 
 
 Having watched her visitor depart, Mrs. Dawson left 
 A.o.s.u. s
 
 2 66 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 the parlour and went into another much more home- 
 like room, where all her family were set at tea. She sat 
 down in her place without a word. 
 
 " What did she want, mum ? " asked her youngest 
 daughter, May. 
 
 " What don't she want ? " was the concise rejoinder, 
 which was all that could be got from her till she had 
 had some tea. Then she explained. " There's nothing 
 done for us, and folks like us ain't able to amuse our- 
 selves. And so some kind young gentlemen and ladies are 
 goin' to give a concert for us at the school. And we're 
 allowed to pay to see 'em. And I'm to do all the 
 arrangin'. That's all she wanted, since you ask me 
 straight." 
 
 Derisive laughter greeted this conclusion. 
 " When's it to be ? " asked Ned, the eldest son. 
 " The Thursday after Christmas, eight o'clock, she 
 said." 
 
 " Well, we aren't going, that's a sure thing. Why, 
 that's the evenin' of the dance at Hailes's barn." 
 
 " Some of us'll have to go," said Mr. Dawson, rising, 
 having had his tea, and filling a large briar pipe from a 
 stone jar upon the chimney-piece. 
 
 " Well, you and mum go. We can't really," answered 
 Kate and May and Alice in a breath. " What, miss the 
 Hailes's dance ? Not likely ! " 
 
 " Well, mother, you and I must go, I reckon," said 
 their father philosophically. " The Greenlands folk are 
 customers. Must humour 'em ! " 
 
 " What must be must," said Mrs. Dawson with a sigh. 
 " We won't cause sorrow to a fellow-creature. After all, 
 she's that ! " 
 
 The entertainment proved a scandal from the village 
 point of view. The eighteenpenny seats reserved for 
 gentry stretched half-way down the room, and those 
 beyond them had to get upon their feet if they wished 
 to see the faces of performers on the little stage. People 
 who had paid for shilling seats arrived to find those seats 
 filled up, and had to be content with forms or standing
 
 THE RISING TIDE 267 
 
 room. The gentry in the front rows talked, and laughed 
 among themselves so loudly as sometimes to prevent 
 the humbler sort from hearing anything. And several 
 ladies came so slightly clad that Mrs. Dawson said in 
 doleful accents to the blacksmith's wife : — 
 
 " I'm glad my boys ain't here to see what we 
 do." 
 
 Then the performance was undoubtedly the very 
 worst that any one in Holly Grove remembered to have 
 seen ; and the village did not lack experience, for it had 
 organised a number of such entertainments on its own 
 account, though these were quite beneath the notice of 
 the upper crust. It opened with a farce in which the 
 two Misses Briggs and their brother, the Honble John 
 Miles (a son of Lady Parasang) and the latter's most 
 ungainly, girlish wife performed. The scene was in a 
 seaside lodging-house. The dialogue was clever, and the 
 playlet would have been successful, every one agreed, 
 if the actors had remembered all their words, and if the 
 Honble. John had not been audible hee-hawing to Miss 
 Ruby in the wings when both were " off." The second 
 farce, played in a drawing-room, was rather silly, and 
 after that the show was quite contemptible. 
 
 Every one of the least experience in entertainments 
 knows that, when there are two little plays to be enacted, 
 one should come at the beginning of the programme and 
 the other at the end, the time between being filled out 
 with sundries. In this case the two plays were the 
 first items. After them came a song entitled — 
 " Memories " — by Ruby Briggs, who had a pretty, 
 natural voice, but now sang sharp through nervousness, 
 which was increased by the vagaries of the school piano, 
 of which the most important notes were always dumb. 
 Then came a violin solo — " Home, Sweet Home " with 
 variations — by poor Miss Jean, who managed to get 
 through it somehow ; then a facetious song in French 
 by Mrs. Miles, applauded wildly by the gentry, and then 
 the famous violin concerto, which was like the noises of 
 a farm. This was followed by another little song — a
 
 268 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 single verse — in French, by Mrs. Miles, which was com- 
 pletely drowned by calls for silence ; for a number of 
 young men in evening dress had gone into the class- 
 room and were joking with the company in tones 
 distinctly heard. Miss Jones, from Burnham rectory, 
 next came on and gave a patriotic recitation. " Wake 
 up, England ! " which at times became inaudible, at 
 others deafening. There was an awkward pause and 
 then the Honble. John appeared, announcing his intention 
 to recite all that he could remember of a comic piece 
 called " Bill Adams at the Battle of Waterloo." He 
 could remember very little of it as it proved, but his 
 grimaces and his hesitations pleased some children, and 
 he won applause. 
 
 There was another awkward pause, and Mrs. Briggs 
 came in a flutter from the class-room. Observant of 
 her father's rule, she wore a high-necked dress, and was 
 a little scandalised to see so many of her friends without 
 compassion for the natural feelings of the poor. She 
 could be heard exclaiming in a loud stage-whisper : 
 " Can't any one do something ? " while her eyes ranged 
 over the front rows appealingly. The villagers stood 
 up to try and see what was the matter. The boys 
 behind began to stamp and roar. The face of Mrs. Briggs 
 grew red and redder, as she went from one to other of 
 her friends, beseeching : — 
 
 " Do ! I'm sure you can. We are not critical." 
 At length a black-avised young clergyman was moved 
 by her appeals. He got upon the stage, while a tall, 
 emaciated lady who had sat beside him in the audience 
 — presumably his wife — went up to the piano rolling 
 back her long black gloves. The parson bellowed 
 " Nancy Lee " and then " The Powder-Monkey," the 
 villagers applauding his good nature heartily. Implored 
 by Mrs. Briggs, he went on to recite a Kipling ballad and 
 to sing " John Peel." But even his endurance was at last 
 exhausted ; and then the Honble. John came forward 
 into the middle of the stage, while all the company lined 
 up behind him.
 
 THE RISING TIDE 269 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," he fairly roared, " I have 
 to announce with deep regret the end of a delightful 
 programme. We ask you all to join us in 'God save the 
 King'." 
 
 " I hope you've all enjoyed yourselves as much as 
 we have," added Mrs. Briggs, with beaming smile 
 towards the humbler audience. 
 
 " God save the King " was sung with wild abandon, 
 and the folks trooped out. It was then half-past nine, 
 and the performance had begun at eight. Holly Grove 
 had been accustomed to a programme of at least two 
 hours. 
 
 " Chronic, that's what it was ! " " What do she take 
 us for ? ' "0 Lord o' Mercy, save us ! " were among 
 the comments in the road. 
 
 Mrs. Briggs caught Mrs. Dawson in the act of going, 
 and detained her, crying : — 
 
 " Wasn't it a great success ? We've taken over five 
 pounds ; and I want so much to talk to you about an 
 object for the money. I'm giving a party to the bible- 
 class to-morrow afternoon at Greenlands. Won't you 
 come — with all your girls ? Then we can talk things 
 out." 
 
 " I fancy I can manage that," said Mrs. Dawson 
 glumly. 
 
 " That's pleasure for the likes of us," she told her 
 husband as they sauntered homeward side by side. 
 
 " I never looked for nothing else," said he. " But 
 still there's one good thing. There's time for me to get 
 a drink before the White Hart closes." 
 
 " It's an ill wind that blows nobody good, you mean," 
 replied his wife. " Well, get along with you. I wouldn't 
 have missed seein' it, and that's the truth." 
 
 A motor passed them full of laughing people, and 
 then two other motors, brimming over. The entertainers 
 and their friends were off to Greenlands to crown 
 success with supper and a dance. 
 
 Their revels lasted late enough to make the two Misses 
 Briggs a little out of humour on the following day, when
 
 270 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 they were called upon to entertain the members of the 
 bible-class. Mrs. Briggs had sown her invitations 
 broadcast in the parish and, the story of the entertain- 
 ment having gone abroad, many people changed their 
 minds and went at the last moment, hoping to see 
 another grand fiasco. 
 
 When doing hostess to the poor she had a ritual 
 derived from the remembered practice of a rectory. 
 For tea she gave them plenty — of a special kind, by no 
 means what she would have set before her friends. The 
 bread and butter and the sandwiches were of a certain 
 thickness, the buns and cakes of a peculiar sort, called 
 homely, which was never seen upon her board at other 
 times. And she put on peculiar heartiness of manner 
 which she would never have employed in speech to 
 gentlefolks — a resolute and breezy optimism which, 
 she felt, encouraged them. There was almost — never 
 quite — a touch of dialect in her remarks, an inclination 
 to say " Thankee," when conversing with the poor, 
 which could not fail to put them at their ease. 
 
 Their ease was not self-evident on this occasion as 
 they sat at tea in the long dining-room at Greenlands 
 replying to her cheerful talk with monosyllables. Her 
 daughters helped her with the duties of the table, but 
 did nothing to support the conversation ; in which her 
 sole assistants were the Dawson girls, who ventured a 
 remark occasionally, and Jack, her schoolboy son, who 
 struggled hard for jollity and, when the company was 
 led off to the schoolroom after tea to play Dumb Crambo, 
 did, by his jokes, succeed in rousing laughter. Hearing 
 that laughter, Mrs. Briggs concluded all was well. 
 She sank down in a chair by Mrs. Dawson's side, 
 exclaiming : — 
 
 " At last I have a chance to talk to you. About that 
 money which we took last night. It ought to go to some- 
 thing that the village is interested in. Now I was think- 
 ing of the missionaries." 
 
 " Is the village interested in them ? " questioned Mrs. 
 Dawson.
 
 THE RISING TIDE 271 
 
 "It will be soon," replied the lady firmly. " Our 
 sewing-class, you know, is for the missionaries. And 
 in the summer we are going to hold a sale of work. I 
 am writing to ask them to let all our contributions go to 
 a particular place ; and by-and-by we'll get a little 
 black boy given to us to bring up entirely. That will be 
 so much nicer, don't you think ? And such an interest. 
 My dear father, who was a most energetic clergyman, 
 always used to say that there is nothing like an interest 
 in foreign missions for keeping a parish together. He 
 was rector of a place called Hockingham in Norfolk. 
 And the little black boy whom we kept at some wild 
 place in Africa was christened Hockingham after the 
 parish, so that he would always know. Wasn't it a 
 nice idea ? " 
 
 " I don't know as we're that fond o' blacks in Holly 
 Grove," said Mrs. Dawson thoughtfully. 
 
 " Ah, but you will be when you get to know about 
 them," answered Mrs. Briggs ; and she was going to 
 say much more upon the subject when she was prevented 
 by her son exclaiming : — 
 
 " I say, mother, they can't go yet, can they ? Some 
 of them are saying that it's time to go." 
 
 " Oh, no, we don't break up till seven," answered 
 Mrs. Briggs. " I have my watch, and I will call out 
 when it's time to go." 
 
 "I'm afraid we must be going all the same, ma'am. 
 We've got to be at home by six o'clock," replied Kate 
 Dawson, blushing ; while May bent to her mother's ear 
 and whispered : " Come along ! " Her mother dutifully 
 rose. 
 
 " Oh, but must you really ? Then please wait one 
 minute ! You haven't seen the children yet. They 
 shall come down directly." 
 
 The hostess pressed a bell and gave the necessary 
 order, while the crowd of village maidens and their 
 mothers stood there waiting awkwardly. And presently 
 the children, three in number — two little girls and a 
 small boy of four years old — appeared in clean, white
 
 272 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 frocks and coloured sashes, and with hair well brushed, 
 holding each other's hand and looking terrified. Their 
 mother led them through the room, making them say 
 " How d'ye do ? " to everybody, delighted with the 
 compliments she heard on every side. It was a ceremony 
 that she would not have foregone for worlds at such a 
 gathering, since it gave her little ones an inkling of their 
 social station and at the same time gave such pleasure 
 to the poor. 
 
 " You need not all go, surely ? " she exclaimed, when 
 it was ended ; but every guest declared that she must 
 go at once. 
 
 " Thank you very much, I'm sure, ma'am, and Mr. 
 Jack and the young ladies," called out Kate Dawson 
 as she led the rout. And after they were gone the 
 master of the house rejoined his wife and children, 
 emerging from the study into which he had been shut. 
 
 " Jack's the only one that talks to you as if you were 
 a human being," said May Dawson, as she dragged her 
 mother homeward. 
 
 " How dare you call him Jack, Miss Impudence," 
 laughed Alice. " Mr. Jack, I'll thank you kindly. 
 Know your place ! " 
 
 " Ruby and Jean were yawnin' at us all the time." 
 
 " They're tired, of course, after the doings yesterday. 
 They danced till three o'clock this morning, so the 
 housemaid told me," answered Kate. 
 
 "I'm not so disagreeable when I've danced till 
 morning." 
 
 " Well, somebody did ought to teach them different. 
 I'd give a lot to tell 'em straight for once." 
 
 " You can't teach gentry," said their mother wisely, 
 " no more than you can teach a steam-engine. You 
 must just look on as you would at a play, say 'Sir' and 
 'Ma'am,' and mind you don't get hurt. For my part I've 
 enjoyed myself this afternoon. What we did want 
 in Holly Grove was characters." 
 
 " But can't we give 'em just a hint, mum ? " cried 
 out May despairingly.
 
 THE RISING TIDE 273 
 
 " No," was the firm rejoinder, " that you can't." 
 
 And yet a hint was given, and a strong one — a serious 
 blow, it seemed to Mrs Briggs, inspiring her with new 
 opinions of her poorer neighbours, tinged with the dread 
 which people feel for hostile powers. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Briggs and the young ladies had gone 
 up to London, leaving Mr. Jack in solitary state at 
 Greenlands for one night, which happened to be that of 
 Dawsons' party. In the afternoon before that night 
 there was a football match, Holly Grove against Barn- 
 ham Second, and Jack strolled up to watch it, as a 
 lover of the game. He grew excited, running to and fro 
 with the Grove forwards, and cheered like mad when 
 they secured the winning goal. He went up and con- 
 gratulated Edward Dawson on his prowess afterwards, 
 when, as it happened, May was standing at her brother's 
 side. She whispered : " Ask him to our show to-night," 
 and Ned obeyed her, proffering the invitation with 
 becoming diffidence, as something quite unworthy of 
 the notice of so fine a gentleman, but which might 
 perhaps amuse him for an hour. 
 
 Jack Briggs was taken by surprise. He had his 
 doubts about parental views ; but a defying glance 
 from May's blue eyes dispersed them. 
 
 " What shall I wear ? " he said. 
 
 "Oh, any old thing!" cried May, with a malicious 
 grin. " It's only us, you know." 
 
 " We do a bit o' dressing in our way, sir," Ned ex- 
 plained, twisting his sister's ear for punishment. 
 
 Jack, when the time came, put on evening dress. He 
 felt extremely shy at entering a lighted barn, cleaned 
 out and decked to serve the purpose of a ballroom ; 
 but once inside he thoroughly enjoyed himself. As he 
 said afterwards, there was no nonsense, everybody 
 talked to everybody ; a decent orchestra was going and 
 some tophole grub. There must have been a hundred 
 people present, and at least a score of couples always 
 dancing. The Dawson girls took charge of him, and 
 either danced with him or found him partners. He
 
 274 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 talked footer with the boys and hunting with old Dawson, 
 and stayed entranced till half-past two o'clock, when 
 he walked home gaily chatting with the Greenlands 
 lodge-keeper, his wife and daughter. He had not 
 dreamt that village life was such good fun. And he was 
 full of his discovery upon the morrow, when his family 
 returned. 
 
 "It was ripping, I can tell you," he assured his 
 gasping relatives. " I never enjoyed anything so much 
 in all my life. The girls looked awfully pretty — not in 
 what we call evening dress, but jolly frocks and sashes. 
 They are real good sorts. May taught me two new 
 dances." 
 
 " I hardly think you should have gone without your 
 father's leave, dear boy," said Mrs, Briggs reproachfully. 
 She said no more just then, in presence of his father 
 and of Jean and Ruby. But when she got her son alone, 
 she reprimanded him, deploring his transgression of an 
 unseen boundary, even shedding tears. She pointed 
 out how gravely he had derogated from the high position 
 of a luminary and example which, as a gentleman, it was 
 his duty to preserve through life. 
 
 " How can they respect you if you mix with them ? " 
 she asked him plainly. " And what an impropriety to 
 speak of ' May ' and ' Kate ' and ' Alice ' — before your 
 sisters too, as if those girls had been their equals ! " 
 
 " But, mother, I assure you they were perfectly 
 polite and nice — a good deal more particular than we 
 are, I should say. And, by Jove, they do things well — 
 much better than the people w T e know. Old Dawson 
 must be pretty rich, I think." 
 
 " However rich he is, or may become, his children 
 cannot be the equals of my boy," replied his mother 
 solemnly. " That is really all I ask you to remember. 
 We must keep our distance, or all our cultivated social 
 life will be submerged in commonness. I did not know 
 such things went on in Holly Grove. Dancing till three 
 o'clock cannot be good for boys and girls in that 
 position, who have got to work next day. But I suppose
 
 THE RISING TIDE 275 
 
 it happens only once a year, like the old harvest- 
 homes." 
 
 " No, mother ; Alice Dawson told me she and her 
 sisters have been to ten parties since Christmas, all 
 within a five-mile radius of their house. And it's now 
 only the sixteenth of January." 
 
 That was really more than Mrs. Briggs could bear to 
 hear. Ruby and Jean had only been out once since 
 Christmas. 
 
 " What is their mother thinking of ? " she cried 
 distractedly. " And how do they afford to hire the fly 
 so often ? " 
 
 " They don't go in a fly. They go on bicycles." 
 
 " They must be truly energetic," said his mother, with 
 a sneer, " and pretty objects, I should think, when they 
 arrive. I never thought my boy would show a taste 
 for such low company." 
 
 " They aren't that, really, mother. They're just 
 natural," Jack protested. 
 
 " You've seen them only at their best, dear ! I have 
 long experience, and I assure you that such people, 
 though no doubt quite estimable, are not the sort that 
 I should wish my children to associate with. Their 
 manners and their conversation are not ours. They 
 take advantage. Would you be pleased to know they 
 called you 'Jack,' tout court, as you said 'May' when 
 telling me about their party in the hall just 
 now ? " 
 
 Jack appeared greatly struck by this comparison. 
 He was not destitute of proper pride. How could he be 
 when she had brought him up with so much care to 
 value his position as a gentleman? Seeing him waver, 
 she attacked more strongly, appealing to his holiest 
 sentiments, his better self, his love for home, his duty 
 to his parents and his God; painting his father's grief, 
 his sisters' shame ; drenching him with the social 
 poison in so sweet a form that he esteemed it sacred 
 teaching, gospel truth. Accustomed to accept his 
 parents' views on everything as just and generous, he
 
 276 AS OTHERS SEE US 
 
 was brought near to weeping by this earnest talk. His 
 happy evening now seemed criminal. 
 
 Still he protested : " They were jolly decent ! I 
 shouldn't like to cut them all at once." 
 
 " Certainly not. I do not ask it," said his mother. 
 Then, with infinite indulgence, having gained her point, 
 " Be civil in a gracious way, but not familiar, as I fear 
 you were through thoughtlessness last night. And 
 remember for the future that it is undignified to accept 
 the hospitality of people whom we cannot entertain." 
 
 " You entertain them, mother — Oh, I say, by the 
 way, you really must do things a little better when they 
 come again. They live like fighting-cocks at home and 
 have no end of fun. I've been worrying to know what 
 must they think of the dull grub and stupid games we 
 gave them here. And then that entertainment in the 
 schoolroom. It was utter rot ! " 
 
 Poor Mrs. Briggs could only gasp for half a minute, 
 staring with eyes half glazed as at some sight of fear. 
 Then she broke down. 
 
 " Oh, Jack, my own dear boy ! " she sobbed con- 
 vulsively, clutching him to her breast. " Can you not 
 see the difference ? And how imperative it is that we 
 should keep aloof ? It would be too shocking for us to 
 compete with them as you suggest. ... I do not put 
 things well. Talk to your father ! Think of your 
 sisters and the children and compare ! . . . My boy, 
 I know it is a trial for you. You have a friendly 
 nature, but I know I'm right. I pray you maybe saved 
 from all unworthiness." 
 
 And then, when Jack had taken her into his arms and 
 dried her tears, promising all she wished, she sighed, 
 exclaiming : — 
 
 " Whatever would your grandfather have said ? " 
 
 GLASGOW : W. COLLINS SONS AND CO. LTD.
 
 Messrs. 
 
 COLLINS' 
 
 Latest Novels 
 
 Messrs. COLLINS will always be glad to send 
 their book lists regularly to readers who will 
 send name and address. 
 
 PIRACY 
 
 Michael Arlen 
 
 This is the story of Ivor Pelham Marlay between the 
 ages of 18 and 32, and the period is London, 1910-1922. 
 It is the history of England, two loves, and an ideal. 
 Mr. Arlen deals with all the types of London Society, and 
 he likes to bring out the queer and unexpected sides of 
 his characters. No one who read Mr. Arlen's first book, 
 A London Venture, or his delightful short stories, A 
 Romantic Lady, needs to be told that he writes wittily 
 and well.
 
 Latest Novels 
 
 TYLER OF BARNET 
 
 Bernard Gilbert 
 Author of Old England 
 
 This long, powerful novel shows the dilemma of a 
 middle-aged man with an invalid wife and grown-up 
 children, who falls passionately in love for the first time. 
 As he is a man of iron self-control he represses his passion 
 till it bursts all bounds, with a tragic result. No one 
 now writing knows so well or describes so vividly life in 
 the English countryside as does Bernard Gilbert. 
 
 THE PIT-PROP SYNDICATE 
 
 Freeman Wills Crofts 
 
 Another brilliantly ingenious detective story by the 
 author of The Ponson Case. The mystery of the real 
 business of the syndicate utterly baffled the clever young 
 " amateurs " who tried to solve it, and it took all the 
 experience and perseverance of the " professionals " to 
 break up the dangerous and murderous gang.
 
 Latest Novels 
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED 
 
 F. Scott Fitzgerald 
 
 This book has caused an even greater sensation in 
 America than This Side of Paradise. It is a long, 
 searching, and absolutely convincing study of degeneration, 
 that degeneration which ruins so many of the rich, young, 
 idle people. The " smart set " of New York is hurled 
 into the limelight and mercilessly revealed. A witty, 
 pungent, and entirely orginal book. 
 
 DANDELION DAYS 
 
 Henry Williamson 
 
 This is the tale of a boy's last teems at a public school, 
 a very sensitive, unusual boy, and it is in a sense a sequel 
 to The Beautiful Years. It is the work of a very clever 
 young writer whose nature essays have attracted the 
 widest attention here and in America, and is utterly unlike 
 the usual " school story." It is a subtle and beautifully 
 written study of character.
 
 Latest Novels 
 
 BEANSTALK 
 
 Mrs. Henry Dudeney 
 
 A charmingly told novel of Sussex. The theme is 
 Motherhood, and all the emotional subtleties of the desire 
 for children. 
 
 PENDER AMONG THE 
 RESIDENTS 
 
 Forrest Reid 
 
 This is an episode in the life of Rex Pender, who 
 inherited and came to live at Ballycastle. It is the story 
 of the curious spiritual experience which came to him 
 there. It is in a sense a " ghost story," but it is told by 
 an artist and a stylist. " The Residents," moreover, are 
 admirably contrasted, and in some cases deliciously 
 humorously drawn. A charming, enigmatic, " different " 
 book.
 
 
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