THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 ,
 
 EL RESHID 
 
 A NOVEL 
 
 ANONYMOUS 
 
 I.os ANGELED, CAT.. 
 
 B. R BAUMGARDT & CO. 
 
 1899
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY D. P. HATCH 
 
 OF 
 Los ANGELES, CAL. 
 
 All rights reserved
 
 THE FACE 
 
 My love ! her eyelids close, 
 So soft asleep is she 
 A milk-white dreaming rose. 
 Her soul is waiting me. 
 
 Somewhere in shoreless space 
 Our eyes will meet and part 
 Sweet rapture on her face, 
 And bliss within my heart. 
 
 1773849
 
 REGISTERED
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 POEM " THE FACE" 3 
 
 PREFACE 7 
 
 "WHO AM I?" 9 
 
 A STRANGE MEETING.. 22 
 
 ON THE RIAI/TO 33 
 
 THE JEW 45 
 
 RHEA , 59 
 
 EL RESHID 75 
 
 OFF THE IONIAN ISLES 85 
 
 CAIRO 95 
 
 AT THE SITE OF MEMPHIS i.o 
 
 HELENS 121 
 
 ON THE NILE 133 
 
 KARNAK 144 
 
 C^SAR CATUS 155 
 
 ARCANA COELESTIA 167 
 
 A PROBLEM 173 
 
 A CANTANKEROUS OLD LADY 188 
 
 SALLUS 195 
 
 MYSTERY 206 
 
 SPINO 217 
 
 THE LIBYAN SANDS 228 
 
 WHEREFORE 238 
 
 THE MISSION OF ISSACHAR 249 
 
 THE HEATHEN 260 
 
 THE YANKEE AND THE JEW 269 
 
 QUICK ACTION 281 
 
 ON THE CAMEL'S BACK 290 
 
 A GRIP ON SELF 304 
 
 THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES 312 
 
 THE FIGHT Is ON 321 
 
 THE PRISONER 327 
 
 FACE TO FACE WITH NAKED TRUTH 337 
 
 THE HOUNDS 350 
 
 SATAN 363 
 
 THE DAWN 397 
 
 FRANCE 406 
 
 THE SETTING SUN 414 
 
 VANISHED 419 
 
 ON THE WAY TO DAMASCUS 422 
 
 THE MASTER 426
 
 PREFACE \ 
 
 This novel is founded upon the principle that life 
 is the opposite of death. If so, man only lives 
 when he reaches his full self. His Nirvanic poise 
 implies nothing other than that rapid motion which 
 a top manifests when its spinning is too quick for 
 the eye. 
 
 The people neither live to order, nor marry and 
 die in conventional fashion, nor are they trotted out 
 on the stage at the call of the manager or the signal 
 of the orchestra. There is something behind a 
 man, when he begins objective existence, other than 
 heredity and pedigree. 
 
 Causes far-reaching bring him occasionally in his 
 rush and battle with his kind to a dead stop, and 
 whirl him about face, as though he were gripped 
 by a god. 
 
 Over all is Will, which is free and sovereign, and 
 which has been the prime cause eternally of appar 
 ently irresistable effects.
 
 The story tells something of the incipient stages 
 of the Master ; and by the Master is meant any one 
 who aspires to the regal distinction of the posses 
 sion of power any one who will pay the price of 
 wisdom, and submit to the experience which evolves 
 understanding. 
 
 El Reshid is a hard nut to crack for these who 
 believe in nothing except that which the five senses 
 demonstrate ; and a still harder to the devotees of 
 the pseudo Mahatma, who materializes letters, 
 precious stones and roses on one side of the globe, 
 while his sacred body lies in a dead trance on the 
 other. 
 
 But to get a glimpse of the book you must open 
 it ; to pronounce judgment you must read it 
 through.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WHO AM I ? 
 
 It was in Stamboul; rain had fallen, and washed 
 the minarets and domes of the mosques, but the 
 streets seemed filthier than ever. Alas! there is 
 dirt that water exaggerates, and Stamboul, the 
 vilest, yet fairest of cities, presented its dual aspect 
 on this rainy morning, when Aleppo tried to disen 
 tangle his troublesome locks of hair, after a sound 
 night's sleep. Had it been Edmund Sallus Smith 
 junior, we should have said a night's debauch ; but 
 it was only Aleppo, and he had slept well from 
 sunset till dawn. His hair bothered him; it was 
 thick, long and beautiful, and knew little of the 
 barber; for he never visited the tonsorial adept, 
 unless driven by snarls and despair. The room 
 where the young man was so dexterously busy, 
 was bare, and quite out of order; in fact, a young 
 woman of his age would have rejected it in toto. 
 Gloomy, damp, upheaved, with but one thing of 
 beauty in it, and that was the boy himself. He 
 was neither small nor large, and his suppleness was 
 , evident in every movement of his arm as he criti 
 cally arranged the parting of his black hair a little
 
 10 EL RESHID 
 
 to one side of the right brow. The eyes that 
 looked back at him from the mirror, were tender 
 yet bold ; there are some people whose eyes so draw 
 you that you forget to make discoveries elsewhere; 
 but Aleppo was universally distinguished. His 
 smile revealed perfect teeth; and his nose told a 
 tale of pedigree, which he had thus far failed to 
 trace. 
 
 Suddenly he dropped his comb and paused to 
 listen. 
 
 " I believe that's Smith ; it will be the same old 
 thing over again," and he threw open the door 
 with a commanding air, to let in Edmund Sallus,Jr. 
 
 "Drunk are you?" said Aleppo fiercely; but 
 Sal (this was his pet name) was too far gone to 
 speak. A look of ineffable scorn spread over 
 Aleppo's face; he threw his companion with no 
 gentle hand on the bed, and began to tug away at 
 his boots. The task was a hard one, but even 
 tually he had him undressed, and undercover ; then 
 he sighed heavily and tossed back his hair which 
 had fallen over his brow; a habit of his. 
 
 " This room is polluted; it is sacrilege to write 
 to her here; but where else can I go; it is raining, 
 Sallus calls them ' great guns,' outside." 
 
 He stopped a moment, and looked puzzled. 
 
 " I have it; I'll open the window and sit with 
 my back to the bed; 'tis the best I can do." 
 
 To think was to act. He arranged the furniture 
 of the room with considerable noise, wheeling up
 
 WHO AM I 11 
 
 a lame desk to the window, which he had thrown 
 open to the storm; then casting another look on 
 Smith junior, who snored away unconscious of 
 the fine distinction in ethics drawn by his room 
 mate, he threw himself into a chair with his back 
 to the bed, and sighed again. 
 
 " I haven't had my breakfast yet, have I ? But 
 what of it; it will keep. I would rather write to 
 her than eat." 
 
 He opened the desk; it was in a terrible state. 
 Evidently this young man had brought himself up; 
 but he found somewhere in the medley a pen, 
 paper and an envelope; then, uncorking his bottle 
 of ink, he tossed back his hair again and looked 
 out pathetically into the rain. It dashed in every 
 now and then over his face and eyes, giving him 
 the appearance of a weeping Romeo, hopeless of 
 his love. Suddenly, as if struck by a lightning 
 inspiration, he began to write; and his pen made 
 the queerest, most unreadable scrawls imaginable. 
 The letters, or hieroglyphics, or whatever they 
 were, would be utterly untranslatable to one unac 
 customed to the tongue in which he wrote; so we 
 will transcribe them in English. 
 
 STAMBOUL, Thursday. 
 My Dear Miss Somebody; 
 
 I will write you to-day in spite of everything 
 
 lack of breakfast, a rain storm, and a drunken 
 
 , chum. Nothing can come between you and me, 
 
 sweetheart, not even a bed fellow who snores. I
 
 12 EL RESHID 
 
 hear him, and yet I do not; instead I listen to the 
 trees sighing in Arcadia, and your singing. Ah ! 
 love, how you sing ! Where are you this minute ? 
 Who is so happy as to hear you ? I am jealous of 
 somebody, somewhere. But I must keep my 
 promise to tell you more about myself of whom I 
 know nothing. This is literally true ; I am with 
 out parents or country. Whether I am oriental or 
 occidental, of the south or north, I cannot tell. I 
 have studied myself in the glass, I have asked 
 others, but nobody knows. My eyes and hair are 
 so black that I seem to have hailed from the east, 
 but my skin being white the west can in no 
 way deny me. Who am J, sweetheart ? Even my 
 age is unknown ? How can anybody tell ? I was 
 left, a child, on the steps of a hospital; I might 
 have been five, I might have been seven. All my 
 early years in an asylum ; later, adopted by Aunt 
 Serena (so she was called), who died and left me 
 in Italy, in an artist's studio ; where, having 
 studied a few years, I came into her property, and 
 have been traveling ever since. Who knows my 
 exact age ? I don't. 
 
 Aunt Serena never had a lover, never in all her 
 life; sol heard. She was wofully plain; she found 
 me in the asylum, and thought me beautiful. That 
 was years ago, remember, before I had grown 
 coarse and into a man. She adopted me, and made 
 me her heir. As I told you, yesterday, she was 
 not over rich, but I have enough. She taught me
 
 WHO AM I 13 
 
 to be frugal, and put me to work in a studio, as a 
 sort of apprentice pupil. I loved Aunt Serena, but 
 not as I love you, dear one. I can quite under 
 stand why she never had a lover; but I will tell 
 you of that another day. How it rains ! Who 
 am I, sweetheart? If I could but find you, I am 
 sure I should read my history in your eyes. Yes 
 terday I met some American girls; one of them, I 
 thought, for a moment, was you. How pretty she 
 was! but when she spoke I was disillusioned. No 
 dearest; she is Estelle; but where, are you? 
 That fellow on tha bed is talking in his sleep; it is 
 raining harder than ever, and the drops are drip 
 ping from my eyelashes like tears; besides, I am 
 hungry. To-morrow I will write again. Can you 
 not answer me in some way ? Shove a letter under 
 the door, will you ? Toss it into the window; or 
 mail it and send by post. It's so dreadfully one 
 sided you see. If it were not for your singing, 
 which I am forever hearing, I should despair, 
 lyook for another to-morrow. 
 
 Your true, true love, 
 ALEPPO. 
 
 This pleasant task over, he kissed the missive 
 many times; then enclosing it in an envelope, he 
 addressed it thus : 
 
 " Miss Juliet Somebody, 
 
 Somewhere."
 
 EL RESHID 
 
 He found a box in his desk where he dropped 
 the letter, among hundreds of others, all addressed 
 in the same way, with the exception of a change 
 in the first name ; which seemed to vary periodi 
 cally, like the seasons of the year. On some it 
 was " Miss Helen," on others '' Jeannette ; " again, 
 "Viola" and "Kate," but the surname was 
 always "Somebody," sacredly cherished, and never 
 altered. 
 
 Having locked his desk, and deposited the key 
 in his inner vest pocket, he began the most beau 
 tiful whistling that a boy of twenty or thereabout 
 is capable of ; imitating every bird in Italy, to say 
 nothing of the stray singers in Stamboul. He tor 
 tured his debauched chum, by whistling into his 
 ears; he rolled him over and over on the bed, and 
 whistled at the back of his head ; in fact so inun 
 dated him with a rain of notes, that Sallus sat up, 
 and rubbed his eyes. 
 
 "Come on, get out of this! Here, wait till I 
 give you a douse." 
 
 Aleppo brought the pitcher of water, and poured 
 a quart or more on Sallus' disheveled head, regard 
 less of consequences. This seemed to wake him 
 and to clear his liquor-soaked brain to the fighting 
 point. He sprang out of bed in a fit of rage, and 
 the two had a hand to hand tussel, worthy of a 
 better cause, but Aleppo pinned him at last, after 
 the room had been turned into bedlam, and brought 
 him to terms. A half hour later they went arm in
 
 WHO AM I 15 
 
 arm to breakfast, where Aleppo drank water and 
 filled Sallus with coffee, strong and hot. 
 
 The sun came out and re-gilded the mosques of 
 Stamboul. On the shores of the Bosporus the 
 beautiful villa cities, new- washed, appeared from 
 the distance like the seraglios of a Mohammedan 
 heaven, while through the forests of masts and 
 rigging on the Golden Horn, were caught glimpses 
 of towers and turreted minarets ; with great and 
 little domes, intermingled in incongruous prox 
 imity, that tantalized the charmed eye. East, on 
 the promontory of Asia, lay Scutari, whose pink 
 houses, half buried in gardens and trees, would 
 indicate, were it not for the cypress groves, that 
 the homes of the dead were even more cheerful than 
 those of the living. On the heights, one finds Asia 
 and Europe at his feet ; the sinuous Bosporus 
 rolling between ; and far off in Bithynia the hoary 
 head of Olympus, white with eternal snows. Back 
 again from grandeur to the glittering water, where 
 the caique glides in and out among the larger craft, 
 with all the grace of a Venetian gondola, and up 
 afterward to the sky, where the eyes are lifted 
 naturally to seek relief in simple azure from a sur 
 plus of beauty, that turns pleasure into pain. But 
 this is the veiled Byzantium, draped with the mist 
 which distance brings. Asiatic Rome on her seven 
 hills, is the breeder of everything, from the pests, 
 vermin, and horror of dirt, to the paradise of the 
 Hareem. Here the Ottoman and the occidental
 
 16 EL RESHID 
 
 races shake hands ; extremes meet, and hell and 
 heaven have naught between but a metaphorical 
 Bosporus, where they blend at last in the craft- 
 laden Golden Horn. 
 
 Out from the narrow streets Aleppo dragged his 
 half dazed companion, and settled him at last with 
 his back against a grave stone in the cemetery of 
 Scutari. The millions of dead under the great 
 cypress trees made no sound, unless, in their 
 upward trend toward life, their souls had entered 
 the moaning trees, that sighed and whispered mys 
 teriously, as the wind stole in and out. " Every 
 where were sculptured tomb-stones with their 
 arabesque carvings. Aleppo saw none of them, 
 however, but stared in a puzzled, affectionate way 
 at Sallus. The latter had thrown off his hat, half 
 closed his eyes, and looked, as he leaned against 
 the marble, like one dead. Aleppo planted himself 
 firmly on his two feet in front of him, ran his hands 
 down into his pockets, tossed back his hair, with a 
 jerk of his head, and began: 
 
 " Now it seems to me that you are a sight better 
 oft than I am ; you know who you are, and I don't ; 
 that's one thing in your favor ; then you are the 
 most deucedly handsome cur, that I ever set eyes 
 on." 
 
 Sallus winced a little at this, and straightened 
 himself a bit. 
 
 "You are a downright beauty ; that's why I stay 
 by you so close ; I'd chase beauty across Siberia,
 
 WHO AM I 17 
 
 or Hell for a glimpse, you know ; and here you are 
 right in my hands a veritable Apollo; by jingo ! 
 I believe you are prettier drunk than sober." 
 
 Here Sal sat upright and opened his blue eyes. 
 
 " I^ook here Lep, for heaven's sake leave go that 
 slang " he was thoroughly roused " it's all right 
 in me, but it's horrid in you ; you got it in pretty 
 straight this morning, but as a rule you can't do it, 
 it's worse than an old woman singing." 
 
 Here be sank back in a sort of stupor again, and 
 closed his eyes. Aleppo was right, Sal was beauti 
 ful, with yellow hair, blue eyes, and a girl's cheeks. 
 He might as well have been a young woman ; save 
 that for all round dissipation, and reckless immor 
 ality, few girls, even of the dance houses of Con 
 stantinople could compete with him. Aleppo had 
 fallen in love with Sallus a year before, and begged 
 him of his distracted father, promising to make him 
 into an angel in a given time, provided they were 
 allowed to travel together. After investigation, 
 Mr. Smith, Sr., having ascertained that Aleppo was 
 strictly abstemious and correct, turned over to him 
 his poor baggage of a son, with a forlorn hope, 
 that the young man's influence would eventually 
 be beneficial. The boys had wandered about 
 together for six months, or more, and on this par 
 ticular day they _found themselves under the 
 cypresses at Scutari, the preacher delivering his 
 afternoon sermon, and the audience dozing off into 
 drunken dreams.
 
 18 El/ RESHID 
 
 ' ' You see, ' ' said Aleppo, ' ' I can 't make head uor 
 feet out of you. " Here Sal roused himself again ; 
 " Let up on that slang, I tell you, you are going 
 wrong already." 
 
 "Well then, head and something it isn't any 
 fun, I want you to understand, not a bit." 
 
 " I know better," growled Sal. 
 
 "Well, in the first place, you get that con 
 founded headache on you, that makes you see 
 snakes." 
 
 " Nonsense ! you make me tired. Should think 
 I would see snakes ; for you everlastingly take this 
 opportunity, when you know I am not myself, to 
 drag me into the grave-yard and sermonize. You 
 did it in Paris, you did it in Vienna, and here we 
 are again." 
 
 Having said this with as much venom as was in 
 him, he spat at the tomb-stone behind him, and 
 dragging himself clear of the sacred dust, collapsed 
 into the grass near by. 
 
 "There's nothing like a cemetery to point a 
 moral " and Aleppo showed his beautiful teeth in 
 one of the rarest smiles, that the human face is 
 capable of " for my part, I like it. Here am 
 I in Asia with the dead ; I feel wonderfully at 
 home ; don't you Sal ? " 
 
 "Y-e-s," drawled Sal, who had reached the 
 pathetic stage. He rolled and lighted a cigarette 
 with trembling fingers, then lying flat on his back, 
 blew clouds of smoke at the patches of sky, which
 
 WHO AM I 19 
 
 he saw between the interlaced trees. His eyes 
 were as blue as heaven ; and two tears gathered in 
 them which he immediately became ashamed of, 
 and attributed to the smoke. 
 
 "Now look here Sal" Aleppo had seen the 
 tears, though he made no sign ; for he loved this 
 bad boy to the point of sacrifice " I'll tell you 
 what I'll do " the words came out with difficulty, 
 for he felt that he was choking " you go a week 
 without touching the stuff, or lighting yourself up, 
 and I'll promise you on the Koran and the Bible, 
 that I'll go on one of the most hell-inspiring sprees 
 with you, at the end of that time, that the devil 
 ever dreamed of. You will find yourself nowhere ; 
 I'll drink more and sin more in one day than you 
 can in a month ; upon my word and honor I will ; 
 that is, if you say so. " Look here Sal " and he 
 gave him a punch on the shoulder that made him 
 wince " will you do it " ? Sal sat up he was as 
 sober as a desert owl, and as solemn "I'll be 
 d dif I do! " 
 
 " What of that? two of us in hell are better than 
 one. Let's be sober together for a week, pious and 
 everything, then go to the other place." 
 
 ' ' Now you just shut up on this." Sal got on his 
 feet and shook himself, somewhat after the manner 
 of a dog that scents danger. 
 
 " I'm one of the devil's own, any how ; but as 
 for you talking slang, and wallowing, you shan't; 
 that's just all there is of it, do you see ? "
 
 20 EL RESHID 
 
 He pulled off his coat ; and any delusion one 
 might have harbored about his feminine incapacity 
 and like stuff, must have vanished at sight of his 
 muscle and brawn. American, pretty and dudish 
 in face, herculean in form, he was about as fine an 
 animal as one often gets a chance to gaze at. 
 
 "Now it don't make one straw's difference 
 whether you are in earnest or not, (the man had 
 woke up in him) you shan't carry it out, that's all ; 
 but I'll tell you what I will do," here he took in 
 a long breath, as if to wash his soul clean "I'll 
 let you see that I can go a week in spite of the 
 painted faces of Constantinople ; but on one con 
 dition you listen now, the tables are turned, you 
 see. You've just got to quit that slang business; 
 it grates on my nerves, worse than Oriental music. 
 Promise me, that you will give me back the slang 
 dictionary and the concert songs, and I'll swear on 
 this tombstone, that I'll go sober for a week." 
 
 Aleppo squeezed the tears that were welling up, 
 back into his eyes, delicately arranged his hair, in 
 fact made great show of hesitancy, but at last con 
 descended to speak. 
 
 "Well I suppose I'll have to, for a week." 
 
 ' Not much, for a week, but forever." 
 
 " Forever" ? 
 
 " Yes, forever; do you suppose, if / had a Miss 
 Somebody to whom I wrote love letters every day, 
 as you do, do you suppose, that instead of 
 absolutely knowing that I was the son of an
 
 WHO AM I 21 
 
 American stock-raiser, that, on the contrary, I had 
 the chance of surmising that I might be a wander 
 ing prince in disguise, do you suppose that if I 
 were you, I would foul my tongue with swear words 
 and slang !" 
 
 To be preached to by Sal, gave Aleppo a thrill 
 that was almost intoxicating ; besides his allusion 
 to Miss Somebody held him to the cypress tree 
 against which he was leaning, as though he had 
 been welded there. Sal was king, and he a 
 mortified, Constantinople cur. But this passed off: 
 he pulled himself together, and looking the blonde 
 beauty straight in the eyes, said smiling, " It's 
 agreed ; now for dinner." 
 
 "Wait a bit. ; you don't expect that I'm going 
 around with this stuff in my pocket do you ? " 
 
 He pulled a brandy flask from the depths and 
 laid it with some dignity on the adjacent grave ; 
 then a dozen or more cigarettes, and a package of 
 tobacco. 
 
 " There, if that corpse gets dry and nervous, it 
 has its chance. Remember L,ep, it's only for a 
 week, sabe ? ' ' 
 
 " Yes, I s - understand." 
 
 "There, you saved yourself this time but your 
 promise is eternal. See ? ' ' 
 
 " Yes, Is comprehend." 
 
 " Come on then." 
 
 Sal led the way and Aleppo followed in a strange 
 frame of mind ; the kingly American bad got in his
 
 22 EL RESHID 
 
 work ; and the man without country or name, went 
 after him, as the great St. Bernard follows its 
 master. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 A STRANGE MEETING. 
 
 A woman, whose age it would be impossible to 
 determine, but about whose beauty there was no 
 shadow of doubt, came out of the Vienna Opera 
 House, and made her way rapidly toward the car 
 riage in waiting at the entrance. She stopped sud 
 denly, as if transfixed, and stared wildly into a 
 pair of eyes, that answered her's with a similar look; 
 then the heads of the two were bowed with con 
 ventional courtesy, and the apparent strangers 
 passed each other as though they had never met 
 before. The man (for the eyes that brought the 
 widow Madame Cressey to a sudden halt, were 
 masculine and stern) turned rapidly on his heel 
 and proceeded in an opposite direction from that 
 in which he had been going, plunging into a side 
 street, and thence into the dark. She, however, 
 cold as ice, climbed somehow into her carriage, and 
 fell back among the cushions in a dead faint. 
 When the coachman stopped at the entrance to her 
 hotel, she made no attempt to alight, in fact knew 
 nothing, and had to be lifted out and taken to her 
 room. It was late at night, under the min-
 
 A STRANGE MEETING 23 
 
 istrations of her physician, before she understood 
 who she was and where. On the contrary, Hen 
 rique Romanes seemed to be fired with the 
 strongest cordial that the grape could produce; for, 
 having found his room, and locked his door, he 
 walked the floor till morning in a fury of excite 
 ment, utterly inconsistent with his correct conven 
 tional dress and hotel surroundings. His face 
 spoke power, even in its frenzy, and the very wild- 
 ness of the storm now blowing over him, implied 
 an oncoming calm, which must later be formid 
 able. At daylight he threw himself upon the bed, 
 and fell into a sound sleep, which lasted until late 
 in the afternoon ; when he awoke he was obliged 
 to make some effort to collect himself. As the 
 memories of the preceding evening thrust them 
 selves upon him, a spasm of pain knit his brow 
 into a fierce scowl ; but it passed, and a fixed look 
 took its place, which set his features, as though in 
 marble. It was not, however, the repose of inde 
 cision ; it spoke determination and power. Dress 
 ing hastily, without aid of a valet, he seated him 
 self before the window, where the afternoon light 
 flooded his stern countenance, and took, from a 
 concealed pocket over his heart, a worn and faded 
 letter. His face grew a shade whiter, and his eyes 
 more intense, if that could be, as he touched it ; 
 otherwise he showed no emotion. It ran thus: 
 
 "Farewell! If misery can be condensed, it is 
 included in this word; if sorrow can be told, it is
 
 24 EL RESHID 
 
 spoken now. Farewell! O, tell me, can it be, that 
 we who have loved for love's own sake, that we 
 who have defied the world, and even God, that 
 we must part. I could not have dreamed it; I 
 could not have believed it ; but the bitter fact 
 stands. Fate forced us together, and wrenches us 
 asunder. Fate! We are masters of nothing; the 
 wind blew the pollen to the flower, and tore it to 
 pieces. 
 
 ' ' I care for naught in the universe but you. Alas ! 
 the one out of the innumerable, that I love, is sent 
 adrift. I neither drown myself in illusions, nor 
 drug my heart with hopeless dreams; boldly I face 
 the fact. I love you, I love you! May the sin in 
 which I glory be mine forever. I shed no tears on 
 my rebellious heart, nor do I wring my hands and 
 supplicate an unseen God. On the black night of 
 myself, one star gleams fiercely, eternally the star 
 of Love. Forever, fare you well ! " 
 
 To this scrap of paper, from which age had 
 failed to tear the passion, there was signed no 
 name. It was written in a bold, almost masculine 
 hand, interspersed with dashes; and had been read 
 and folded so often that it was cracked and worn. 
 The date took it back many years to a former 
 generation, though Henrique Romanes looked 
 scarcely thirty-five. His chin was powerful and 
 firm; his eyes keen, mysterious, dark; his face 
 clean shaven-, his hair black, and his frame slight, 
 but well knit. Altogether, he would seem to have
 
 A STRANGK MEETING 25 
 
 scarcely reached his prime, were it not for a certain 
 air that betrayed a depth of experience, undis- 
 coverable in youth. Age is betrayed by a certain 
 flabbiness of the tissue and skin. Romanes had 
 hard flesh, tense muscles, and the erect carriage of 
 a man of thirty, while the depths of shade that 
 lay under his eyes, spoke of feeling, rather than 
 years. There was one thing quite out of the ordi 
 nary about this man, and which stamped him as of 
 different coin from the jingling mass. He made 
 you feel his personality. To pass him in a crowd 
 was to turn your head ; to touch his hand was to 
 receive an electric shock; to glance in his eye was 
 to wilt as does the morning glory in the sun; to 
 enter a room where he had been, was to realize his 
 presence still. To some he brought pain, to others 
 pleasure, but to all a consciousness of himself. In 
 plain speech, he looked like a fallen eagle, that 
 had dragged its wings in the dust. 
 
 He was a long time reading the letter ; save his 
 eyes, he showed no sign of especial interest; but 
 they, as he pierced the very paper with their 
 glance, took on a new fire, and flashed with the 
 glow of self-illuminating stars. He folded it at 
 last, and laid it again over his heart, then, after 
 striding the room once or twice, rang for coffee, 
 which he took, black and hot, with a crust of 
 bread. Consulting his watch, he ordered a car 
 riage, and shortly after left the house. He directed
 
 26 EL RESHID 
 
 the driver in a positive way, addressing him in the 
 German tongue. 
 
 Several hours later, at about nine in the evening, 
 he alighted at a certain well known hotel in Vienna, 
 and demanded audience with Madame Cressey. 
 He was informed that the lady was ill and could 
 see no one. Romanes, not the least perturbed, 
 turned his back a moment, and drawing a pack of 
 playing cards from his pocket, from which he 
 extracted the ace of hearts, inclosed it in a small 
 envelope, and ordered it delivered to her at once. 
 In a short time the messenger returned, with a 
 similar missive, on which was written the word, 
 "Aleppo." "Conduct me immediately," said 
 Romanes. The boy rushed off in the direction of 
 the Madame 's apartments, as if his life hung on their 
 quick arrival, and Romanes followed with a digni 
 fied speed, that savored as much of indifference as of 
 haste. The door of Helene Cressey 's salon swung 
 back noiselessly at his approach, and was closed 
 again after his entrance, as though muffled in felt. 
 The two stood face to face beneath the shaded 
 light of the chandelier, and looked once more with a 
 half startled, half defiant expression into each 
 other's eyes. 
 
 " You have broken your vow, Romanes." 
 " Pardon, Helene, it was not I, but that which 
 you term fate. We had promised never to meet 
 again, but our childish vows were scorned, our 
 word of honor broken, for us last night."
 
 A STRANGE MEETING 27 
 
 " Are we in truth such puppets? " said she, with 
 a sneer. 
 
 In reply, he held her letter before her blazing 
 eyes. 
 
 " Fate forced us together and wrenches us asun 
 der fate ! 
 
 " We are masters of nothing." 
 
 As she read, she grew whiter, if possible, and 
 colder. 
 
 "Read," he said sternly, "every word." 
 
 She became more rigid, as her eyes turned the 
 words into symbols of fire. At last, she hissed 
 between her teeth, while steadying herself by the 
 table, "Cruel! " 
 
 ' ' No, nor kind, " said Romanes. " It is twenty- 
 five years since this letter was written. You are as 
 young in feeling as when- you penned it, and so am 
 I. You have known me to some purpose, Helene 
 Cressey ; she who weds an Olympian is endowed 
 with eternal youth." 
 
 " Words are but will-o'-the-wisps, when the heart 
 speaks," she answered, then burst into a storm of 
 sobs, and sank into a chair, completely mastered by 
 the frenzy of her sorrow. 
 
 With the alteration of mood, his changed also. 
 He sank at her feet, and, taking her hand, held it 
 caressingly to his lips. In time she grew calm, for 
 he dried her tears. Then mixing a drug, which 
 he discovered upon the table, he brought her the 
 "glass and ordered her to drink. A very child in
 
 28 EL RESHID 
 
 his hands, she obeyed, when, drawing a long sigh, 
 as though with it she had thrown off the incubus 
 of a score of years, she leaned back upon the cush 
 ions and looked trustfully into his eyes. He drew 
 a chair to her side, and spoke, as would a man of 
 the world. " Helene, we will drop tragedy now 
 and talk with calmness. The subject which 
 demands our utmost attention is vital. First, let 
 me say, that neither of us would have broken our 
 vow, which we signed jointly, years ago, had not 
 Fate pushed us, like two wandering meteors, 
 together, and mingled us once more into one ; and 
 by Fate, you know that I mean the Powers that 
 are. Well then, you see," and he tossed his hair 
 back in a peculiar way, " there can be but one sub 
 ject between us now, and that is Aleppo." 
 
 At the mention of this name Helene shivered, 
 but remained dumb ; looking into the fathomless 
 depths of Romanes' eyes. 
 
 "Yes, Aleppo, who is he, and where?" And 
 Helene answered, in a half-whisper, as though her 
 word were an echo, " Where ? " 
 
 "That we must ascertain," said Romanes 
 emphatically. 
 
 " I thought," said she, " that we had agreed to 
 remember him as one dead." 
 
 " True, but on condition that we considered each 
 other in the same way; our coming together makes 
 the finding of our son imperative." 
 
 " I believe you," said Helene,
 
 A STRANGE MEETING 29 
 
 "And more," said Romanes, who rose and 
 paced the room rapidly, "he must be what his 
 father was not ; he must succeed where I have 
 failed. Our lives must be given, from now on, not 
 to each other, but to him, at any cost. Do you 
 understand, Helene, at any cost." He looked her 
 straight in the face, she met his gaze boldly, and 
 replied in the affirmative, in the same far-off voice 
 in which she had been speaking for some time. 
 
 "Tell me exactly," said he, drawing his chair still 
 closer to her side, "all that occurred after we 
 parted, in regard to Aleppo." She remained silent 
 for some time, then began talking as if she were in 
 a dream. 
 
 " The nurse, Edena, kept him from the hour of 
 his birth, till she vanished with him, as I bade her 
 do, seventeen years ago. No mortal but Edena 
 and yourself connects Aleppo in any way with me, 
 except," she drew a long breath, " except Jacob 
 the Jew." 
 
 "What!" Romanes sprang from the chair. 
 " Jacob the Jew ? " He fairly hissed the words. 
 
 " I had no other means," said Helene defiantly, 
 " I knew he would be secret, and the work had to be 
 done." 
 
 " Go on," said Romanes. 
 
 ' ' I had never seen the boy until the day before 
 Edena's departure, when she brought him to me in 
 the Swiss Mountains. Here, Jacob, by appoint- 
 "ment, arrived also; when the sign of the Order was
 
 30 Ely RESHID 
 
 burnt into his back, just over the left shoulder 
 blade." 
 
 "Was it clear-cut? " 
 
 " Perfectly; so said Jacob, though I had no heart 
 to look." 
 
 " Helene, you have made a fatal blunder ; first, 
 intrusting this task to Jacob; second, in not scru 
 tinizing the sign yourself, Aleppo undoubtedly 
 has a mystic symbol tattooed upon his back ; but 
 what the symbol is, is of vital importance, however 
 let it pass. We have no means of proving the 
 identity of our son save by this scar. If we suc 
 ceed, it will be, I fear, through the diabolical 
 assistance of Jacob the Jew. Is he still alive ? " 
 
 "He is," said Helene, scornfully; " He will 
 never die ; I saw him but a month since on the 
 Rialto." Romanes began his tireless walk again. 
 
 " Did you give Edena instructions as to what to 
 do with the boy? " 
 
 " None, whatever, she begged him of me, and 
 promised that she would educate and start him in 
 life. The large sum which you had handed to me 
 for that purpose was given over to her, and from 
 what I know of her in the past, I am sure she ful 
 filled her trust. ' ' 
 
 ' ' And you never saw Aleppo but once ? ' ' 
 
 " But once ; at the time the brand was made. " 
 
 " His eyes, his hair, what color ? " Romanes 
 walked faster and faster. 
 
 "Black," said Helene, in a still more dreamy
 
 A STRANGE MEETING 31 
 
 tone. "He had a trick like yours, of tossing his 
 hair from his brow by a shake of his head." 
 
 "Even then!" 
 
 "Yes," said Helene. She had gone back into 
 the past, until her present surroundings had utterly 
 vanished; her eyes were closed, and her face, 
 white as snow, caught the attention of Romanes, 
 and brought him to a sudden halt. The years 
 had left no mark on her. Her hair, of a reddish 
 gold, was abundant, and of the fluffy kind, that 
 makes still softer a soft face. Her complexion, 
 extremely fair, was relieved, as a rule, by a flush 
 in the cheeks, giving her the coloring of a pink 
 pearl; though to-night all glow had left it and a 
 deathly pallor had taken its place. Her eyes had 
 the gleam of amber, and her features, while 
 scarcely of the Greek type, were refined and youth 
 ful. Altogether she was fair, fair ; and Romanes 
 gazed at her in wonder. Then, turning shortly, 
 he walked resolutely away, and knit his brows. 
 
 " You see," he went on, and she heard, " it will 
 be difficult ; perhaps impossible. He may be dead.' ' 
 She moved no muscle. "However, we two must 
 give our lives, every hour, to the undertaking ; 
 shall we begin now ? ' ' 
 
 He reached his hand to Helene. 
 
 " Do you love this boy?" She drew a long 
 sigh and came suddenly to herself, as though out 
 of a dream ; then sat erect, and opened her eyes 
 "which beamed on him like fiery stars.
 
 32 EL RESHID 
 
 "I do riot ; why should I ?" He has stood 
 between you and me, since first his little heart began 
 to beat beneath my own ; he drove you to the south 
 and me to the north ; he divided us by continents, 
 by seas, he stole in upon an ideal love, and painted 
 it black. He wrenched the sign of the order from 
 you, and tossed it into the Bosporus ; he degraded 
 your powers till you lay prone in the dust, a fallen 
 giant. He drove me an exile to the Swiss Mountains, 
 and fouled my tongue with lies. And now, when 
 we were getting upon our feet, he comes again to 
 intrude between us, |ind hold us apart." Sfle 
 towered over Romanes ; the negative had become 
 positive, the poles had shifted he bowed his head. 
 " Yes," she went on in the same impassioned tone, 
 " in spite of my unnatural hate, in spite of the 
 sacrifice which he entails, in spite of age and 
 death, I will seek and find Aleppo Romanes, and 
 restore him to his own." Henrique lifted his eyes, 
 his face beamed with admiration and awe. 
 
 " Helene Cressey, you are great. No one can 
 understand why I say this, except ourselves. In 
 taking such a step, all that which we have struggled 
 to obtain is given up ; certain powers, which we 
 have acquired, are sacrificed ; life is laid down. 
 Fate you claim is powerful; our wills, I have reason 
 to know, are more so ; yet in spite of this we yield, 
 and shackle ourselves " He stopped abruptly 
 " what must we do ? " 
 
 " Part."
 
 ON THE RIAI/TO 33 
 
 "And then? " 
 
 "Search; you in your way, I in mine. Who 
 ever succeeds, notifies the other and we meet. Till 
 then adieu." He hesitated a moment ; but in her 
 face was an unalterable determination. He swayed 
 slightly, as a sapling does, that has lost its support; 
 she stood erect like a granite shaft ; then backing 
 slowly toward the entrance, keeping his eyes 
 intently fixed on hers, he left the room. The door 
 closed silently after him, and the instant it was shut, 
 Helene turned out the light. The darkness could be 
 felt, as it sometimes is, when a pall is drawn over 
 the stars of heaven, and the moon. . 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE RIAI/TO. 
 
 Aleppo and Sallus were on the Rialto, stopping 
 now and then to dicker with a shop keeper, and 
 pushing ahead later, to catch up with "the 
 philosopher." This unique individual, captured 
 by Aleppo the second day after Sallus' reform, had 
 remained with the young men ever since. He was 
 long-visaged, slim and brown, with a shrewd eye 
 which might have graced any other Yankee ; but 
 his chief charm lay in the fact that he could talk, 
 and touch up his word paintings with as much 
 pessimistic bile, as could any old cynic of ancient 
 times. He had more venomous wisdom than
 
 34 EL RESHID 
 
 Diogenes himself, and rivaled all the iconoclasts 
 that ever were born, in his power to upset precon 
 ceived ideas, and overthrow castles in the air. 
 With all, he was clean and square, and reached the 
 skeleton of truth straightway, having no respect 
 for her veils nor her varnish. His name was Regan 
 with a Patrick attached, for Aleppo and Sallusused 
 his surname as a fixed thing, adding on the other 
 when it came to their minds. The three got over 
 the Rialto at last, and later on, established comfort 
 ably in a gondola, prepared to enjoy themselves. 
 Their method of doing this was peculiar ; in fact 
 for the last ten days, since their flight from Stam- 
 boul, the boys had done scarce else than listen, 
 while Regan, with a piece of tobacco tucked safely 
 under his tongue, did nothing but talk. To be 
 sure, the young men interrupted with questions 
 continuously, but aside from that they were all ears. 
 When young fellows get hold of such a disciple 
 of realism as was Regan, who proceeds to unmask 
 everything, they are aged forthwith. Whether 
 this is good or bad for them is not in the question ; 
 they are as fascinated as is the green medical 
 student in possession of his first ' ' stiff. ' ' 
 
 " You see," said Regan, spitting tobacco juice 
 as far as he could send it into the blue water, ' ' You 
 see, Venice did the best she could to commit 
 suicide; I suppose you know that Aleppo? " 
 
 The young man had been gazing on the bright 
 scene with the eye of an artist.
 
 ON THE RIALTO 35 
 
 " She is a dream," he answered. 
 
 " Yes, she is pretty fancy," and he sent his 
 second fire of tobacco juice at the water on the 
 other side, "but she is nothing to what she was, 
 nothing." 
 
 " What was she? " demanded Sallus. 
 
 " A good deal; you see it's the way with cities ; 
 they reach their prime and their decay. There is no 
 use in pretending that you can perpetuate a city or a 
 government, for you can't. Eternity is a long time; 
 its forever. See? " 
 
 " Yes," said Sallus. 
 
 ' ' Now, this pretty place about which poets tear 
 their hair and painters rave, this place is dead." 
 
 " Don't look much like it," said Sallus, "they 
 ship enough glass beads from it each year to delude 
 all the darkies in Africa, besides it's a Mecca ; you 
 know very well, it's a Mecca." 
 
 ' ' When a former seat of government and a 
 medieval center has degenerated into a Mecca, 
 mark my word, boy, it is dead. 
 
 " Venezia la bella," sighed Aleppo. 
 
 "But what of the Venice of the Crusades?" 
 answered Regan ; " born of mud and crystalized in 
 marble ; foremost among the states of Europe, 
 unassailable in locality, stuffed with gold, embanked 
 with granite, and tied, island to island, with four 
 hundred bridges ; the center of art, unrivaled in 
 -the world." He smiled, and showed a complete 
 and even set of slightly discolored teeth. His
 
 86 EL, RESHID 
 
 noiseless laugh implied an immense deal about to 
 be revealed, which would completely disillusion 
 any fanatic, who looked upon Venice as other than 
 a corpse, over which the scum of humanity crept, 
 in its ceaseless trot around the world. 
 
 " As I said," went on Regan, " she was in at 
 her own death ; although her case, as regards lon 
 gevity was hopeless even had she had no hand in 
 it, you see ? " He was fond of saying, " you see. " 
 "Foremost in geographical research, she helped to 
 circumnavigate Africa, and find the New World ; 
 the discovery of which took away the great com 
 mercial value of the Mediterranean, and Venice 
 died, you see." 
 
 " Yes," said Sallusbut she is coming to life." 
 "A sort of an electrified corpse;" observed 
 Regan, rolling his tobacco into his cheek, " to be 
 sure it looks a little more lively than in 1840, when 
 it was down to a hundred thousand, and the grass 
 grew in the squares. It has a new bridge, its skies 
 are way up, just as they used to be, its climate is 
 tip-top, and its palaces for which those old larch 
 forests gave their lives, that the city might have 
 legs to stand on, still set the Ruskins singing 
 requiems and psalms. In spite of her hundred 
 and seventeen islands, her hundred and fifty 
 canals and three hundred and fifty bridges, Rivo 
 Alto is dead. To be sure, she has her Moorish- 
 Italian architecture, her Rialto over the Grand 
 Canal, her masterpieces of Titian, Tintoretto and
 
 ON THE RIAIvTO 3? 
 
 Paul Veronese ; to be sure she has her tourists' 
 hotels, and her modern gondola, nevertheless she is a 
 shrine ; and to find this out we must go backward 
 in years and behold her alive." He paused again 
 to cut off more tobacco, and the young men, 
 enthralled, sat speechless. 
 
 " Well then, there was a time, when she stole 
 marble and porphyries, like a first-class thief, from 
 Rome, from Byzantium, from the ruined cities of 
 Heraclea, Altinum and Aquilea, indirectly also from 
 Numidia, Egypt and Arabia all kinds of treasures, 
 as you have ample chance to see yet on the palaces 
 red porphyry from Egypt, green from Mount I<ay- 
 getus, ancient granites, alabaster, Phrygian pavon- 
 azzetto, and the amber-blue proscenium. The col 
 umns of the ancients were sawed up and turned 
 into mosaics ; besides these, look at the gold and 
 silver, and the famous ultramarine. But let me 
 tell you, it's all shoddy, every bit, and nobody pre 
 tends it isn't; it's a thin coating of veneer, nothing 
 more; look inside Saint Mark's. See? 
 
 " But," interrupted Sallus as though roused out 
 of a dreain, " Venice is the second commercial city 
 to-day, in Italy." 
 
 " Don't care if she is, nor the first ; she isn't the 
 city of the Middle Ages, I can tell you, by a long 
 shot. Places have a rhythm as sure as the sea has ; 
 perhaps she will rise again, but 'twon't be Venice. 
 . L,ook at those ugly iron bridges, and that steam 
 engine. The genius of the Nineteenth Century
 
 3S EL RESHID 
 
 rides rough-shod over tesselated pavements, and 
 erects suspension bridges where Rialtos ought to be. 
 There's no use talking, the dunes of the Doge 
 and the Council have gone under ; and a cross 
 between a mechanic and a water swan has brought 
 forth something with a new motive, and a modern 
 name " here he smiled again. " Yes, I tell you 
 she's dead; she has quit stealing, she has stopped 
 conquering and overhauling, she is too good to be 
 alive; her game is up." 
 
 " But the beauty of her ! " said Aleppo. 
 
 "She is pretty enough, no doubt ; so is a corpse, 
 if you paint and powder it, and get up a modern 
 two-step fantastic in the near vicinity. Why even 
 this gondola is a new-fangled institution ; the thing 
 they used to have is as black as an old man 's hearse, 
 however ' ' here he smiled once more. 
 
 Aleppo shook himself and tossed back his hair ; 
 he had been slowly drawn out of his water dream 
 of years by the bait on Regan's hook. The ideal 
 Venice floated off into the blue on tearful clouds, 
 and the modern canal city with its beautiful decay, 
 its rain storms and hot winds, took possession of 
 his soul. Sallus was not so deeply stirred ; he 
 stood for the spirit of the age. There was nothing 
 back of him but an American plough and a flint 
 lock ; he had his fancies, and beauty was his aim ; 
 but he was wofully young both in country and in 
 object ; a modern, out and out. He might have 
 risen, clean- washed from the sea, or descended from
 
 ON THE RIAl/fO 39 
 
 heaven, as far as anything behind him was con 
 cerned. 
 
 Later, after the three had returned to the hotel 
 for supper, Sallus went out for an hour and Aleppo 
 sat down in loving proximity to Regan and made 
 this proposition. " You have smashed my ideal of 
 Venice to bits, you can go on smashing things to 
 the end of this trip which will be a long one, I 
 fancy on one condition ; and that is, that you'll 
 keep Sallus straight. I've managed it for a week, 
 but I tell you, if you hadn't turned up, 'twould 
 have been all over with him by this time. You're 
 a marvel. I turn him over to you, understand ? " 
 
 "I do," answered Regan, stretching his legs, 
 " guess I'll get after him now. I know about 
 where he is. I'll give him a revelation to-night, a 
 regular inside view. He'll take it straight without 
 any liquor in him, and I'm sure he'll be disgusted. 
 You see he was always boozy when he got into the 
 worst of things and didn't know what he was 
 about. Its quite another thing for a man to make 
 the tour of the Inferno with his perceptive and 
 reflective faculties in normal condition, from that 
 of dragging himself along, stupified with drink." 
 
 "You are right" answered Aleppo, "Sallus is 
 
 anything but bad, when he is himself; it is the 
 
 drink that has spoiled him. You have set him to 
 
 thinking you certainly have; he's brainy but 
 
 .young. Wake up his ideas, and keep them active
 
 40 EL RESHID 
 
 till he conquers this craving that's driving him 
 wild, and you'll see what a fellow he is." 
 
 "That's all right," answered Regan, "but a 
 shock is a heap better ; there's a way of turning 
 love into hate you know in double quick time. Of 
 course if he were old, and hadn't the wine of pure 
 youth in him, 'twould be a harder thing to do ; 
 he has rich blood, that Sallus ! he makes himself 
 over about once a week, and goes "the pace" 
 again, good as new, that is the privilege of youth, 
 but he's a beauty lover ; and beauty and nastiness 
 don't go together you know. He has to get drunk 
 before he can soil his wings ; when he is sober, he 
 is too dainty, see ? 
 
 At this stage of Aleppo's development he was 
 easily convinced that most of Regan's conclusions 
 were right; so thinking a moment, he asked, 
 " What kind of a shock are you going to give him ?" 
 
 "That's not for you to know," said Regan 
 emphatically, drawing himself up to his full height 
 and plunging his hands into his pockets, "I have 
 done this sort of thing before with young fellows ; 
 with some I succeed, with some I don't. T reckon 
 I've got Sallus; I don't mind telling you the 
 principle of the thing, 'but beyond that it's my 
 secret. I am going to work by the law of anti 
 thesis, see ? Catch him sober when his squeamish- 
 ness and daintiness are on top, and duck him into 
 about the filthiest pool on the planet ; of course
 
 ON THE RIAI/TO 41 
 
 he'll get a shock can't help it; and you know 
 what shocks mean, eh ? " 
 
 " Well, after a fashion," said Aleppo yawning 
 he only half grasped it. 
 
 ' ' I'm off now ; we'll make a night of it. Don't 
 you go to meandering ; our crowd needs some one 
 to maintain the reputation." 
 
 Regan laughed, got out his tobacco, and went 
 off, leaving Aleppo in his own company. 
 
 He enjoyed it too, he always had ; in this sense 
 he was a strange young man ; he loved to be alone 
 utterly, without a soul within miles of him. As 
 a child he would hunt solitary places as naturally 
 as most children seek a crowd. He had a curious 
 power of ignoring outer environment, and creating 
 an inner one after his own fancy literally reversing 
 himself and looking inwardly rather than without. 
 
 That this condition was to him extremely fascinat 
 ing, can be better understood, when we explain a 
 certain phenomenon which often accompanied these 
 inner explorations. Over and over again, in some 
 pretty dream world of his, had appeared a face, 
 young, beautiful and feminine, with eyes that met 
 his, lovingly, adoringly. 
 
 Since his first sight of her, he had lived in a sort 
 of interior transport, irrevocably in love with the 
 vision which was so especially his own ; ever long 
 ing for its reappearance, and firmly convinced that 
 its counterpart lived either in flesh or among the 
 " angels.
 
 42 Ely RKSHID 
 
 This mysterious tendency of Aleppo's to live the 
 interior life was inherent ; he had received no 
 instructions to that effect, nor had he, in the few 
 short years of his existence, met with any one who 
 could in the least degree sympathize with or under 
 stand him in this respect. He wrote to " Miss 
 Somebody" regularly, as we have before stated, 
 and although he had privately informed Sallus about 
 her in one of his confidential moods, aside from 
 that, he kept his experiences to himself. Nor was 
 the vision of the girlish face his only source of 
 rapture. He beheld places, which he was convinced 
 must be on earth ; and heard music that charmed 
 him, like the song of the nightingale. He re 
 membered also, some of his early past ; a little of 
 his nurse, Edena, and a vague and beautiful woman, 
 whom he saw once when a mere child ; also a 
 revolting personage that he felt sure had in some 
 way tortured him, though how, he could not recall. 
 To-night he made several attempts after Regan's 
 departure to enter his interior domain, but without 
 avail ; no vision presented itself which gave him 
 the slightest satisfaction ; so, seizing his hat, he 
 started forth to make a night of it also, after his 
 own fashion. 
 
 The moon was full ; and Venice lay like a silvery 
 dream on the water ; her voice, heard now and 
 then in the song of a gondolier as he paddled noise 
 lessly up and down the calm lagoon, or paused
 
 ON THE RIALTO 43 
 
 before the steps of a marble palace, whose age and 
 decay had been painted out by ghostly fingers. 
 
 Aleppo was drunk with glamor, debauched with 
 beauty, as he shifted his point of view, now here, 
 now there, appropriating the still splendor, as the 
 earth absorbs the sun. To him the illusion was the 
 real, and the real the illusion. Venetian scars were 
 sanctified and made lovely, by the magic touches of 
 the moon. The ideal city had descended from the 
 blue above, to float upon the blue below, more 
 content, more at rest, than in celestial spaces. 
 
 At last Aleppo found himself on the bridge of the 
 Grand Canal, and unable to account for a strange 
 nervousness which had suddenly seized him, and to 
 which he was entirely unaccustomed. He was at 
 one moment exhilarated, and the next depressed ; 
 fear set him trembling, to be followed by an ecstatic 
 spasm of the heart. In this perturbed state of 
 mind, he sought the Rialto, as if driven there by 
 the whip-cords of fate. Wandering aimlessly over 
 the long bridge and peering in mechanically at the 
 shops, he had gone part way, when two people 
 coming in his direction arrested his attention, and 
 brought him to a sudden halt. 
 
 The elder was unmistakably an Assyrian Jew, 
 while the j-ounger resembled the sweet-faced vision 
 of his dreams. The former coming out of the past, 
 unchanged, save by added ugliness, was the coun 
 terpart of the demon, which had lodged in the 
 brain of the child, Aleppo, seventeen years before,
 
 44 EL RESHID 
 
 while the latter seemed to be " Miss Somebody " to 
 whom he had written since his hand could hold a 
 pen. 
 
 They passed so quickly that before Aleppo had 
 recovered from the shock, they had vanished, and 
 left no sign. The young man took off his hat, 
 tossed back his hair and rubbed his eyes. Had 
 he been deceived was it after all but a return of 
 his vision ? No, they had been so near that he 
 could have touched their garments, and together. 
 What had they two in common ? The face of the 
 girl, he remembered, was pale, the eyes tear-stained. 
 He recalled, however, that he had been deceived 
 before, many times, and sadly disappointed. This 
 young lady's hair was different lighter and more 
 wavy than that of the vision of his dreams ; he 
 must be mistaken, it was a resemblance only. But 
 of the Jew he had no doubt. He had noticed as 
 they passed, that he had fixed his eyes on him as 
 though his attention had been arrested, and a sus 
 picion aroused. Had the remembrance been 
 mutual? Had this strange man, with his parch 
 ment visage, and claw-like fingers, discovered some 
 resemblance in Aleppo's face, that made his iden 
 tity plain ? The Jew, was uncanny, antique, revolt 
 ing, and might, for aught he knew, possess extra 
 ordinary powers. 
 
 Aleppo was utterly at sea ; he could neither 
 understand himself, nor his dread. He put the epi 
 sode of his sweetheart aside, and exaggerated his
 
 THE JEW 45 
 
 meeting with the Jew, apparently out of all propor 
 tion with the event. He hurried back to his hotel, 
 and locking himself in his room, strove by all the 
 power within him to get at a clue to himself. 
 This Jew he must find at any cost, for he was 
 undoubtedly the key, by which Aleppo might 
 unlock the door to his undiscovered past. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE JEW. 
 
 The next day after his experience on the Rialto, 
 Aleppo became skeptical, wary, and altogether 
 unsettled in mind as to the identity of either of the 
 parties, met the night before. He said to himself, 
 " The Jew of my childhood is undoubtedly dead; 
 or, if not, his diabolical face was exaggerated in 
 my terror. A baby forgets I must be a fool. Of 
 one thing I am certain, if I stumble on him again, 
 I will ' draw my skirts ; ' 'tis pollution to touch 
 him. Rather than cultivate his acquaintance, I 
 will leave Venice; better lose my past forever than 
 seek it through such a source." 
 
 This was Aleppo's cogitation. He had remained 
 in his room through the morning, debating with 
 himself ; after the departure of Regan and Sallus 
 in search of more experience along doubtful lines. 
 
 In the meantime a Jew had entered the hotel, 
 and was diligently inquiring for a young man
 
 46 Ely RESHID 
 
 named Aleppo. He was asked if the name was 
 Aleppo Bracciolini. Having satisfied himself that 
 it might be, he sent his card to Aleppo's room, 
 who received it with a shock of astonishment. 
 The name inscribed on the curious looking tablet 
 was Jacob Issachar. Almost before Aleppo had 
 time to consider whether to admit him or not, the 
 door was pushed softly open and a strange figure 
 entered. He wore the dress of the ancients, and 
 presented, in his face and form, a picture that must 
 necessarily throw one back in memory or imagina 
 tion thousands of years. His undergarment was 
 loosely girdled at the waist and over this was 
 thrown a cloak, which fell gracefully from one 
 shoulder, leaving the other exposed. On his head 
 was a cap-like hood, which was drawn squarely 
 across the brow, and fell in a cape at the back of 
 his neck. His black hair, stiff and straight, fell a 
 little out of his head-gear on either side of his face, 
 and that, with his tawny skin and piercing eyes, 
 contrasted fiercely with the creamy white of his 
 garments, which fell in folds of great beauty over 
 an erect and powerful frame. His height was phe 
 nomenal he towered above Aleppo, who was of 
 average size, like a giant patriarch over a degen 
 erate modern and as he elongated, seemingly taller 
 and taller, his broad mouth spread into a beaming 
 smile, displaying the perfect teeth of an untamed 
 beast. He spoke in Aleppo's favorite tongue, 
 which was English; his language being beyond
 
 THE JEW 47 
 
 criticism, though the words fell slowly and with 
 great precision from his lips. 
 
 "Pardon," Aleppo instinctively drew away 
 and placed a chair between them " I seek one 
 Aleppo Romanes." 
 
 "You have certainly struck the wrong man." 
 Aleppo tried in vain to assume a haughty and 
 indifferent air, but the same terror that he had felt 
 as a child was creeping over him, wholly unac 
 countable, and utterly beyond his understanding. 
 
 "Ah! Not Aleppo Romanes ?" 
 
 " No! " thundered the young man, in a ridicu 
 lously loud voice. 
 
 "May I ask your name? " The Jew was fault 
 lessly polite. Aleppo, feeling his own actions to 
 be absurd, pulled himself together, and answered 
 in a more moderate tone, "Aleppo Bracciolini." 
 
 "A h!! " Issachar posed like a statue, turned 
 his eyes far back into his head and remained rigid 
 a full minute, then, coming to, as if from a dream, 
 blazed in dark splendor once more on the young 
 man, and shot flashes and sparks into his very 
 soul. 
 
 " Yes, Aleppo Bracciolini, 'tis the same, from 
 Italy?" 
 
 "Well? " 
 
 " Brought up in an asylum ; later, adopted by a 
 celibate; afterward, in an artist's studio ; to-day, on 
 a long journey. Am I right ? " He smiled again in 
 the same beaming way.
 
 48 EL, RESHID 
 
 For the first time in his life Aleppo deliberately 
 concluded to lie. His dread of this man had in 
 creased with every minute of his stay; his uncanny 
 knowledge of himself was revolting ; so, turning 
 his full face on Issachar, and looking him straight 
 in the eyes, he proceeded to tell a full-fledged false 
 hood, as glibly, aye, even more glibly than he usu 
 ally told the truth. 
 
 " You are all wrong (becoming affable suddenly, 
 and smiling back, while courteously offering the 
 Jew a chair, which that gentleman declined.) "You 
 are all wrong. I am traveling with my father, 
 (here he hesitated) Patrick Bracciolini, and my 
 brother Sallus; we shall make the tour of the 
 world. What, pray tell me, is this to you? " 
 
 Before Jacob Issachar had time to reply, the door 
 flew open, and Regan and Sallus entered. They 
 stopped, as if brought up with a round turn, 
 when their eyes caught those of the patriarch, 
 who, though apparently .but middle-aged, seemed 
 to have all the pride and mystery of an ancient. 
 Aleppo, caught in the act of lying, was greatly 
 confused by this turn of affairs, and, driven to 
 bay, took desperate measures at once. 
 
 " Jacob Issachar, this is my father, Mr. Patrick 
 Bracciolini, and my brother Sallus." 
 
 Regan allowed his lower jaw to drop for a 
 moment, showing a whole row of saffron-tinted 
 teeth, and the tobacco besides; then smacked his 
 lips together, and with a curious look of under-
 
 THE JEW 49 
 
 standing in his eyes, held out his hand to Jacob. 
 This the Jew rejected, but, elevating his voice a 
 little, said, without the slightest loss of dignity, 
 " Your son does not resemble you." 
 
 "No; it's the way with families odd sheep. 
 See? " 
 
 Sallus, convulsed with laughter, stuffed his hand 
 kerchief into his mouth and steered toward the 
 window, but the Jew stood utterly motionless, and 
 Regan, catching the appealing expression in 
 Aleppo's face, went on : 
 
 " He's an odd one ; so is Sallus for that matter; 
 out of six 'tisn't strange that two should look like 
 well, their grandmother." 
 
 " ' When do you go from here ? ' ' 
 
 The Jew uttered the words with a pause between 
 each. 
 
 Regan had no idea, but glibly answered; 
 
 "We shall get up into Scandinavia next mid 
 night sun, and all that ; may keep on to the pole ; 
 but who is it that you seek ? ' ' 
 
 " Aleppo Romanes.' ' 
 
 " Ah, I understand. Aleppo Romanes! Yes; 
 met him in Stamboul ; let's see, on the Asiatic side, 
 skulking around among the grave-stones. Fine 
 lad, he, given to poetry and romance ; had a talk 
 with him at Scutari; was just about to do up 
 Siberia, hunting for weird subjects for a great 
 picture ; may be in Constantinople yet ; that all ? " 
 
 The Jew, during this harangue, had turned his
 
 50 EL, RESHID 
 
 eyes backward again, far into his head, and seemed 
 not to have heard a word; then, coming to him 
 self, shot sparks from them straight into the lying 
 soul of Regan, and bowing slightly, marched, with 
 long and dignified strides from the room. 
 
 "Great Scott! " What a figure! 
 
 Regan drew a long breath, and wiped the per 
 spiration from his brow. 
 
 ' ' We are in for it now, ' ' said Sallus. ' ' What on 
 earth are you up to, any way ; who under heaven 
 is that son of Adam that just passed out? " 
 
 For answer, Aleppo locked the door; then went 
 to the window near by, and took a long survey. 
 
 " It seems to me I've grown ten years older 
 lying comes hard. Yes, we are in for it, and I 
 see no way out of it either, except to run." 
 
 Regan seated himself in a big arm chair, like 
 a privileged sire, took care that his spittoon was 
 handy, and then drawled, in a paternal voice, 
 
 "Come here, my son, and explain to your 
 anxious father the nature of this event. 
 
 For the first time since the entrance of the men, 
 Aleppo laughed, then recited, in a few decisive 
 words, the account of his adventure, beginning on 
 the Rialto the night before. The two listeners fell 
 into the spirit of the thing with avidity, and though 
 they could not in the least understand the reason 
 of Aleppo's nervousness, each, in his way, discov 
 ered in the event the means to an end. Sallus' 
 love of adventure found full play, while Regan saw
 
 THE JEW 51 
 
 a chance to carry out a standing joke which would 
 be a never ending source of amusement for the 
 three. Aleppo, on the contrary, was tragic to the 
 core, and with difficulty threw off the numbness 
 and dread which had set him trembling an hour 
 previously. 
 
 " Now, look here, boys, you've introduced me as 
 your father, and as it's the first time I've tried the 
 role of paterfamilias, I propose to keep it up to 
 the end of this trip. It'll be an awful sight of 
 trouble, to be sure, for I'm used to the name of 
 Regan ; but I'll get round that somehow, and make 
 you fellows toe the mark, if I know myself. If 
 the Jew has designs I can settle him perhaps. 
 He's after you, Aleppo, of course ; but you don't 
 want him nor none of his sort. In my opinion he's 
 a kind of Mahatma." 
 
 ' ' A what ? ' ' said Aleppo. 
 
 " A Mahatma, I believe that's what they call 
 them. Did you see how he rolled his eyes up 
 when he posed? " 
 
 "But what on earth do you mean by Ma 
 hatma?" said Sallus the two boys drew closely 
 to the newly-made father. 
 
 "Well, they do say, those that are supposed 
 to know, that there's seven or eight of them on 
 earth to-day, and I guess he's one." 
 
 " Seven or eight what ? " 
 
 "Oh, they're men of course; that is they look
 
 52 EL RESHID 
 
 like men, but I'll tell you what it is boys, they are 
 not; they're Dyhan Chohans." 
 
 " Good gracious ! " and Sallus kicked over the 
 chair on which his feet were resting, " why do you 
 need to be so allfired mysterious, why can't you let 
 a fellow know what you are driving at without all 
 this jaw breaking language ? " 
 
 "Well you see, " deliberately rolling his quid, 
 "these beings won't tolerate English ; Sanscrit is 
 hardly good enough for them, to say nothing of 
 Pali." 
 
 " But what are they ? " put in Aleppo, who was 
 taking it all seriously. 
 
 "Men, as I told you; but did you observe the 
 ancient look of Issachar ? Well now it's just possi 
 ble" here he lowered his voice to an uncanny 
 stage whisper " that that man was born before 
 Moses." 
 
 " Bosh" ! said Sallus, rising and restoring the 
 chair to an upright position, " What are you giving 
 us anyhow? " 
 
 " Well you see it's this way," went on Regan, 
 if there are Mahatmas they must be about the same 
 as Dyhan Chohans. And if they can build worlds, 
 and walk on water, and appear and disappear, why 
 seven or eight of them are enough on this planet, 
 it strikes me, and I shouldn't be more than sur 
 prised if this fellow that's got after L,ep is one of 
 them." 
 
 The faces of the young men were a study during
 
 THE JEW 53 
 
 this harangue. Sallus' showed supreme disgust, 
 and Aleppo drank in the words as though they 
 were gospel truth then Sallus caught Aleppo's 
 eye 
 
 "You are not going to make me hate you by 
 believing this stuff are you Lep," he said with a 
 sneer. 
 
 " Hate and love cut no figure in the question," 
 answered Aleppo tartly. ' ' I believe Issachar has 
 strange powers." 
 
 " You'd better believe he has ; " went on Regan, 
 ' ' you took the Jew to be about forty, but I shouldn't 
 wonder in the least if he were the bona-fide son of 
 Jacob and Leah. You see, Jacob was always 
 hankering after Rachel. Leah had blear eyes, or 
 something of that kind, so this son was a sort of 
 an odd stick ; and those that the gods desert are 
 generally compensated by some unnatural power. 
 This Jew is a master piece ; he's one of the seven 
 wonders. Anyhow I think it's an excellent plaoi 
 to go on the supposition that he is a Mahatma, 
 otherwise he'd be seducing us with miracles, sub 
 duing us with delusions, making passes over us and 
 staring us out of countenance till we didn't know 
 which was which. Then he'd hypnotize us, and 
 that would be the end once h)'pnotized, we'd be 
 done for, sure. Why boys, he'd make us go any 
 where, just calling us; we'd follow to the verge of 
 the universe. It's the most deucedly hellish power 
 there is ; and what's worse, if he wanted to kill us,
 
 54 EL RESHID 
 
 he'd just make a wax image of you or me and stab 
 it to the heart that's killing by proxy, but it 
 works with a Mahatma every time his powers are 
 simply infernal." 
 
 " I'd like to get at him," said Sallus, bending 
 his elbow, and displaying a tremendous knot of 
 muscle near the shoulder " I could lay that Jew 
 flat with one blow." 
 
 " Don't know about it," continued Regan, " you 
 see he's a head higher than you, and square at the 
 shoulder like an American Indian. What's under 
 that infernal night-dress of his, 'twould be hard to 
 tell. In my opinion, he's pretty tough, both in 
 giving and taking; wouldn't be an easy one to 
 tackle by a long shot. But as I was saying, if he 
 is a Mahatma it's all right, if he isn't, it's the same 
 we'll be ready for him anyhow." 
 
 " Yes," said Aleppo nervously, we'll be ready by 
 running. I am going to clear out." 
 * " I never knew you to be such a coward," said 
 Sallus with astonishment. 
 
 "I will admit it. I am scared. Nor do I under 
 stand myself in the least, nor this sensation of fear. 
 Of one thing 1 am certain however, this man is the 
 link to my past. Up to the time I met him, I was 
 most anxious to learn about myself ; but now I am 
 not. Besides, though I know very well that Regan 
 has been joking, I believe, without comprehending 
 why, in the Jew's diabolical arts. A man with 
 great powers is not necessarily good if Satan is
 
 THE JEW 55 
 
 alive, Issachar is he. Matters sift down to this 
 I'm going to run, you can come on with me if you 
 like, or," here he stopped. 
 
 "Stay here, I suppose you meant to say 'whither 
 thou goest, I will go,' and Sallus also. As my 
 two dutiful sons I propose to show you the world ; 
 and if the black Mahatma gets after us there'll be a 
 race worth watching." 
 
 Sallus gave a sigh of supreme satisfaction ; if 
 anything had been needed to complete the reform 
 which Aleppo and Regan had initiated, it was this 
 touch of adventure, this spice of danger, that, 
 though it did not appeal to him in the least in the 
 latter sense, was nevertheless so thrilling to Aleppo, 
 that he enjoyed its effects on another almost as 
 much as though feeling them himself. 
 
 After a long pause, Regan began again " You 
 see, it's about time we made some regular plan 
 instead of gallivanting around hap-hazard. Finan 
 cially I expect we are fixed ? " 
 
 " As for me,' ' answered Sallus, " my father will 
 pay anything to keep me out of his sight ; he won't 
 care if I go on till doomsday, so that I don't dis 
 grace the Smith family ; he's very sensitive about 
 the Smiths they're so few, you understand? " 
 
 "My case is different, " put in Aleppo. I havn't any 
 father nobody but myself; however, I can make the 
 tour of the world ; it was my aunt's desire, and I 
 have arranged for it." 
 
 "Now see here boys," said Regan, "you know I'm
 
 56 BI RESHID 
 
 rich I don't mind telling you, and what's more, I 
 know how to spend. The time was once when I was 
 as poor as a religious mouse, fully didn't know where 
 my next bite was coming from. I was a failure up to 
 thirty, out and out. It's a pity too, for if I had had 
 anything, I should have married but I hadn't, so 
 that settled it. She went off with a richer man. She 
 wouldn't let me go out to day's labor, so I ran for 
 pound master, coroner and district-attorney, but 
 they all fell flat. It seemed as though the more 
 effort I made, the poorer I grew; at last, she threw 
 me over altogether, and I vowed I'd get rich to 
 spite her. As I couldn't make something out of 
 something, I just went and got it out of nothing 
 I invented an egg-beater." 
 
 "What ! ! " 
 
 " An egg-beater that beat any beater that ever 
 was beaten before; and I followed it up w r ith two 
 or three other unmentionables, that went like wild 
 fire. I got hold of a fool bigger than myself he 
 spent all his money on them, and to-day is dead." 
 
 "Whew !!" 
 
 "Yes, but his widow isn't; her new husband 
 enjoys the profits he has a good time lean tell you; 
 so you see I'm fixed." 
 
 "Why didn't you marry later?" asked Sallus 
 curiously. 
 
 " Because 'twas later, that's what's the matter 
 too late. My only sweetheart turned sweetness to 
 gall, but she's the one that's bothered, not I. She
 
 THE JEW 57 
 
 repents a hundred times a day. When she found 
 out how rich I was growing, she wanted to get a 
 divorce and return to her first love that was me. 
 See? But of course she couldn't. Her husband is 
 a respected member of the Chamber of Commerce, 
 and doesn't desert her. nor give cause. Is home 
 every night at sundown, drinks nothing but tea, 
 chews nothing but gum, and smokes eucalyptus. 
 So there 'tis; she's doomed, and well I'd rather be 
 here. Now boys where shall we go next ? Under 
 stand please, that if either of you run short, I'll 
 back you. Easy come, easy go; the stuff flows in 
 on me, and I don't know what to do with it. Ah! 
 I have it, I'll hire you as travelling companions on 
 condition that you take pot luck with me. I'll pay 
 you a salary, see ? I'm getting on toward forty-five, 
 need youthful society to keep me from ageing, and 
 all that." 
 
 The boys laughed and agreed, that if times grew 
 hard with them, Regan should hire them at so 
 much a month. The financial part arranged, Regan 
 started in again. 
 
 " Now about this paternal business ; I believe it's 
 a good scheme; it will throw the Jew off the track, 
 and give us no end of fun. I'll assume Aleppo's 
 name, though I wish to goodness 'twas Sallus'. 
 Smith suits me better. We'll do the world up in 
 fine shape millionaire father, two fractious sons 
 eh?"
 
 53 EL RESHID 
 
 "Seems to me, Lep and I are too near the same 
 age to be passed off as brothers," said Sallus. 
 
 "That's all right twins of course." 
 
 "Bosh! who ever heard of twins that didn't 
 match better than we do? " 
 
 " Well then, one of you will have to lie. How 
 nearly of an age are you ? ' ' 
 
 " A few months apart, I imagine." 
 
 " Which is the oldest ?" 
 
 " I guess I am," said Aleppo. 
 
 " It's easy then, just change the months to years, 
 see ? " 
 
 "But I don't look that old," protested Aleppo. 
 
 ' ' Sure, you could pass for forty easy. Now that's 
 fixed, where are we going ? " 
 
 " I'd rather like to get out of the beaten track," 
 said Aleppo, " everybody does Europe. America, 
 Australia, Malay Archipelago, Siberia, anywhere 
 except France, Holland, Switzerland, Italy. 
 Europe's done to death ; besides I have seen a good 
 share of it." 
 
 " America and Siberia are some distance apart," 
 answered Regan, "however that cuts no figure; 
 time and space are counted out. Now if we could 
 penetrate into Lhasa, I should be perfectly 
 content." 
 
 "Into where ?" 
 
 " I/hasa Lhasa." 
 
 ' ' Why it's the hardest place to get at imaginable, 
 and still harder to get out of. To be within the
 
 RHEA 59 
 
 atmosphere of the Grand L,ama, is a thought that 
 stirs my blood." 
 
 "Never heard of the place,' said Sallus. 
 
 " Ever so many people have though, but mighty 
 few of our kind ever get to see it; however, that's 
 in the far off what next? " 
 
 "Pack," said Aleppo. "I'm going to get out of 
 this " the fear of the Jew was still on him. " I 
 don't care where we turn up, so it's not Venice." 
 
 '' 'Pon my word, we've got a girl to look after." 
 
 Sallus was disgusted with this new phase in his 
 friend's character. 
 
 " Said and done," interrupted Regan. And the 
 three, at this call to action, bustled about, and 
 stuffed their wallets and bags, man-fashion. 
 
 The city of the Doges knew them no more; and 
 the Jew Issachar, retired within himself, to work 
 out the problem of Aleppo and the mystic mark. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 RHEA. 
 
 Mrs. Hancock and Rhea had been at Brindisi for 
 several days ; they were traveling leisurely, and 
 would embark later on the P. and O. steamer en 
 route for Cairo. They had turned a couple of 
 hotel bed-rooms into pretty places, by perching a 
 few artistic photographs in perilous positions, fill-
 
 60 EL RESHID 
 
 ing a vase with green leaves, picked while on a 
 walk, and strewing the tables with magazines and 
 papers. Besides, they had brought out their dainty 
 toilet bottles and an oriental tea-pot which a man 
 would have smashed forthwith. 
 
 It's strange, but American women (particularly 
 American) can be set down anywhere by the sea, 
 in a hut, on the desert, in a tent or a hotel bed 
 room, and with a magic wave of the hand lo ! 
 home. 
 
 Mrs. Hancock was Rhea's aunt, and all-round 
 adviser. She was, she said, doing her duty by 
 Rhea, who lived in- a chronic state of resentment. 
 She had been known to complain to her beloved 
 pastor, the Reverend Joseph Hitchcock, that her 
 niece had no feeling of gratitude nor comprehension 
 of the meaning of the same. Rhea had an annuity of 
 her own, and was in noway a dependent; but being 
 without father or mother her aunt had dutifully 
 brought her up, and was now voluntarily chaper 
 oning her around the world. Mrs. Hancock, 
 according to her own account, lived a life of con 
 tinual sacrifice, and had whispered in the Reverend 
 Hitchcock's ear, that her reward would come later, 
 if not on earth. The fact was, she was getting her 
 recompense each day; and thoroughly enjoyed hr- 
 self (deny it as she would) the posing, advising, 
 displaying of virtues, rolling of religious eyes, the 
 martyred expression which circumstances gave her 
 a chance to assume, all these brought her supreme
 
 RHEA 61 
 
 satisfaction, and abundance of matter to send in 
 the form of weekly letters to her " beloved pastor." 
 
 Orthodox by persuasion, to say nothing of pro 
 fession, she used the unbending rod of blue Pres- 
 byterianism to pierce a hole through the azure of 
 heaven, into which she expected eventually to 
 crawl. But Rhea was a heathen. She had lived 
 now some twenty-six years, and would suffer no 
 "ism " or " ist " to be attached to her; literally 
 daring the devil, and traveling the broad path of 
 wickedness so her aunt called^it with as much 
 self-respect and contentment as most young ladies 
 when on the narrow road to heaven. Mrs. Han 
 cock had never been able to frighten her, even 
 when a child, though she had threatened her with 
 all the sorrows of this life and of the other, if she 
 continued to ignore the admonitions of the Rever 
 end Hitchcock, and refused to enter the door of the 
 church. But for that gentleman, Rhea had an abso 
 lute, dislike; which was ill-concealed ; in fact 
 between herself and her aunt there was but little 
 love, save that which creeps in through ties of 
 blood. The two tolerated each other, extracting a 
 mosquito-like pleasure from their relative positions, 
 stinging right and left with their tongues, and pre 
 venting in their intercourse all monotony and 
 stagnation. 
 
 Rhea was beautiful if beauty is in any way akin 
 to fascination. Whether she could stand the test of 
 sculptor or painter is a question, but one thing is
 
 62 EL RESHID 
 
 certain, she always succeeded in impressing one 
 with her mysterious eyes, and slender white hands, 
 that seemed to be made either for models or for a 
 harp. The face of Rhea carried in it strength and 
 witchery such an expression as must have been in 
 that of Cleopatra or Phryne. Her brow and speech 
 indicated fine intellect and conquering will, while 
 in the dimples, where the angels had kissed her, 
 nestled little cupids, restless to take wing. She 
 was a New England product, but far back of her 
 were Spain and Scotland the flower of a hard- 
 headed, passionate ancestry. Thriving under the 
 wintry blasts of Cape Cod, she grew straight as an 
 arrow, cold as an iceberg, and hot as a tropical sun, 
 with logical mind and stormy heart she represented, 
 in her own sweet self the two poles of being that 
 drew to her side both men and women lov ers of 
 either sex and of all ages. 
 
 As I have said, they were temporarity at Brindisi, 
 but Mrs. Hancock had an abundance of work to do 
 nevertheless. She had a rival in Massachusetts, 
 whom she remembered well, even in Italy; this un 
 reasonable personage was a Mrs. Ellsworth, who was 
 liable to get the pastor's ear while Mrs. Hancock 
 was traveling, and this worried that lady unceas- 
 ingty. The rivalry did not stop here however; 
 these two women had vied with each other from 
 the days of their youth in fancy work and embroid 
 eries ; and just at present were working on table 
 linen and centerpieces, Determined that her trip
 
 RHEA 
 
 around the world should but emphasize an honest 
 competition, Mrs. Hancock spent every spare 
 moment, when not writing to the pastor, in embroi 
 dering the initial "H " in napkin corners, or adorn 
 ing elaborate table centerpieces with somewhat weak 
 imitations of innocent flowers. 
 
 Rhea had once told her that the Americans could 
 never grasp the secret of color, and, in high dis 
 dain, she had left the room but this aside. 
 
 Mrs. Hancock came bursting into Rhea's parlor 
 the day before their departure, with her hands full of 
 work; and it must be confessed that she was a pic 
 turesque figure, as, comfortably adjusting her eye 
 glasses, she covered herself with embroidery silks. 
 She had a certain type of New England mouth that 
 shuts itself with a snap. She was ceaselessly looking 
 forward to a reward, and working on no matter 
 what, as though she expected to be paid for it. 
 Undoubtedly this was New England thrift, honestly 
 come by, and well maintained; the only difference 
 between her's and that of any other Yankee lay in 
 the fact that she had transferred her right and title 
 from property on this side to a piece on the other, 
 having taken a deed to a literal mansion beyond 
 the pearly gates, which she expected sooner or 
 later to rule over in genuine Yankee style. This 
 was evidenced in her face it had a by-and-by 
 expression, peculiarly its own. 
 
 She was scarcely more than seated, when, with
 
 64 EL RESHID 
 
 the first plunge of the needle into the linen, she 
 addressed Rhea: 
 
 ' ' Feminine graces, my dear, are always sought 
 after by the men." 
 
 Rhea raised her eyes from the book she was read 
 ing, and looked straight at her aunt; there was 
 defiance in her expression but none in her tone, as 
 she said calmly, "Well?" The 3 r oung woman 
 was always polite ; frigid oftentimes in her manner, 
 yet strictly the lady, from head to toe. She hated 
 ugliness, coarseness and vulgarity; so, while full of 
 inward revolt at the tirade she felt in the air, she 
 answered Mrs. Hancock in a calm tone. 
 
 "Of course, Rhea, you know that you must 
 marry, sooner or later you have put it off now 
 longer than most girls would dare and the way to 
 really capture a desirable man is through your truly 
 feminine qualities. Men have enough of the male 
 element in themselves; they seek in woman the 
 very opposite." 
 
 " Do you think me decidedly masculine ? " 
 
 The girl's eyes were sparkling with fun ; the con 
 versation had taken an amusing turn. 
 
 " Not to look at, but you are a regular man to 
 talk with; men admire you till they know you, then 
 you frighten them." 
 
 " But that is what I live for; what better amuse 
 ment could I have than that of frightening men ? ' ' 
 
 " That is all very well while you are young, but 
 'twont do forever; you will find yourself among the
 
 RHEA 65 
 
 list of those ' left out ' in a year or two; your 
 chances are growing less all the time. When we 
 have completed this trip, your education will be 
 entirely finished, and if your prospects are as vague 
 at the end of the journey as they are now, I don't 
 know what will become of you." 
 
 " I shall probably go into a convent, " said Rhea, 
 more and more amused, "but say, Aunt Carrie, 
 what do you mean by ' my chances ' ? " 
 
 "Your chances to get married, of course." 
 
 " But I never had an offer from anybody in my 
 life, so I don't see how they can grow less." 
 
 " You might have had a hundred ; its your own 
 fault; you have men dangling after you continually 
 all sorts, young and old, but as soon as they 
 show a sign of coming to terms, you spring the 
 subject of spontaneous generation on them, or the 
 cellular theory, or some cult or other, that shuts 
 their mouths tighter than clams. I've seen you do 
 it over and over again." 
 
 ' ' But suppose I want to shut their mouths, havn't 
 I the right so far as I am concerned?" 
 
 " No you haven't, Rhea Nelliuo, your first duty 
 is to marry." 
 
 She was somewhat wrathy and stabbed her finger 
 with the cambric needle till the blood flew. Rhea 
 bit her lip to keep from laughing, and dropped her 
 eyelids to hide their mischief. To get Mrs. 
 Hancock into a rage while she remained utterly 
 unconcerned, was one of Rhea's chief delights.
 
 66 EL RESHID 
 
 " You talk exactly as Mr. Sylvas does exactly; 
 he informed me, that men sought clinging imbecile 
 women gentle, unlearned women madonna-faced 
 women " lean-to " women he also whispered in 
 my ear that I had but to suppress my inclination to 
 study and logic to find a man like himself, or 
 perhaps, even himself, my devoted slave." 
 
 " And his advice was good, "said Mrs. Hancock, 
 snapping her eyes, and pricking her fingers again. 
 
 " But you see, Aunt Carrie," in her sweetest 
 fashion ' ' while those after the style of Mr. Sylvas 
 might enjoy me in that phase, I shouldn't enjoy my 
 self. The wonder of it is, that men never consider 
 me ; as it happens, what they would like me to be 
 and what I enjoy being are quite different. I live, 
 I imagine, to live. The main question with me is 
 how much of life can I get; but unfortunately Mr. 
 Sylvas' idea of me is just contrary. He would 
 reduce me in height a few inches, in order that he 
 might be the taller of the two. It is mostly that 
 way with men, Aunt Carrie; they can't bear to look 
 up, but love to look down." 
 
 " Talk is cheap, and that's conceit" this time 
 Mrs. Hancock snapped her needle in two " but I 
 tell you, after you've passed thirty you will change 
 your tactics. ' ' 
 
 "Why?" said Rhea innocently, assuming an 
 aggravating expression 
 
 "Because you'll want to be loved mighty bad, 
 just as any other woman does. "
 
 RHEA 67 
 
 " But I want that now " she looked more child 
 like, more ignorant if that could be, than before 
 
 "Then why don't you take your chance while 
 you can get it; Sylvas is dying for you; all that he 
 asks is that you spare his pride a little, and become 
 dutiful and humble as a woman ought to be. Ralph 
 Logan would marry you too, but for the same 
 cause." 
 
 Rhea sighed as if her last hope had vanished, 
 though one with sharp ears might have translated 
 the sigh into a laugh. 
 
 " Then I'm doomed to be a spinster, and against 
 my most ardent wishes too. I want love more than 
 any woman on earth, but I desire it for the whole 
 of me, not for a part. If I must sacrifice two-thirds 
 of myself in order to get the other one-third adored, 
 I don't know what I am going to do. You see 
 auntie, 'twill be suicide nothing less. I should 
 have to kill my logic, my imagination, my dreams 
 all that part of me which I enjoy the most, 
 whether it gives anybody else pleasure or not." 
 
 " Wouldn't you rather have a third of yourself 
 loved than none at all ? " 
 
 " Not a bit of it!" said Rhea energetically, toss 
 ing her book on the table ' ' in fact I have that 
 now; my torn cat, Noah, at Sandwich loves that 
 much of me, so do my six white hens, and my pug 
 Bascom. No Aunt Carrie Hancock dearest" and 
 she went over to her aunt and caught her face in 
 tier hands and kissed her "just in proportion as I
 
 68 EL RESHID 
 
 belong to these men, they love me, don't you under 
 stand. I suppose I appeal to each one of them 
 somewhat, so they dangle about, but I appeal to my 
 self more ; that's just all there is of it. If I ever 
 marry, and alas ! I fear I never shall " here she 
 stroked her aunt's hair consolingly " I must 
 marry completely: to be a little bit married isn't 
 after my style. I want to be married altogether or 
 iiot at all do you comprehend ?" 
 
 "No I don't." 
 
 Mrs. Hancock was mollified, however; she always 
 gave way under Rhea's caresses " You're the 
 strangest mortal I ever saw, without exception, but 
 we must dress for dinner," and she gathered up 
 her flosses and linen and rustled out. 
 
 When she had gone, Rhea threw herself into the 
 chair and gave way to a fit of hysterical laughter 
 O, auntie! You'll be the death of me yet! Mr. 
 Sylvan! Mr. Logan!" It was too much; she 
 abandoned her dignity and allowed her amusement 
 full sway. This was a trait of her's, to drain the 
 last drop from the cup, though it contained nothing 
 but water. 
 
 Completely rejuvenated, she proceeded to dress, 
 and looked much like a girl of sixteen when she 
 met her aunt at dinner an hour later. 
 
 As it happened, Regan. Aleppo and Sallus arrived 
 in Brindisi that very day on their way to Cairo also, 
 and were placed at the same hotel table with Mrs. 
 Hancock and her neice Rhea. The three men, one
 
 RHEA 69 
 
 after the other, caught the eyes of the young lady, 
 and each felt in his own way a peculiar little shock, 
 at the same time a warmth about the heart and a 
 desire with it to be good, and do good, to all the 
 world. This was the first emotion that Rhea called 
 up in the soul of a man, when she chose to look him 
 in the eyes. It was always the same, with old or 
 young, but later, her aunt had remarked, she spoiled 
 it all. 
 
 Regan sat opposite Rhea, and the two young men 
 were on either side of him. Fo*r a few moments 
 they devoted themselves energetically to the dinner, 
 but later, Mrs. Hancock who was rather nervous, 
 dropped her fork, which Aleppo instantly restored 
 to her; this called forth thanks and apologies, and 
 before they knew it, they were all talking as 
 though old friends. Regan informed Mrs. Hancock 
 that he and his sons were about to take the steamer 
 for Cairo, and learning that the lady and her neice 
 were going there also, the three men beamed at 
 each other unconscious of what they were so happy 
 about ; while Mrs. Hancock took account of 
 stock as she usually did whenever Rhea and a 
 husband were concerned. 
 
 Bracciolini, the elder, and Rhea took a fancy to 
 each other at once, and having ascertained that they 
 were both Yankees, and from the same state, their 
 right to a travelling partnership was conceded by 
 all. The boys, already jealous of Regan, vowed 
 by the powers, that on no account should Miss
 
 70 EL RESHID 
 
 Nellino be disillusioned about their relationship; 
 they called Regan, father, continuously, and he see 
 ing through the ruse proceeded to tease them forth 
 with by making the matter of his paternity so 
 emphatic that Rhea suspected mischief. It took 
 but a few moments of companionship with this 
 beautiful and tantalizing young woman to set the 
 men on edge with each other, while plunging them 
 " head over ears ' ' into certain states of feeling 
 which they had never experienced before. 
 
 Rhea revealed~to them new worlds and excited 
 potentialities into action which had previously lain 
 dormant. Aleppo longed to tell her of "Miss 
 Somebody, ' ' and adopt her as a sort of muse-mother 
 to whom he might fly and pour out his soul. 
 Sallus on the contrary had already 'vowed that he 
 would marry her or die; while Regan warmed by a 
 spirit of comradeship, felt that at least he had found 
 his match, and prophesied for himself more down 
 right fun for the coming trip than he had deemed 
 was possible an hour before. But she had thought 
 little about any of them except perhaps Regan, 
 whose Yankee face and sharp tongue had tickled 
 her fancy from the first. 
 
 The steamer was to sail the next day, and they 
 met in the evening on the hotel porch to talk over 
 plans and prospects. Mrs. Hancock took the 
 young men under her maternal wing, and Regan 
 found a seat near Rhea. The moonlight struck her 
 full in the face, and Regan's sharp eyes discovered
 
 RHEA 71 
 
 numerous and unreadable expressions there, as he 
 went on, glibly lying to her. He was trying to 
 concoct some sort of a story, by which he should 
 justify his relation to Sallus and Aleppo to whom 
 he was loyal to the core, but it was hard work. 
 
 "In the first place," said Rhea " I don't know 
 anyone in the Bay State named Bracciolini ; to be 
 sure I am not acquainted with everybody there, 
 but it seems rather queer, seeing that you are on 
 such good terms with a number of my friends, that 
 they have never mentioned you to me." 
 
 " 'Tis, rather," said Regan "I expect it just 
 happened so; you see the name's a hard one to 
 pronounce. " He bit off a piece from a twig on the 
 porch and put it into his mouth; he had given up 
 tobacco since supper. 
 
 " Nevertheless" went on Rhea with a contented 
 little sigh "it's nice to meet you, especially as you 
 know so many of my friends. There's one thing 
 that puzzles me though " 
 
 " What's that?" and Regan drew a little nearer. 
 
 ' ' You seem too young to be the father of these 
 men." 
 
 Regan was both disturbed and flattered "What 
 the deuce," said he to himself, "have I got into 
 this fix for?" out loud "I suppose I do look 
 somewhat young; just a boy with them, as a father 
 should be, see? Married in my teens." Then a 
 bright idea struck him " wife died," he saw per-
 
 72 EL, RESHID 
 
 dition yawning at his feet, but he was in for it 
 "have been a widower a long time." 
 
 The girl's face was a study. Regan could have 
 killed himself for posing before her as such an ass, 
 but what could he do? He liked Rhea exceedingly, 
 and was far from anxious that she should consider 
 him in the paternal light; but there were the boys, 
 he liked them too, and read revolt in their eyes, if 
 he deviated in the slightest degree from the pre 
 arranged plan; he saw that neither Sallus nor 
 Aleppo would tolerate him as their rival unless he 
 played the paternal role. Ah! it had its advantage 
 it would give him a degree of freedom with the 
 girl and a hundred opportunities to enjoy her 
 society, that would be otherwise hard to get. 
 
 "So your first name is Rhea," said Regan, "are 
 you the mother of Zeus ? " 
 
 She laughed exultingly " I may have been, in 
 some far away life, when the Olympians were cast 
 ing longing eyes on Greece: it's a wonderfully 
 maternal name, isn't it ?" 
 
 " Quite out of the ordinary " Regan answered, 
 chewing his twig vigorously "Greek myth is 
 about as pretty as any I know of eh ?" 
 
 "There let me shake hands with you Mr. 
 Bracciolini, I love Greece, every inch of it," her 
 face positively glowed ' ' old Mitylene, A thens, the 
 Acropolis, Olympus, how the names thrill and 
 charm me. If it be true that man dies to be born 
 again, I have sometime lived in Greece. I dream
 
 RHEA 73 
 
 of Hellas at night; a Corinthian column makes my 
 heart flutter; the names of Phidias, Aspasia, Damon, 
 Pericles sound in my ears in echoes to this very 
 day." 
 
 She rose and paced up and down the room, the 
 moon transforming her to a reincarnated Phryne, 
 reveling in the memory of Praxitiles. 
 
 Regan was somewhat appalled, and sent his twig 
 over the railing instanter. The impassioned being 
 before him, in white serge had changed from a 
 Cape Cod Yankee to an enraptured child of Hellas, 
 pouring out her soul's complaint not to him, but 
 to the moon. 
 
 He had nothing to say; for once his tongue was 
 glued to thereof of his mouth; he wanted to run, 
 and he wanted to stay. At last Rhea herself broke 
 the spell. 
 
 "You must think me crazy, Mr. Bracciolini," 
 dropping into a chair and drawing back into the 
 shadow " I have these spells once in a while 
 can you explain them? " 
 
 Regan felt better "Yes, I think so; you see 
 'tisn't exactly hallucination; it's the poetry in you 
 that's all. Those folks in Attica were first class, 
 as far as culture and art go, and you've got a fellow 
 feeling it takes the moon to bring it out though." 
 
 "Of course you will think me a fool, but I am 
 pretty sure I have lived there," answered Rhea. 
 
 " 'Tisn't for me to say you haven't, answered 
 Regan ' ' as long as it is admitted that there are
 
 74 EIv RKSHID 
 
 adepts, there's no telling but reincarnation may be 
 true. ' ' 
 
 ' ' But what in the world have adepts to do with 
 *the question?" 
 
 "Only this, just the minute I admit of one thing 
 outside of the well known, I admit all, see? As 
 long as I am swallowing adepts, reincarnation goes 
 down with it." 
 
 " But do you swallow adepts Mr. - I for 
 get your name Bracciolini ? ' ' 
 
 " I'll tell you later, I'm in the act of making a 
 test now.' ' 
 
 Rhea drew slightly away from him; she was 
 getting afraid of this riddle. 
 
 " Don't be frightened MissNellino, it's all right." 
 And adroitly changing the subject they began to 
 discuss the coming trip to Cairo. 
 
 In the meantime Sallus and Aleppo had been 
 whistling to the moon; Mrs. Hancock, unable to do 
 anything with them had sought her own room. 
 Suddenly Sallus burst out, " Say L,ep, let's play a 
 joke on Dad?" "All right ' as a rule Aleppo 
 scorned practical jokes; but he had fallen from 
 grace. 
 
 "Ten to one," went on Sal "he's palming him 
 self off as a widower; 'twont do." 
 
 " Not much " answered Aleppo, forgetting his 
 vow to abandon slang " not much come on!" 
 
 They both shied over to the animated couple, 
 and Sallus blurted out, " Dad have you written to
 
 EL RF,SHID 75 
 
 mother to-night?" but Regan was one too many 
 for them. 
 
 " No my son, I shall do so later." You see, Miss 
 Nellino I've had the habit ever since she hem 
 departed " he bit his tongue here " of writing her 
 a letter, just to keep up the memory you know 
 old times see ? " 
 
 The young men began to whistle again, directly 
 at the moon, and Rhea who found Regan beyond 
 her, rose and smiling bewitchingly at Sallus and 
 Aleppo, bade the three good night. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EL RESHID. 
 
 It was raining in Paris ; the storm had been 
 tempestuous since sundown, and as the evening 
 grew apace, sleet and hail fell on the shining roofs 
 and sidewalks with increasing fury. Indeed it was 
 difficult for the pedestrian to make headway at all, 
 while the street gamins crawled into their holes 
 and crannies like cats and dogs, but with less dis 
 comfort. It was severely cold, and as disagreea 
 ble a night to be out in as one could select. Never 
 theless, a man came from Gare de l'Est,took a car 
 riage, and proceeded along the Boulevard Sebasto- 
 pol in the direction of the observatory; about mid- 
 .way he ordered the driver to stop, and alighting, 
 continued on foot, somewhat after the manner of a
 
 76 EIv RESHID 
 
 hound, following an unseen trail. At last he 
 brought up suddenly before a house which looked 
 exactly like its two neighbors on either side. 
 
 Within this particular residence Henrique Ro 
 manes had been for the past two hours anxiously 
 waiting for some one, and betrayed his nervous 
 ness in a hundred ways, but chiefly by walking up 
 and down the full length of his dimly-lighted 
 library, pausing periodically before the doors and 
 listening a long minute, to be rewarded by the 
 slamming of a shutter, or the rattle of the sleet. 
 
 The house, furnished in the conventional French 
 style, had, nevertheless, a secluded and refined air, 
 that proclaimed the individuality of Romanes. 
 First and foremost, it was instinct with him the 
 things about seemed half conscious servants, ready 
 on all occasions to do the Master's bidding. 
 
 He grew more impatient as time advanced, and 
 consulted his watch continually, even unbolting 
 and opening the outer door, to peer into the storm. 
 At last a sort of despair took possession of him, 
 and throwing himself into a chair, and closing his 
 eyes, his face assumed a drawn look, which aged it 
 at once. He had been in this downcast mood for a 
 full half-hour, when, glancing up, as if brought to 
 himself by a shock, he beheld the calm but brilliant 
 face and erect figure of El Reshid. How this 
 gentleman had entered he could not surmise the 
 servant must have been silent and swift. Romanes 
 stared at him for an instant, then, rising, bowed
 
 EL RESHID 77 
 
 nearly to the floor; in fact he failed to raise his 
 head, but kept it bent, till El Reshid stooped and 
 compelled him to look up. Romanes' eyes were 
 streaming with tears, which he tried in vain to 
 hide, and which his guest affected not to see. 
 From the first to the last of their interview, which 
 continued for half an hour, Romanes avoided the 
 glance of El Reshid, and betrayed humility and 
 shame, utterly foreign to his ordinary self. 
 
 El Reshid was scarcely of average height, but 
 his carriage was so erect, and his air so imposing, 
 that he appeared even larger than Romanes, who 
 was somewhat above him. Though dressed in the 
 civilian's garb of black, of true Parisian cut, but 
 a glance was needed for one to discover that he was 
 of oriental extraction; his eyes and hair being 
 extremely dark and his skin of the tint of cream. 
 Twice during his interview with Romanes he con 
 sulted his watch, the case of which was studded 
 with emeralds, imbedded in the gold in such 
 a manner as to reflect a peculiar symbol, utterly 
 untranslatable to the mass of men. On his 
 finger he wore a ring, the seal being a highly 
 polished gem, cut in Egyptian hieroglyphics not 
 easily understood. Otherwise he was free of orna 
 ment, and unobtrusive as to attire. 
 
 He stood during the whole interview, and though 
 utterly still as to body, he had such an appearance 
 of action and power that he seemed to quiver from 
 head to foot.
 
 78 EL RESHID 
 
 " Romanes, you sent for me I have come." 
 
 Romanes bowed his head even to his breast. 
 
 " And may I presume by this," his voice trem 
 bling, " that I am to be reinstated? " 
 
 "What matters it?" answered El Reshid, with 
 slight scorn in his tone. " A society is but a 
 shell; you had passed into the kernel the worm 
 appeared. " 
 
 " True," he evaded his guest's eyes " can the 
 injury be repaired ? " 
 
 The stern look on El Reshid 's countenance van 
 ished before Romanes' pleading aspect; his face 
 brightening with a peculiar smile, which had the 
 effect of sunlight flashing through clouds. 
 
 " Romanes," he said, " time may heal a serious 
 wound, but it leaves a scar. You joined the Order, 
 you aimed to acquire cetain powers the law of 
 exchange holds good in the psychic world ; even 
 there one pays for what he gets it is not a ques 
 tion of sentiment, but of fair dealing. You agreed 
 to give a certain price for a certain return ; you 
 understood very well what that necessitated ; to 
 acquire one thing, you gave up another; you were 
 not persuaded, you volunteered. For many years 
 you were true to the transaction ; your dividends on 
 the investment were large; you acquired powers 
 and secrets which, abused, might make of you a 
 fiend. Already, at this stage, you were master of 
 circumstances and men; but alas! not of yourself. 
 
 Though unable to hurt the Order in a vital part,
 
 KL RESHID 79 
 
 you injured your own life, and threw us into con 
 fusion. The result of the fall from a pure love, with 
 no taint in it, which was sanctioned by us, was the 
 child Aleppo, upon whom you entailed, when he 
 came out of Eden, a life of sacrifice. You have 
 thrust earthly existence on him under conditions 
 that will be well nigh fatal to his peace of mind. 
 Endowed with the powers (from close affinity with 
 yourself and Helene) of the Rajah, at the same 
 time cursed with your physical fall, he stands to the 
 world in a far different aspect from one born in 
 ordinary sanctioned or unsanctioned wedlock ; from 
 parents living according to the rhythmic law of nor 
 mal man. You have stolen an angel from the skies 
 and thrust him into the mud. Having crossed the 
 Rubicon of the flesh, you turned back, and, canni 
 bal that you were, ate from a table where your own 
 kind are devoured. But regrets are vain 'tis 
 done. The nemesis of Fate, which is nothing 
 other than a wolf-fanged, devil-eyed causation, is 
 throwing her effects at your guilty head. You are 
 bruised and bleeding. Results, full-grown, give 
 heavy blows. For seventeen years you have striven 
 to forget, and to thrust from your life a lotus 
 flower, that told its grievances to the moon for 
 seventeen years you have obeyed strictly the laws 
 of the Order, and have striven by penance to undo 
 your mistake ; to an extent, you have won. Time 
 passes you and leaves no finger marks, you speak 
 the languages of all races, sickness scorns you, you
 
 80 Ely RESHID 
 
 know the secret of the bird and the bee, you hear 
 the heart-beat of the flower, you behold the far-off 
 without eyes and revel in the song of the stars 
 without ears, but love is denied you ; Aleppo has 
 stolen it all his heart is bursting. The icy realm 
 of intellect is yours, but your passion, alas! is but a 
 stone. 
 
 " Forgiveness ! Ah ! can pardons piled to heaven, 
 and sealed and stamped, thrust out Aleppo from 
 your thought ? Forgiveness is a word and nothing 
 more. Atonement! Nay, for justice with its two- 
 edged sword is on your track. What mortal, or im 
 mortal, can pay Aleppo's price but you ? 
 
 " ' Tis spoken, Henrique Romanes, thou shalt stop 
 where thou art, and in thy place shall step thy son; 
 advance, thou cannot 'tis he that marches on. 
 Through this, thy mortal life, till death doth free 
 thee, himself thou servest ; on thy crushed body 
 shall he rise to pinnacle of power. In finding him, 
 thou shall discover age, the grave, Kismet ! ! This 
 life thou payest, but in the next, thyself shalt find 
 again." 
 
 He quivered from head to foot with that still 
 motion which the bird reveals when poised upon 
 the wing. 
 
 Romanes looked El Reshid in the eyes. Ro 
 manes ! ! the fig tree blasted by the Master's 
 curse. 
 
 " ' Tis thou hast spoken ? ' ' 
 
 " Not I, for, by the Eternal, this is law"
 
 EIv RESHID 81 
 
 He backed toward the door, never taking his 
 eyes from his host, who bowed his head, as he had 
 done at his entrance, nearly to the floor. An 
 instant's pause on the threshold, and El Reshid 
 had gone, leaving Romanes hopeless, fearless fac 
 ing the effect of a fatal past, with clear and steady 
 eyes. 
 
 Rising, he staggered to his desk, for his firm step 
 had left him, and, finding pen .and paper, began 
 immediately to write ; his letter ran thus: 
 
 ' ' Helene : 
 
 " I am at last calm; El Reshid has been with me 
 for one-half hour. I am neither happy nor sad; 
 hope and fear I know not. I shall fly no longer 
 from the effect of a cause that it will take my whole 
 Unit of being to face, for ' it is spoken.' 
 
 " El Reshid will stand behind Aleppo he has 
 said as much he will reveal him to me when the 
 time is ripe. Though you and I can never unlearn 
 that w^ich is ours though in no sense can we go 
 back in mind and comprehension, our bodies will 
 pay the price of this new object upon which our 
 energy must needs be spent. This is Law the 
 unit of strength which has been ours, and which, 
 by certain principles that we have learned, we have 
 utilized to keep ourselves in perfect poise and 
 health, must now be directed toward another end. 
 Force is constant ; there is power within to gen 
 erate the same in limited degree; directing it all, as
 
 S2 EL RESHID 
 
 injustice we must henceforth do, in a never vary 
 ing endeavor to further the welfare of our natural 
 son, our bodies must needs wither with age and 
 stiffen in death. 
 
 " Helene, my eternal love, we, we must die! " 
 
 "I am utterly calm; we have but a tew more 
 years, and you feel you the same? Can you 
 watch that pink pearl face, in its fading, day by 
 day a veritable blush rose, wilting in the cruel 
 light of an avenging cause; can you bear that your 
 eyes retire far back into your head, to look out on 
 the world through the blear of age ; can you toler 
 ate the sight of your sun-lit hair turning to gray, 
 crisp and withered like sere grass ? Will you suffer 
 the twinges of pain and the gnawing of the worm ? 
 
 " Ah, Helene, I fear you. For me, you would 
 go to the rack; but for the thief, Aleppo, who stole 
 me from you, I have great dread. Already you 
 are in the clutches of Issachar, whose magic is 
 beyond me the war is on. The Unit of Energy 
 shifts rapidly from pole to pole the light of heaven 
 is eclipsed at high noon, and the dark brings forth 
 a midnight sun. 
 
 "Helene, consider well your far-off future the 
 unborn child of this fateful hour. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 ROMANES." 
 
 Romanes always wrote and spoke with a roman 
 tic dignity, seemingly far-fetched to the occidental, 
 but normal to the oriental soul.
 
 EL RESHID 83 
 
 Having sealed and addressed his letter, he stag 
 gered like one drunk, through the long hall, out on 
 to the front vestibule, where the storm struck him 
 in the face. However, he found a box in which 
 he placed his missive, where, strange to say, he 
 discovered another addressed to himself, or rather 
 an old envelope, covered with the scrawls of a lead 
 pencil. He knew it instantly, and though written 
 in Hindoo dialect he read to the end without 
 difficulty. 
 
 ' ' Romanes Brother, I pause to address you a 
 note before leaving. It is the last that I shall 
 direct to you, personally, in this life. But you will 
 receive many letters from me for Aleppo, and these 
 it will be your duty to forward to him. Direct 
 always, ' Aleppo Bracciolini, Cairo.' Wherever he 
 may be, they will reach him. Do not in any way 
 betray your identity nor mine ; simply mail the 
 papers sent by me to his address, and leave the 
 
 result to himself. 
 
 Yours, ' 
 
 EL RESHID." 
 
 Romanes bit his lips, which had turned pale, 
 and found his way into his library, where he closed 
 and locked the door; then, throwing himself face 
 downward on *the floor, gave way to hysterical sob 
 bing, unnatural in a man, and hitherto unexper 
 ienced by himself since reaching the condition of 
 prime. His calmness, which had been a sort of
 
 84 EL RESHID 
 
 inertia after intense excitement, had utterly aban 
 doned him; he had lost his nerve, and his convul 
 sive sobs were pitiful to hear. Though a man with 
 the cold wisdom of a sage, yet was he entirely 
 undone by a spasm of jealous pain. Enslaved not 
 by physical passion, not by its results, his towering 
 genius and cool logic had no power over the 
 petty fires of a half-dead heart. His grand passion 
 smouldering, tingled and burned him with the darts 
 of a small flame. He was jealous of Aleppo; his 
 flesh and blood stood not only between him 
 self and Helene, but usurped his place with the 
 beloved teacher to whom he had bowed to the 
 floor. Those precious letters, which should have 
 been his own, were to be transferred to his more 
 fortunate son ; and he, an Ishmaelite, was to bear 
 them across the desert of his life with their un 
 sealed covers laying a dead weight on his heart. 
 
 For an hour he hated Aleppo with the hate of 
 Helene, but no longer; the spirit of sacrifice, like 
 a dove from a clear sky, stole into his life, bearing 
 the green leaf in its beak. He kissed the crum 
 pled envelope, on which was inscribed El Reshid's 
 name, passionately, and taking from his breast the 
 letter written years before by Helene, placed the 
 two together, and buried in his own bosom the 
 grand passion of his life. Then, standing before the 
 long mirror, where a strong light fell, he carefully 
 scanned his troubled face. He was older a pallor 
 of the skfu and lifelessness of the eye, told of
 
 OFF THE IONIAN ISLES 85 
 
 change. He remembered El Reshid's countenance, 
 as he had seen it that evening that of a man of 
 thirty; almost boyish in its purity of color and 
 fire of glance; he recalled his erect carriage and 
 quick action; his abrupt and positive speech; his 
 radiant smile; and then, sighing, he turned sadly 
 from the glass where, in after life, he never looked 
 again. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 OFF THE IONIAN ISLES. 
 
 Our party of five, headed by Regan, had steamed 
 out of the Adriatic and were off the Ionian Isles. 
 Sallus, healthy on shore, had gone to bed sick, so 
 also had Mrs. Hancock. Aleppo, possessed by 
 strange dreams of late, was crooning to the moon 
 alone ; while Regan and Rhea, ridiculously well, 
 had arranged two steamer chairs in most com 
 fortable quarters, and, between watching the play 
 of the moonlight on the waters of the Mediterra 
 nean, and discoursing on subjects divine and infer 
 nal, were having the best kind of time. Mrs. Han 
 cock was utterly disgusted with the turn affairs had 
 taken ; Regan was well enough rich, to be sure, 
 but a married man. Nothing that Rhea couid have 
 done would have so set her aunt on edge as this 
 flirtation, so she called it, with the father of two
 
 fcf, KL RKSIIID 
 
 boys. He had stated that his wife was dead, but 
 she didn't believe a word of it. 
 
 "It's the way with the men; when they go 
 traveling, they leave their wives, not only at home, 
 but out of their memories. Writing to a wife in 
 heaven, nonsense! Didn't you see how the boys 
 tripped him ? " 
 
 "I don't care a straw," said Rhea, tossing her 
 head, "whether he is married or single; he is 
 the first man that I have ever met that I could 
 talk sense to." 
 
 "Sense!! Such stuff Theosophy, reincarna 
 tion, Piato, induction." 
 
 As much scorn as could be condensed into words, 
 she packed into these; but it did no good. Rhea 
 and Regan were inseparable; and the boys, after 
 listening to one or two of the conversations car 
 ried on between them, were quite content to be 
 left out, preferring her ravishing smiles which 
 she was very indiscriminate in bestowing, to her 
 puzzling medley of phantasy and logic, that Regan 
 took in with pitcher-plant ears. 
 
 As I have said, they were on the steamer deck; 
 it was moonlight and balmy, with an ideal sea 
 and sky. 
 
 "So," said Rhea, after humming a snatch of 
 opera, "you don't exactly grasp reincarnation ?" 
 
 " Not exactly,' ' he wished that he did "you 
 see, somehow, I take more kindly to evolution, 
 though, after all," brightening, "I don't discover
 
 OFF THE IONIAN ISLES 87 
 
 much difference; if you have come up from the 
 oyster to Miss Nellino, you've been in some sort 
 of flesh all along, haven't you?" 
 
 " I don't know, Mr. Bracciolini, I very much 
 fear that the evolutionist makes no claim to an 
 extended individuality. I suspect the fellow that 
 animated a certain far-back oyster isn't the one that 
 animates Mr. Bracciolini to-day, according to the 
 believers in the survival of the fittest." 
 
 " Maybe 'tisn't; but now I have put in an appear 
 ance, I've come to stay." 
 
 "There is the trouble," said Rhea, brusquely, 
 " why do you object to extending me backward as 
 well as ahead ? It seems to me that I would be 
 of much better proportions to have a past that in 
 some degree balances what is to come. ' ' 
 
 "To that I haven't the least objection, Miss 
 Nellino; the longer you are, the better there can't 
 be too much of you any way you fix it. Shake 
 hands on that, will you ? " 
 
 They had grown quite accustomed to shaking 
 hands. Whenever they came to terms, Regan 
 shouted, " shake ! " and Rhea's pretty fingers 
 were grabbed with a daring that shamed the 
 boys. 
 
 They shook, and Rhea continued ; 
 
 " Of course, it may be all a dream ; I am pos- 
 pibly a clod, that appears but once in human 
 shape, or any other, but I do like consistency. 
 I am one of two things, or logic is a fake either
 
 88 
 
 au eternal being, or not ; now if my life is endless, 
 there never was a time when I didn't exist, and 
 never will be one when I shall not be. If, on the 
 contrary, I am simply mortal the puppet of a 
 capricious deity I shall turn to dust when I die, 
 and go back to the nothing, as regards individ 
 uality, from which I came." 
 
 " It seems to me there's no getting around that," 
 said Regan. 
 
 "Which?" 
 
 " Either one." 
 
 " I have to establish myself somewhere or no 
 where. The inconsistency of nine out of ten of 
 the religions, to say nothing of the cults, makes 
 me shudder. I am either an out and out materialist, 
 who believes in this life and no other, or the rankest 
 spiritualist that ever was born that is, I have an 
 indestructible past that always was and ever shall 
 be. Which is it, Mr. Bracciolini ? " 
 
 " I expect it's the latter, as far as you are con 
 cerned." 
 
 He really had not made up his mind, nor could 
 he without his tobacco. He had taken to chewing 
 gum since his acquaintance with Rhea, but it was 
 a failure. He had been a slave to his one habit so 
 many years that even Rhea and evolution were 
 insufficient to free him. A sudden craving came, 
 that broke the conversation at its very climax. He 
 complained of dizziness of the head, and Rhea,
 
 OFF THE IONIAN ISLES 89 
 
 laughingly, said that he was sea-sick, dismissing 
 him forthwith. 
 
 The next morning he was still to evil habits in 
 clined, and his chair being vacant, Aleppo slipped 
 into it. He was to have it all his own way. The 
 lynx-eyed Mrs. Hancock was very ill; Sallus beyond 
 the throes of love, and Regan in solitary bliss, like 
 an isolated cow chewing her cud. 
 
 Rhea glanced Aleppo over and decided that he 
 was a very different figure from Regan much 
 handsomer, much younger, and not a bit like his 
 father. He had puzzled her from the first there 
 was a page back of him that she could not read. 
 
 Mysteries are fascinating, and he " put a spell " 
 upon Rhea at once. Now, in reality he admired 
 Miss Nellino amazingly, but as yet he had but little 
 tact; and any man, young or old, who is without 
 tact, i-i, in slang phrase, " in a peck of trouble." 
 
 " You quite puzzle me, Miss Nellino," naively 
 "sometimes I take you for sixteen and sometimes 
 for forty." 
 
 "O my! forty." 
 
 " Well, you see, when Sal and I first saw you in 
 Brindisi, we thought you were in your teens; later 
 we changed our minds, and I told Sal that I thought 
 you could not be less than forty." 
 
 " On what did you found this wise conclusion 
 did the sunlight bring out some wrinkles when you 
 beheld me next day in its cruel glare ? " 
 
 " No, 'twasn't that; I can't see any wrinkles in
 
 90 EL RESHID 
 
 your face now, and I am sure the sun is bright 
 enough but you talk on subjects that most women 
 of forty take up." 
 
 "Do you know a great -deal about women?" 
 asked Rhea, exceedingly interested 
 
 Aleppo sighed. " Not as much as I would like; 
 you see I had Aunt Serena, and I have met a few 
 girls in traveling. ' ' 
 
 He looked at Rhea adoringly. She had a fresh, 
 pure countenance which the sun improved; her 
 jaunty sailor hat was rather back on her head, and 
 her rebellious brown hair, having its own way. 
 She had the philosopher's square brow, the poet's 
 eye, and the mouth of a Venus, with its pretty 
 smile and dimples altogether she was a " rare 
 bird. ' ' 
 
 "I think," said Aleppo, "of all the girls on 
 earth that I have ever seen, I like the American 
 girls the best." 
 
 "But you have not placed me, " said Rhea laugh 
 ing ' ' am I a girl or not ? ' ' 
 
 ''That is what puzzles me," said Aleppo 
 seriously. 
 
 " Well I will tell you, so that you may set your 
 mind forever at rest I an just twenty-six." 
 
 ' ' Ah ! He was not quite sure yet where to put 
 her, and he looked straight out at sea. 
 
 " What do you think? " persisted Rhea. 
 
 " You are better than either," he answered you 
 look sixteen and talk forty."
 
 OFF THE IONIAN ISUiS 91 
 
 " But most women of forty are as unendurably 
 stupid as mother-hens." 
 
 " Not all," said Aleppo with an air as though he 
 knew, though he did not. " Now I've the chance, " 
 he went on. "I want to confide something to you." 
 
 Rhea's heart beat faster. Regan had never raised 
 her pulse in the least was she falling in love ? She 
 hoped not. 
 
 " It is about Sallus I want you to like him." 
 
 Rhea was piqued. In reality Aleppo was on the 
 verge of making a great sacrifice. He was half in 
 love with the beautiful American himself. He 
 longed to put his arms about her and kiss her on 
 both cheeks, in spite of " Miss Somebody ' ' or any 
 body she was so sweet that morning, yet in 
 spite of it all, he was going to bestow her upon 
 Sallus. 
 
 Women are queer composites, every one of them 
 even the most sensible is vain; hurt her vanity 
 and you set every nerve quivering. Rhea was no 
 exception ; she was wonderfully charmed with 
 Aleppo, and wanted him for a dear, dear friend 
 nothing more of course, she said to herself. His 
 half-oriental face, his innocence, the veiled genius 
 of his eyes, the mystery of the boy, had stormed 
 her heart. He had implied that he liked yes, 
 more adored her on this very morning, and just 
 at the point where she felt that their friendship was 
 about to be sealed, he had turned her over to Sallus.
 
 92 EL RESHID 
 
 For a moment she hated him- he caught her mood, 
 and was silent. 
 
 "Goon" her tone a little hard. He was "in 
 for it," and he went deeper and deeper. 
 
 "It is this way," he said haltingly, " though I 
 expect Sallus would hate me for telling, yet it is for 
 his own good. Regan and I are pulling him up a 
 little; he had got down pretty low and it was not 
 his fault either." 
 
 " Who's Regan ?" said Rhea tartly. 
 
 Aleppo was caught, and he lied stupidly ; how 
 ever, there was no help for it. 
 
 " Regan? that's my father we always call him 
 Regan at home. He says it makes him feel more 
 like a boy hem ! " 
 
 " Go on," said Rhea, her lip curling. 
 
 "Well, as I was saying, it is not Sallus' fault. 
 He was brought up on wine and champagne 
 always on his our father's table understand? 
 Regan is to blame "Aleppo was blushing to his 
 ears. 
 
 "Now, I don't believe a word of that," said 
 Rhea, bridling; there is no better man than Mr. 
 Bracciolini on earth." 
 
 " Of course not," said Aleppo, gaining gall as he 
 went deeper. "Father is all right, and did not 
 realize till the last year or so, what it would come 
 to with Sallus that is why we are here; and he is 
 doing better too. I am sure Miss Nellino," he 
 sighed, " I am sure you can help him. It is the
 
 OFF THE IONIAN ISLKS 93 
 
 craving that bothers him now. Once he gets over 
 that, he is all right dantiest creature you ever saw, 
 and so handsome." 
 
 He looked pleadingly into Rhea's eyes. She bit 
 her lip and winked hard to keep from crying not 
 for Sallus, but for herself. It was very bitter to 
 have the first fascination of her life snapped in this 
 way, and by an innocent sinner too. She could not 
 say, "Aleppo be my friend first and foremost, and we 
 will work together for Sallus" not at all. She 
 was so little thought of by him, she argued to her 
 self, that he was using her like a missionary, or 
 Salvation Arm}' woman as a means to an end. 
 He was making of her a cat's paw to pull Sallus 
 out of the fire so she felt, and the emotion was 
 hard to bear. 
 
 ' ' If you could but be a mother to him," went on 
 jtss&tts, blundering more and more in his vain 
 endeavor to right himself. 
 
 " Now look here, Mr. Aleppo, I was scarcely 
 four years of age at the most, when Sallus was born. 
 I am not old enough to be his mother, nor do I 
 desire in the least to assume the maternal role, 
 especially to an adopted son ; on no conditions 
 would I take a boy to bring up." 
 
 Aleppo was confounded, he failed to understand 
 why Rhea was so emphatic. 
 
 "lam sorry, Miss Nellino, I am afraid I have 
 made a mistake." 
 
 Rhea's mood changed instantly ; Aleppo was
 
 94 EL RKSHID 
 
 unhappy. She took the boy's hand and pressed it 
 softly " There dear friend, I'll do what I can for 
 Sallus. He is perfectly safe at present in bed ; 
 between the three of us, I am sure he will not go 
 wrong; and if he should, later we will turn him 
 over to Mrs. Hancock." 
 
 "O no, not to Mrs. Hancock," said Aleppo re 
 coiling "please promise me" reaching and 
 taking her hand again, it made him so happy to 
 hold it. " Please promise me that you will never 
 speak of this conversation to Sallus or Regan; it is 
 because I love Sallus so much, and believe so 
 entirely in you, that I have mentioned this." 
 
 Her pique was gone. She felt a sudden desire to 
 force Sallus inside the narrow gate of the straight 
 way, even though she remained outside herself. 
 Aleppo still held her hand, and looked so supremely 
 content, that she felt that in spite of Sallus and the 
 whole world, she had in him a dear friend whose 
 love would be of heaven. 
 
 There was something about Aleppo that lifted 
 one upward in thought a fine magnetism which 
 inspired and fascinated. The purity of the boy's 
 intent, together with the dream world in which he 
 lived his innocence and virile power produced the 
 effect of glamour, and whoever especially of the 
 feminine sex came near him, was charmed. He 
 longed for love and one felt it, yet at the same time, 
 he was so selective and exacting, that but few were 
 allowed near.
 
 CAIRO 95 
 
 Rhea had sighed from childhood for a friend one 
 whose heart-beat she could feel. Friendship .to her 
 was the ideal the supreme; it had no taint of earth 
 on it. In vain she had sought consciously or uncon 
 sciously among women and men, and though she 
 found comrades here and there, no friend had been 
 her's but Aleppo ! If he would but sit beside her, 
 they would utter no sound the speech of silence 
 would be their 's, happy happy happy. The vast 
 expanse of sea, the vaster sky, the long infinite 
 line, where earth weds heaven, and the music the 
 subtle half-heard music, which two hear better 
 than one. Just here, (they were both dreaming, 
 hand in hand) Regan appeared. 
 
 "Aleppo, Sallus wants you ; says he's going to 
 get up." 
 
 The tables had turned. Aleppo had no longing 
 for Sallus; he suddenly remembered, however, that 
 he had disposed of Miss Nellino, and with this re 
 collection came a spasm of despair. He looked 
 wistfully at Rhea who translated it all, and smiled. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 CAIRO. 
 
 Indue time, "the five," as they called them 
 selves, reached Alexandria, and later steamed into 
 Cairo, where they expected to remain for some 
 time.
 
 96 EL RESHID 
 
 Though Aleppo had never been in the Orient, 
 except at Scutari, this first glimpse of Africa, and 
 his nearness to Syria, had a strange effect upon him 
 he grew more and more introspective, and less 
 inclined to talk, except to Rhea, who was so in 
 demand on all sides, that he obtained but little 
 chance with her. She had taken Sallus " in tow," 
 as Regan expressed it. 
 
 " The peculiar charm of Egypt," she went on 
 the beauty-loving boy drinking in every word 
 " lies in its long lines;" they were rushing toward 
 Cairo " even the camels move in a string, and the 
 date palms are slender and tall. Egypt is entirely 
 consistent with itself. The Nile, the green fields, 
 the mud huts, the date gardens, the azure, wonder 
 ing morning-glories, which stare with open eyes all 
 day; the Arabs in blue gowns; the dome and mina 
 ret; the eternal sky, beside which the camel 
 marches with the dignity of a ship at sea; the 
 Ivibyan sands, glittering like jewels in the sun; the 
 majestic pyramids, tawny with age; the Sphinx, 
 with fixed and untranslatable eyes, gazing straight 
 ahead." 
 
 "That's all very well," said Mrs. Hancock, lis 
 tening with disgust on her face at Rhea's rhapsody, 
 "but it's the greatest country for flies on earth ; 
 they stick all over the Arab babies, which I don't 
 believe have ever been washed since they were 
 born." 
 
 "You see," put in Regan, "if old Pharoah had
 
 CAIRO 97 
 
 given these Israelites half a show, he wouldn't 
 have got ' cussed ' as he was." 
 
 " Nothing grows here," went on Mrs. Hancock, 
 " unless you give it water; you are not sure of any 
 rain, and the glare is something terrible. I never 
 realized what a pretty place New England is, till I 
 came down into Egypt." 
 
 " You are not up to the majesty of straight lines, 
 I suspect," said Regan. " Now, Rhea 
 
 " Yes, it's always and forever Rhea; Rhea this and 
 Rhea that. If she chose to rhapsodize on an ant 
 hill it would be beautiful in men's eyes. She raves 
 more over ugly things than she does over any per 
 son on earth. I've half a mind to set her down on 
 the desert and leave her there; she'd change her 
 tune, I imagine." 
 
 Mrs. Hancock was all out of sorts. Her sea 
 sickness had made her cross, and the three unwel 
 come traveling companions aggravated her troubles. 
 The " boys " disliked her and she knew it; while 
 Regan, she hated on principle. The more Rhea 
 appreciated her new friends, the more her aunt dis 
 trusted them, taking every opportunity to imply 
 that they were not what they pretended to be, and 
 so forth, and so on; which Rhea, in spite of her 
 admiration, half suspected was true. She felt that 
 she .was entering the land of mystery with three 
 riddles to guess, more puzzling than the unsolved 
 Sphinx itself. And of the three, Aleppo had her 
 thoughts the most. They arrived at Cairo each in a
 
 98 EL RESHID 
 
 perturbed state of mind. Mrs. Hancock cross 
 and suspicious, Rhea puzzled, and half in love 
 with she knew not what. Sallus, swinging 
 between qualms of a persistent sea-sickness and 
 spasms of delight; Regan, minus tobacco, and 
 cursing gum; Aleppo, in a dream, disturbed now 
 and then by a strange influence, which, in all his 
 life, he had never felt before, that seemed to be 
 drawing him from these new-found friends, far, far, 
 to a life of isolation and sacrifice. 
 
 Over him still hung the dread of the Jew. He 
 had fled to the " Black Land ' ' in the hope that he 
 might escape this cursed vision, but in memory 
 Issachar still hovered a veritable buzzard, ready 
 to pounce upon him and pick his bones. Even 
 Khem, guarded by deserts and hemmed in by a 
 rampart of low mountains, might be accessible to 
 this son of L,eah. Aleppo was at the gate of Africa. 
 The dull, yellow Nile, sometimes shading into 
 brown, went unconcernedly by. The bare rocks, 
 tawny in hue, made a rhapsody of color, as sweet, 
 in its way, as is music beneath the deep azure of 
 the sky. Unobtrusive as to outline, marvelous in 
 tint Egypt uniform, various, unique, mysterious, 
 set his heart palpitating with a kind of rapture 
 that the Occident had never roused. But when, at 
 times, the still fog of the Nile veiled the vivid 
 green of the far-stretching fields, the dread of the 
 mystery of himself, the seeming antiquity of Issa 
 char, the future which Tsis had concealed, so
 
 CAIRO 99 
 
 enwrapt and subdued him, that his eyes took on a 
 look of melancholy that Rhea, alone, observed. 
 
 The age of Egypt forced Aleppo to feel his own. 
 The awful weight of years, that lay prone upon the 
 pyramids, yet insufficient to subdue them, pressed 
 on himself also, as though he had been and been 
 since earth began, yet stable still, a changeless 
 entity of change, a paradox, a sphinx. And the 
 mystery of Libya ! ! the jeweled sands challenging 
 the sun stretching to their meeting place with 
 heaven, appealed to him in vague prophesy, as 
 symbolic of himself. 
 
 " 'Tis the great waste of water or of land that 
 the sky comes down to meet. Ah, I/ibya, thou art 
 myself barren, yet wedded to the blue. Thou 
 bearest neither blossom nor fruit; too well, too 
 2iW?thou lovest thy adored the sun." 
 
 In Egypt the poet in Aleppo was born. He had 
 studied art and failed, but looking into the eyes of 
 Khem, the singer, for the first time, sang ; and the 
 muse, Rhea, listened and sat apart. 
 
 'Twas night. Aleppo had longed for Rhea, 
 but, true to his sacrifice, had left her in Cairo with 
 Mrs. Hancock and Sallus, and substituting Regan, 
 as best he could, in her place, had sought the 
 sight of Memphis, where he unbosomed himself to 
 his friend. 
 
 "You see, Regan," he said, with a half sigh, 
 " I'm in a strange frame of mind. I never felt far 
 different from other boys, that I know of, till after
 
 100 EL RESHID 
 
 I met Issachar. Something happened to me on 
 that morning in Venice; I told my first lie and 
 have been a changed being ever since.' ' 
 
 "Are you unhappy," said Regan, sympatheti 
 cally. 
 
 "Yes, and no. Is it possible to be happy and 
 miserable at the same time? If it is, I am that. 
 I live in a sort of rapture, but it' is shaded with 
 despair. I feel like a Rembrandt one half of me 
 in broad glare, the other in the dark. I wonder if 
 heaven isn't a place that hangs over hell. Just 
 imagine peeping out of the pearly gates once in a 
 while, and looking down into a fathomless abyss, 
 blacker than midnight. That is my case, Regan. 
 What's the matter w 7 ith me, can you tell? " 
 
 " Maybe you are in love." 
 
 " I should like to be in love with Rhea," said 
 Aleppo, simply. 
 
 Regan winced perceptibly. 
 
 " But that is not it," went on Aleppo; " this feel 
 ing of ecstacy which comes on periodically, is 
 caused by Egypt, I am sure, unless I don't 
 know," here he hesitated, " unless some one unseen 
 is influencing, and yes, I must say it loving 
 me. I feel as people say they do when Christ 
 loves them. I don't understand it, in my case ; for 
 I never took any stock in that sort of thing. But 
 that is not all I have a horrible dread of Issachar. 
 I never was afraid of any mortal before. Just
 
 CAIRO 101 
 
 think, Regan, he made me lie. I'm living a lie 
 now; we all are/' 
 
 " Don't you worry about that," said Regan, set 
 tling down in a comfortable frame of mind once 
 more, " we are not deceiving Rhea and Mrs. Han 
 cock one bit; they know we are traveling incognito 
 they've guessed it I am sure; and we've a right 
 to get over the world that way too ; even kings 
 doit." 
 
 "Sure," said Aleppo, somewhat relieved, " but 
 that's not the main thing. What I don't like is the 
 power that Issachar wields no other mortal could 
 have made me lie." 
 
 "That's just where it comes in," said Regan, 
 winking perceptibly " he's not mortal, if I know 
 myself. Didn't I tell you in Venice, that he was 
 older than Moses ? You see, it's this way " quite 
 emphatic, and imitating Rhea's method of debate 
 either there are magicians, or there are not ; if 
 there are, Issachar 's one. See?" 
 
 " What makes you think so, " said Aleppo, walk 
 ing restlessly back and forth. 
 
 '- The look of the man. No mortal ever looked 
 like that. He doesn't die, I tell you." 
 
 " Now, say." said Aleppo, though inclined to be 
 credulous, "do you really believe that; no joking, 
 now; do you ? " 
 
 "I'll be switched if I know what I do believe 
 that's a fact. I never was side-tracked before. It's 
 Rhea that's done it; always knew where I was at
 
 102 EL RESHID 
 
 till I met that girl, but since then I've got north 
 and south dreadfully mixed. She believes more 
 trash than any mortal woman I ever met, except 
 Miss Dunnigan. I knew a school-marm once that 
 could match her. But Miss Dunnigan only made 
 me more confirmed in my own way, while Rhea 
 knocks me all sixes and sevens. She has a way of 
 laying down premises and towering up to conclu 
 sions that's kind of dumbfounding. Of course, when 
 I think of it afterward, I see that, as likely as not, 
 her castle was erected upon air. But I tell you 
 that girl can reason; give her any sort of a base 
 to build on, and she'll make a syllogism out of it or 
 my name's not Regan. That's where she's so con 
 founding ; she's not a fool, and Miss Dunnigan 
 was. ' ' 
 
 "She's a New England product," said Aleppo, 
 reverently. He had thought of Boston with a 
 species of awe. 
 
 "Yes," went on Regan, "the best type of the 
 New Englander is like a roasted chestnut he's 
 hot and hard. 'Tough nut,' burning inside, hard 
 shell. You see the climate is peculiar, especially 
 down at Cape Cod hot as blazes in summer, regu 
 lar Arctic in winter. That's Rhea." 
 
 "So, then, you half believe he's a magician," 
 replied Aleppo, his feelings somewhat mixed. 
 
 "No, I don't, to be downright in earnest ; but 
 bad men are common as dirt; add shrewdness and 
 intellect to one of them, and you get a fellow that'll
 
 CAIRO 103 
 
 match Satan himself. That mail, Issachar, is dan 
 gerous. See?" 
 
 " But what do you suppose he wants with me? " 
 asked Aleppo, anxiously. 
 
 ''That's the mischief of it. I'm sure I don't 
 know. If you had not remembered his face, should 
 say that he was after somebody else; but the fact 
 that you recognized him, and that he came after 
 one named Aleppo, would seem to indicate pretty 
 strongly that he is seeking you." 
 
 " He has my name dreadfully mixed, it seems to 
 me. Romanes! Who on earth is Romanes ? Can 
 it be " here Aleppo paused, shocked by a sudden 
 thought. " can it be that that is my real name ? " 
 
 " Might be; stranger names have been tagged on 
 to a fellow lots of times." 
 
 "How did I come by the name of Bracciolini, 
 then?" said Aleppo, somewhat dazed. 
 
 "Don't know, unless it was bestowed later, in 
 place of the other. I expect when you were depos 
 ited in the. asylum, you were booked by that second 
 title fine name; I'm getting used to it myself." 
 
 There was nothing more to be said. They found 
 their way back to Cairo. Aleppo, uneasy, yet with 
 a strange thrill at his heart, and Regan greatly 
 puzzled about his newly adopted son. Patrick 
 Regan was loyal to the uttermost; his heart had been 
 a desert for many years, but since these stray boys 
 had crept into it, he had found an object for which 
 to live. Deep down in his soul he had resolved to
 
 104 KL RESHID 
 
 make a man out of Sallus and a son of Aleppo 
 they both seemed to need him, and to be needed in 
 the real sense, was all of happiness that Regan 
 desired. Aleppo was drifting about the world 
 alone, homeless and without kith or kin ; while 
 Sallus, a victim to an evil habit, was even in a worse 
 condition. They had taken to him from the 
 moment the three had met, and the pathos of their 
 earnest but wordless appeal, had wrung his heart. 
 So Regan was determined to stick to these two 
 young men through thick and thin ; not only for 
 their sakes, but for his own. 
 
 It was late at night. Aleppo, tired, had returned 
 from the site of Memphis, and desirous of being 
 alone, sought his room at Shepherds' and locked his 
 door. He had met Rhea on the corridor, she had 
 smiled and touched his hand he sat down to dream 
 of this. He was always calling up in memory a 
 look of hers or a word, in fact she seemed to haunt 
 him, though for the sake of Sallus he strove hard 
 to put her out of his thoughts. 
 
 On the table lay a pile of letters. After resting 
 a little, he picked them up with some curiosity, as 
 he was quite unused to an extended correspondence. 
 Two or three he found were from stray acquain 
 tances who had happened to have him in mind at 
 the same time. Another was from Caesar Catus, a 
 man who had studied at the same studio with him 
 in Italy a half oriental who had taught him to 
 write in the Hindoo dialect and a number of other
 
 CAIRO 105 
 
 things to be discussed later. Aleppo had taken a 
 great liking to Catus, and they had kept up an 
 active correspondence since his leaving Italy. The 
 epistle was a long one; so he laid it aside to read at 
 his leisure, and took up the last letter on the tray. 
 It puzzled him before he laid his hand on it. It 
 was mailed at Paris, and had arrived on time ; he 
 turned it over and over before opening; the writing 
 though strange gave him a peculiar sensation it 
 seemed exactly like his own. At last he broke the 
 seal and found enclosed a smaller envelope, 
 addressed in an entirely different hand and Hindoo 
 dialect the very same that he had learned from the 
 artist Catus. 
 
 Translated, it read: "For Aleppo Bracciolini." 
 He lifted it reverently why he could not tell 
 and slowly drew forth the closely written pages, 
 and held them to the light. His head was dizzy ; 
 he seemed to be on the verge of something won 
 derful was it a narrow path at a great height ? 
 For a moment it was impossible to read; then, his 
 brain clearing, he traced out the writing as well as 
 his astonished condition would permit. It was as 
 follows : 
 
 "THE MASTER. 
 
 " You have wondered a little if there are magi 
 cians. Read carefully what follows and decide for 
 yourself: 
 
 " The world is full of fads and fancies. The 
 Twentieth Century is drawing near and will usher
 
 106 EL RESHID 
 
 in an epidemic of credulity fully a match for the 
 wave of skepticism which has lately passed. Man 
 runs to extremes to-day, he seeks the miracle; 
 to-morrow, normal fact. One hour, hard stuck on 
 the rock of science, the next, adrift on the sea of 
 superstition. 
 
 "The idea has gone abroad, and is bolstered by 
 self-styled philosophers, and others, who use the 
 credulity of men to an end, that there are, most 
 likely, in far-off China and the inaccessible haunts 
 of Thibet, great souls (Mahatmas) whose powers 
 are beyond compare so great that the term 
 ' a God ' has hardly enough dignity to apply to 
 their august selves. They are supposed to walk 
 on water, rise in the air, pass through fire, transmit 
 to a long distance messages by occult means, 
 materialize letters at a given point, appear and dis 
 appear before one's eyes, live countless years, or 
 die, to rise in body from the tomb. To be masters 
 of all tongues, knowing, by intuition, the sciences 
 and arts; backing and controlling large bodies, rep 
 resenting various cults; behind societies and innu 
 merable organizations; silent, secret dictators, com 
 pared with which the Council of Ten played but a 
 child's foolish game. 
 
 " Farther, mediums here and there, who are, or 
 are not, as the case may be, vehicles for the passages 
 of spirits from the unseen world to this, have been 
 suddenly seized with the notion that secret masters, 
 still alive, are making of them dignified agents to
 
 CAIRO 107 
 
 do their silent work. The fascination of this strange 
 encounter with a living being, unseen but felt, has 
 so grown and flourished that there is scarcely a 
 town of any size in Christendom that fails to shelter 
 one or more of the favored many who make this 
 claim. 
 
 "Now, let us sift the matter, once and for all. 
 Was there ever smoke without a fire? Mahatma ! 
 What means the word ? Simply a great soul. Out 
 in the open, they are often discovered ; and have 
 been since man began. Each race has produced 
 them, from the Egyptian Trismegistus to the Ger 
 man Mozart; from the Greek Plato, to the Ameri 
 can Edison; from the English Shakespeare, to the 
 French Napoleon ; from the ancient Caesar to 
 the more modern Angelo rare but accessible, and 
 proof positive of mastership, if proof need be. 
 
 ' ' If, in full light, there come and go men of 
 genius, is it out of order that there are others who 
 walk in the shadow ? 
 
 "But let us examine this 'great soul,' who 
 uncovers his head to the sun; what manner of man 
 is he ? Always a being of power a unit of energy, 
 that makes itself felt along the ages. We call him 
 immortal because he will not die. He persists in 
 remaining in memory, if nowhere else. He is as 
 little superior to law, as is the veriest worm that 
 crawls, yet he differs from others in that he seizes 
 upon and utilizes principles where they do not. 
 Instead of being caught by lightning, he, himself,
 
 108 EL RESHID 
 
 catches it. He masters human nature, ere it mas 
 ter him. He forces the marble into semblance of 
 life before it marks his grave. He dominates num 
 bers by will, and controls an army with a silent 
 glance. He brings down heaven to the strings of 
 his violin, and calls up hell by a sweep of his bow. 
 He has power power. He forces law to bear upon 
 law. This is the Master; to that degree in which 
 he has energy and understanding to do, so much is 
 he supernatural and great. He may be evil, he 
 may be good. Though Cosmos is now upon the 
 throne, while Chaos, exiled, wanders restless 
 across the trackless waste. 
 
 " Take note, the Master does no miracle. What 
 he is, you, too, may be. Seen or unseen, in the 
 sunshine or in the dark, he moves upon the line of 
 the least resistence, and reaches his goal by the 
 shortest route. Consciously or unconsciously, he 
 has power to concentrate and is the most deadly 
 specialist on earth. Knowingly, or unknowingly, 
 he has the art to generalize with a certainty that 
 amounts to a fiat of Fate. The Master sees the 
 soldiers as individuals, and the army as one. He 
 has a sweeping glance, and while grasping the 
 whole he grapples with the parts. His eye is 
 quick, his grip is certain. 
 
 " Consciously, or unconsciously, he wastes no 
 energy; or if, unfortunately he does, he shortens 
 his span of natural life. 
 
 " He stamps his letters and sends them through
 
 CAIRO 109 
 
 the mail, and no more makes something out of 
 nothing than can the triune God. He travels by 
 coach or by steam and wears the garb of the people 
 with whom he dwells. He is as probably in New 
 York as in Thibet, as likely in Japan as upon the 
 Himalayas. 
 
 "If in great necessity he resorts to extreme 
 measures to clairvoyance, thought-suggestion, or 
 hypnotism, the result is no more a miracle than is 
 a sonata of Mozart or a play of Moliere. If a spec 
 ialist along the line of the occult, (which means 
 the generally unknown) he is as much a slave of 
 law, as was Beethoven or Comte. The fairy 
 web, spun by the spiders of philosophy to-day, has 
 never caught a true Mahatma in its mesh. A 
 Spencer would tear it to bits, a Mill would reduce 
 it to atoms. 
 
 Yet, in face of this, we boldly state, that men 
 exist upon earth even now, who have discovered 
 the elixir of life the philosopher's stone and the 
 secret of youth. They read the pages of the book 
 Time backward, as well as ahead, and condense 
 the past and the future into to-day. Having found 
 the extreme limits of being, they have discovered 
 the poise of Nirvana, and know that the L,aw of 
 Polarity means the fiery equator of life itself. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J3ere it ended. Where the name should have 
 been was a dash. Aleppo felt as though suddenly
 
 110 EL RESHID 
 
 transferred from Cairo to a garden of Damascus, 
 where a subtle teacher spake the words on the 
 paper before him into his very ears. What could 
 it mean ? Was he dreaming ? The letter surely 
 was there the strange symbols, as clear to his 
 mind as the English alphabet. Could it be from 
 Catus? He dismissed the thought at once. To 
 be sure, Catus had spoken at times in the same 
 way, but never with such authority. He, Aleppo, 
 had come to Cairo to receive this particular letter; 
 of that he was certain; what else had brought him 
 here ? He read it over and over again, then, hiding 
 it both on his person and in his heart, went day 
 after day through the streets of Cairo, as though 
 he had it not. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 AT THE SITE OF MEMPHIS. 
 
 Aleppo was fond of the graveyard and mausoleum 
 this was an Oriental trait. If he desired to think 
 or dream, he went among the dead. A few days 
 after receiving the letter which by its extreme 
 of mystery was rivaling the riddle of the sphinx, 
 he sought the site of Memphis, taking a Nile boat 
 rather than the railway, and disembarking at 
 Bedrasheyn. The palm grove bewitched him with 
 its play of light and shade among the columnar
 
 AT THE SITE OF MEMPHIS 111 
 
 trees things of beauty, all alike, with tufted 
 heads, the place was akin to the joy and sorrow 
 of his heart. Behind the grove spread the fields, 
 green, tilled, and wide; and from the chief mound 
 of the ruins he beheld the extended landscape once 
 occupied by the city of pyramids. West, his eye 
 swept the limestone range a yellow wall, shutting 
 out the view, of itself undignified, boasting neither 
 snow-crowned peaks nor mighty domes, a simple, 
 monotonous, golden chain, wedded to the pyramids 
 which overtopped it, seemingly as hoary as itself. 
 Man had vied with God, and had built a wonder 
 which defied time, and looked down upon the ever 
 lasting hills. 
 
 Before Aleppo's eyes lay the site of Memphis 
 founded by Egypt's first king, but naught now 
 save a heap of rubbish, and a few monumental 
 ruins. Its temple pillars were firm and fast in the 
 mosques of the thief Cairo an upstart that had 
 reared its head on the ruins of a shrine. 
 
 But while he felt the charm of the spot, he spent 
 but little time in musing over its sublime antiquity; 
 on the contrary, he dreamed of Damascus, though 
 why, he could not tell. The letter which had 
 become a part of himself was mailed at Paris, yet 
 he saw in vision a rose garden, wherein stood a 
 peculiar little building, with dome-like roof, and 
 columns instead of walls, through which swept the 
 sweet-scented, aromatic air of an out-door paradise. 
 He tried to feel Memphis, to mentally bend beneath
 
 112 EL RESHID 
 
 its weight of years, instead, he realized Syria, and 
 the perfumed breath of the rose. 
 
 He was alone; he could dimly see in the distance 
 a blue shirted Arab, who seemed but a part of the 
 landscape, and nothing more. He had never be 
 held a lovelier sky than bent over him on this re 
 membered day, nor felt such aspiration and strength 
 as he was conscious of then. 
 
 He had aged in Egypt; the boy who lectured 
 Sallus in Scutari had departed, and a man stood on 
 the site of Memphis, and scanned the peaks of the 
 pyramids. He thought of Rhea had she made 
 him older ? He believed so. To talk and think 
 with her, he must needs expand. To be sure, he 
 saw her only for a few moments now and then, 
 occasionally he was allowed a short walk or a stolen 
 chat; but Rhea he had gone thus far in his dream 
 ing when on his soul fell the music the song he had 
 heard for a lifetime, which had ceased in the land 
 of Khem. It was a simple little melody, and these 
 were the words : 
 
 SONG. 
 
 I told you that I loved you 
 Nor did you listen then; 
 My voice was faint and distant 
 But now I sing again. 
 
 I loved you in the old time; 
 I love you in the new; 
 Forever and forever 
 My heart belongs to you.
 
 AT THE SITE OF MEMPHIS 113 
 
 It was all within that he heard it ; the stillness with 
 out was that of the dead. The first verse was sung 
 softly and seemed to come from far away; the 
 second, nearer; the words " forever and forever, " so 
 close that he took up the strain himself and chimed 
 in with the beautiful treble, as though it were a 
 part of his own clear voice. " Forever and forever 
 my heart belongs to you." 
 
 The last word had scarcely fallen from his lips, 
 when he turned with a start beside him, outlined 
 against the Egyptian sky like a resurrected patriarch 
 stood Issachar, the Jew. 
 
 He was clothed in the same immaculate robe that 
 he had worn in Venice without spot or blemish. 
 On his face was the identical bright but cruel smile 
 betraying the teeth of a perfect animal, that Aleppo 
 had beheld before. He bowed his head, and 
 approached the young man who shrank from him, 
 looking wildly in all directions for a spot in which 
 to hide. 
 
 " Pardon but I have followed you here." 
 
 "That is quite evident," said Aleppo trying to 
 be brusque. 
 
 " It is important and you evade. I seek Aleppo 
 Romanes." 
 
 " But have I not told you distinctly and emphati 
 cally that I am Aleppo Bracciolini ? " 
 
 "Ah! yes," said Issachar hissing his words a 
 little, though extremely polite " you have told me; 
 I do not believe. ' '
 
 114 EL RESHID 
 
 " Why ? " said Aleppo pretending wrath, though 
 his heart beat fast. 
 
 11 Because Patrick Regan is not your sire." 
 
 These words came deliberately and with great, 
 dignity, while he looked with piercing glance 
 straight into Aleppo's eyes the young man dropped 
 his lids. 
 
 " Have you" there was still more of a hiss in 
 his tone " have you a mystic symbol tattooed upon 
 your back ? " 
 
 Issachar had stepped nearer, and Aleppo realized 
 his towering height and terrible force as though he 
 were a mountain in a thunder cloud. Cowering, 
 the young man endeavored to shrink away, but the 
 Jew advanced toward him, using no weapons but 
 his eyes. Aleppo had lost all power to think, he 
 felt only a presence, that like the sea monster was 
 extending on every side its long tentacles and draw 
 ing him to itself. He saw the peaks of the 
 pyramids, the walls of yellow hills, the receding 
 Arab all vaguely melting and blending into one 
 personality, which was that of Issachar, the Jew. 
 
 "Have you?" he heard it again close to his 
 ears; the site of Memphis seemed to rise toward him 
 and then retreat; the pyramids at last were over 
 thrown and the sky fell upon his head; then, as far as 
 Aleppo knew nothing ! 
 
 It was night, he opened his eyes, and discovered 
 the moon directly over his head, staring down at 
 him with a sort of cold pity. Where was he ? He
 
 AT THE SITE OF MEMPHIS 115 
 
 rose to a sitting posture and looked around. The 
 dead were busy whispering among themselves 
 sepulchral voices on every side. The mound on 
 which he sat teemed with phantasmal life half- 
 naked Egyptians muttered in strange tongues as 
 they glided past, veiled women peered at him with 
 wanton eyes, and mummies suddenly instinct with 
 life, arrived from nowhere and went back to whence 
 they came. At first Aleppo imagined himself dead, 
 but catching sight of the moonlight on a quaint 
 ring that he wore, he concluded that he must be 
 going mad; then slowly there crept upon him the 
 memory of a fatal magnetism which was that of 
 Issachar the Jew. 
 
 "Ah ! " he sprang to his feet and shook him 
 self; he walked rapidly back and forth and inhaled 
 deep draughts of air at every step his mind grew 
 clearer. He noted that his coat was lying on the 
 ground and his under garments disarranged the 
 symbol ! Had Issachar made sure could he have 
 stripped him and found the mark upon his back ? 
 
 With a shock he remembered the letter; he delved 
 into his pockets one after another; he tore open the 
 bosom of his shirt and felt around his heart ; he 
 scanned the ground right and left everywhere 
 IT WAS GONE. 
 
 On Aleppo there fell a great cloud the song of 
 Acadia and the sweet rose of Damascus had 
 vanished from his heart. He wandered aimlessly 
 over the site of Memphis until the sun came up
 
 116 EL RESHID 
 
 to greet the Sphinx and drive delusion from his 
 mind. 
 
 To return from a terrible experience to the ordi 
 nary, the hum-drum, is indeed a transition. For a 
 few days after Aleppo's experience with the Jew, 
 he kept his room, being both physically and men 
 tally ill. He had contracted a severe cold on the 
 night of his exposure at Memphis, and worse, had 
 learned, as he bitterly complained to himself, that 
 he was a coward. He was ashamed of the whole 
 affair, and of the dread of Issachar which still pos 
 sessed him. He had told none of "the five "of 
 his adventure, not even Regan. He bitterly 
 regretted the disappearance of the precious letter, 
 though it had been engraved upon his heart; but 
 more bitterly the loss of his nerve, in acting the 
 craven before the Jew. He tried to fight the battle 
 out with himself and exorcise his terror, but his 
 superstition got the better of him in spite of his 
 efforts: more to his shame, because he had always 
 considered himself especially strong and courageous. 
 The unhappy part of it lay in the fact that it was 
 not physical terror that he felt, though Issachar was 
 much his superior in muscle and size, but a dread 
 of his magnetism which he looked upon as invinci 
 ble. He had no idea of what the Jew might desire 
 of him, but he was positive that whatever it 
 was, he would have it, in spite of all his own efforts 
 to the contrary. His past, to which he felt that Issa 
 char was the key, was becoming a terrible present,
 
 AT THE SITE OF MEMPHIS 117 
 
 like a thunder cloud foretelling a storm. Who 
 were his father and mother ? What sin. had been 
 theirs that this diabolical Jew had become so 
 in league with them, that he knew of the very 
 tattoo upon his back? This mark had always been 
 a great mystery to Aleppo, who had shown it to no 
 one in his life excepting Caesar Catus. That gentle 
 man had informed him that it was a symbol which 
 probably a mystic could interpret. He remembered, 
 in recalling his childhood, that at the time he had 
 seen Issachar, he had awakened from a sleep, and 
 that his back had caused him to cry with pain. 
 Had he been drugged, and had Issachar, himself, 
 deformed him ? He also recalled a beautiful lady, 
 vaguely, as if in a dream; he remembered the color 
 of her hair like sunbeams. He began to pace the 
 floor. Could it be was she his mother ? How he 
 hated her ! As the conviction grew, taking the 
 shape of a certainty, he shuddered, and wiped the 
 damp from his brow. His mother! He had 
 thought of her heretofore as an angel in heaven ; 
 now, there was no escaping it, this golden-haired 
 vision was his mother this woman of light and 
 beauty. Then the most damnable idea that had 
 ever blackened his soul, for an instant turned him 
 into a fiend. Was Issachar his father? Great 
 Heaven ! he could have killed himself then and 
 there; but it passed, and the reaction came with its 
 indifferent calm. He began to think was he a 
 bastard or a child of wedlock had he been born
 
 118 EL RESHID 
 
 of beauty and the beast, or it was no use; thought 
 helped not a whit. It was guess work from first to 
 last, but he shrank and shrank from the revelation, 
 which he felt was being forced upon him in spite of 
 his tight hold on the door of his past. 
 
 Of course ' ' the five ' ' were to make the Nile 
 trip, and that very soon. Aleppo could scarcely 
 wait to be off ; the desire to run was still on him 
 to flee to any spot where Issachar was not. 
 
 On the morning of their departure he received 
 his letters and among them was another with 
 the Paris postmark. It set his heart beating much 
 as does a lover's whose sweetheart has favored 
 him. He sought his room to be alone, and tearing 
 off the outer covers, found the inner epistle as 
 before. He absorbed it with his eyes, his brain, 
 his heart. It was entitled, 
 
 "FEAR. 
 
 " To be afraid of a thing is to give it power. He 
 who fears nothing is never in reality hurt; his body 
 may succumb, but his soul is too white to be 
 bleached. Fear of God, man, beast, or the devil, is 
 to install each or all as avenging deities, before 
 which a poor mortal must needs cringe. It is not 
 the magnetism of man that can hurt you, but 
 your own fear of the same. This talk of a subtle 
 fluid emerging from a black, white, or any other 
 kind of magician, is meaningless, and without 
 weight. This nonsense about auras red, pink,
 
 AT THE SITE OF MEMPHIS 119 
 
 and blue is the laughing stock of true science. 
 Magnetisms and auras in the sense in which they 
 are interpreted, are but chimeras of diseased brains. 
 
 " Each human being, to say nothing of the brute 
 creation, has will and power to do; some more, 
 some less. If you fear a stronger will than your 
 self, a subtler and more logical brain, you are as 
 much by this very terror, the slave to its owner, as 
 though he had a veritable magnetic fluid which 
 could envelop you forever. 
 
 " One in pursuit of another, who fears him, is a 
 poisonous spider after a half-paralyzed fly. 
 
 " Be not afraid. Knowledge is power. Know, 
 that every mortal that walks the earth is an immor 
 tal this paradox is worthy of the Sphinx. The 
 immortal, by its very nature, is indestructible. He 
 who realizes this in truth, knows naught of fear. 
 
 "The mass of men believe that they must die. 
 They prate of eternal life, they gossip of heaven, 
 but by their extremity of fear, give the lie unto 
 themselves. If once thou art convinced, that thou 
 canst not die, fear, and hope its everlasting mate 
 will flee, and certainty will stand, firm-footed, 
 where they once were. 
 
 ' ' Fear and hope are for the world of men who 
 strive to annihilate the eternal with time; who 
 would run their span of four score years and ten, 
 and bury the everlasting in the yawning grave. 
 Fear and hope are for him who barters his soul for 
 a span of sentient life. But one who beholds the
 
 120 EL, RESHID 
 
 eternity in the now, and the all in himself, fears 
 nothing and hopes for naught. 
 
 " Wouldstthou serve a relentless will, that would 
 bend thee as does the blast the sapling, or wouldst 
 thou marshal thy whole potential force till giant 
 face giant, and king face king ? The Master in 
 thee struggles with the man the immortal with 
 the mortal. Fear not. Thou art destined to be. 
 
 Signed, ." 
 
 With the reading came courage born of convic 
 tion. The sudden consciousness forced upon him 
 by its own self-evidence, that the immortal was 
 indestructible and in reality safe, while the danger 
 lay in his own condition, rather than in anything 
 that Issachar could do, braced him like a draught of 
 wine. It gradually dawned upon him, that he had 
 fainted from sheer terror at the site of Memphis ; 
 Issachar taking advantage of this weakness and 
 using it for all it was worth. But here came the 
 puzzle. How had this unknown writer, evidently 
 in Paris, in spite of Damascus roses, how had he 
 forestalled any further advantage that the Jew might 
 take, by opening his eyes to the philosophy of the 
 situation ? 
 
 The letter must have been written long ere the 
 event of his meeting with Issachar. The author 
 must indeed be Seer and Sage combined, to bring 
 about such a concatenation of circumstances coin 
 cidence was out of the question. He had mused
 
 HELENE 121 
 
 over the first letter, but he puzzled more over the 
 second. 
 
 What unseen entity at Paris was following him 
 with a telescopic eye, guarding and directing him 
 as might the spirit of one dead ? He knew that for 
 some reason, powerful influences were being brought 
 to bear to prove the identity of Aleppo Romanes. 
 To a certainty, the pursuit and investigation of the 
 Jew, and the anonymous letters from Paris, were 
 directed toward the same end. Opposing influences 
 were undoubtedly at work, but Aleppo, though 
 groping in the dark, understood which way to lean. 
 The two letters appealed to him as a finality; they 
 spoke with the authority of Holy Writ, because of 
 the truth on which they were based. He was 
 braced beyond expression by the second communi 
 cation. A sort of rugged scorn of Issachar had to 
 an extent allayed his fear; a ray had pierced the 
 darkness which had well nigh turned his head; the 
 letter gleamed as though engraved in gold, and 
 flashed on the night of his soul like a fixed star. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HELENE 
 
 Helene Cressey was a young widow when she 
 first met Henrique Romanes and bore him a 
 natural son. He being a sworn recluse, far 
 advanced in the art and practice of Hermetic
 
 122 EL RESHID 
 
 Mysticism, and vowed to strict celibacy, had, 
 through his passion for her, broken his pledge and 
 betrayed his order. 
 
 During all the years since their separation, 
 Helene had lived in the rapture of her love for 
 Romanes, never suffering him to die out of her 
 mind and heart, though until she met him on that 
 eventful night in Vienna, she had never seen his 
 face. In fact the two had lived in a sort of mental 
 contact, conscious in a vague way of each other's 
 sufferings and joys, and striving to climb again the 
 height from which they had fallen. They tacitly 
 agreed to ignore Aleppo, having arranged for his 
 physical comfort, they concluded that for his sake as 
 well as their own, it were better that he remain in 
 ignorance of his illegitimate birth. It was not the 
 illegality that troubled them, but the indignation 
 which their natural son must necessarily feel at 
 Romanes' disloyalty to a Sacred Order, and 
 Helene 's acquiescence in the same. To condone 
 their offense they had agreed .to part, and thus 
 removed from all personal temptation to strive to get 
 back into the pure Eden where love is of the soul 
 alone. 
 
 Romanes, in his early infatuation for Helene, 
 had confided to her all the secrets of his cult ; for, 
 having resolved to exchange honor for herself, he 
 had become, for the time, utterly reckless. Later, 
 when they began to drink the dregs of the cup, 
 Helene (the first to recover and repent) had almost
 
 HELENE 123 
 
 driven Romanes from her; he being wiser than her 
 self was exceedingly dubious as to his power of 
 regaining lost ground ; she however was hopeful 
 and persistent. 
 
 " I have paid a great price for our unborn child," 
 he said to her as they parted ; "not only have I 
 defied law, which some would look upon as entirely 
 inexcusable, where love ties the knot, but I have 
 broken a vow and betrayed a trust. I doubt much 
 if there is any way to regain what I have lost." 
 
 "And I, " said Helene, "have given nothing, 
 and have acquired much. What is my fair name, 
 when weighed against your love ? what are living 
 lies compared with the joys of memory ? Romanes, 
 go ! and our unborn child shall be as if he were 
 not." 
 
 Thus she spoke to him, though she cursed Aleppo 
 in her heart. This was all years and years before. 
 Since her meeting with Romanes at Vienna, 
 Helene Cressey had begun to fade; the shock of the 
 contact with one who had been to her as dead, the 
 renewal of the old anxiety which she had hoped 
 was buried with the past, the sudden and inevitable 
 assumption of responsibilities that mantled her 
 cheek with shame, and caused her proud head to 
 bend, all these sprinkled her golden hair with 
 silver, and brought lines upon her brow. True to 
 her promises she used the means within her reach 
 to recover Aleppo, though in disposing of her 
 strength thus, she wrote the death warrant upon
 
 124 El, RBSHID 
 
 herself. She believed in another life on earth; 
 the cult of Romanes had taught her this; she 
 would wash the pages of it now, that she might 
 begin with a white sheet. 
 
 She saw herself afar, she lifted the veil of Isis 
 and beheld Helene again. Her feet trod a virgin 
 soil. Vestal once more, she raised her eyes to the 
 mighty Sierras, and challenged the blue above 
 them with a steady glance. Born among primeval 
 trees, of alien stock, new-made out of heaven, 
 white as the sea gull, strong with awakened energy, 
 she gazed fearlessly across the waste of the Pacific 
 to the unseen Orient, and dared all the Buddhas to 
 wipe her out. But the realization of this fair 
 vision, this pristine strength and Edenic beauty, 
 hung upon a price; she must make of herself a very 
 stepping stone whereon Aleppo might ascend. She 
 must lose her life, that she might find it, where the 
 sun sets to rise over the East. Her love must fall 
 asleep; her beauty wane; herself buried, would rise 
 again with the freshness of the morning dew, 
 where the west wind blows off the ocean, and 
 eternal roses bloom. 
 
 She would come into this pure consciousness with 
 difficulties the birth pangs would be hard. She 
 saw in vision, dark days, when storms not only 
 shook the giant sequoia, but herself also. She 
 repented in advance of grave mistakes made in the 
 romantic audacity of new-found youth. But over 
 and above all, she beheld the glittering stars of
 
 HELENE 125 
 
 a California sky, and the purified peaks of the 
 Sierra Madre, cleaving the thin air with the bold 
 ness of great height. She breathed the breath of 
 the pines and felt the salt brine of the Pacific on 
 her blooming cheek. 
 
 "All a dream," you say; and we answer; " Pos 
 sibly, all a dream; so, too, may be the Methodist 
 heaven, with its paved streets and pearly gates; so, 
 too, the Mohammedan's hareem in Paradise, or the 
 Buddhist's Maha Meru." 
 
 Fact or fancy, Helene believed, and found in the 
 face of truth, as she saw it, but one thing to do. 
 She was intense for good or evil, as the case might 
 be. The selfish once becoming unselfish, gives all. 
 She neither calculated nor considered, but began 
 immediately to act. Alas ! She was not alto 
 gether wise ; Romanes was a sage, Helene a 
 woman. 
 
 She saw no way to find Aleppo, save through 
 Jacob Issachar, to whom she had resorted once 
 before in her extremity, much to Romanes' grief ; 
 so, prompt as her attention was strong, she once 
 more retreated to her chalet in Switzerland and 
 buried her life beneath the awful, glittering crags 
 of the Alps. Her first thought was Edena ; she 
 had lost all trace of her after her departure with 
 Aleppo, but she knew the whereabouts of her home 
 in Saxony, and communicated with her relations 
 immediately. She ascertained that Edena was 
 dead, but that a younger sister, Silvia, now an old
 
 126 EL RESHID 
 
 woman, was still alive, and could account for the 
 history of Edena to her last hour. She imme 
 diately sent for the old lady, begging a visit from 
 her at her chalet. 
 
 It was a bleak night; snow was piling up on all 
 sides, and the cold in the mountains was so intense 
 that Helene's man servant had piled the enormous 
 fireplace with huge logs, which blazed and smoul 
 dered, causing weird, shadowy shapes to appear 
 and disappear in the corners of the great living 
 room of this mountain retreat. The apartment 
 was wainscoted in dark wood; the ceiling being 
 relieved by heavy beams, which were enriched in 
 color by the uncertain smoke that the wind often 
 blew at them, when it came in its mad rush down 
 the chimney on stormy nights. The fire furnished 
 both heat and light; not even a candle glowed on the 
 dresser, nor illuminated the ancient shelving which 
 rose from over the mantel to the very ceiling. 
 
 Silvia, who had arrived at the chalet that day, 
 sat over the blazing logs, crooning an old German 
 song, and knitting vigorously with fingers that age 
 had left untouched. She had a benign but severe 
 countenance, and white hair, combed smoothly 
 under a black cap. 
 
 Helena drew her chair close to her side, and 
 began to ply her with questions, listening intently 
 to catch every word that fell from her lips; for the 
 storm outside was doing its best to prevent conver-
 
 HELENE 127 
 
 sation by rattling the shutters and shaking the 
 doors. 
 
 " So Edena was with you when she died ? ' ' said 
 Helene, in German. 
 
 "Yes," said Silvia, knitting a whole round 
 before raising her eyes she was naturally secretive 
 and mysterious " but she had another name." 
 
 " Had she been married ? ' ' asked Helene, anx 
 iously. 
 
 " No, but she ought to have been; she adopted a 
 son." 
 
 " Ah ! What was her name ? " 
 
 "Serena; 'twas as much like the other as she 
 could get." 
 
 " Did you ever see this boy? " Helene 's voice 
 trembled slightly. 
 
 " Yes; when I visited her in Italy, and when she 
 died, at the old home." 
 
 " What manner of child was he ? " 
 
 "Good, I guess, as young folks go; went to 
 school right along. Kdena was very fond of him; 
 and if I do say it, who didn't approve of her hav 
 ing him, she was like a mother, no doubt. Aleppo 
 loved her in his way, same as all boys." 
 
 " How old was he when Edena died? " 
 
 " Don't know exactly, he was pretty well grown; 
 at work in a studio. Not very much of an artist 
 I guess, though Edena thought to the contrary; 
 she believed he was everything. That boy could
 
 128 El, RESHID 
 
 do no wrong in her eyes; whatever he said and did 
 was right. She spoiled him, and I told her so." 
 
 " Did he suffer or want for anything ? " 
 
 "Suffer! 'twould have been better for him if 
 he had. Edena gave him money, though where 
 she got it, I don't know. I'm sorry any cloud 
 should rest on my sister, but she seemed to have 
 plenty for herself and the boy; and I have had my 
 suspicions. Edena, in spite of her plain features, 
 was romantic. I arn afraid she had a lover, and 
 that Aleppo was her own flesh and blood. How 
 else did she come by so much gold ? " Helene 
 moved with a start. 
 
 " She would not confess anything, even when 
 she died; but the boy had been provided for a 
 good round sum. He started off traveling a few 
 months after Edena went out." 
 
 " Can you tell me where? " Helene had grasped 
 Silvia by the arm and spoke with a kind of spasm. 
 Silvia looked at her with surprise; all sorts of 
 vague surmises ran through her head. 
 
 "I'm sorry, but 1 cannot; he was with us when 
 Edeua died, afterward went back to Italy, and 
 never wrote us a line." 
 
 " If he were Edena's son, how did it happen that 
 he was in an asylum? " 
 
 "Just as a blind, I think to temporarily mis 
 lead people as to his relationship. I expect it was 
 to throw our family off guard. Edena was very 
 shrewd, and we, for poor folks, are very proud."
 
 HELENE 129 
 
 Helene shuddered, and the wind howled through 
 the pines outside. 
 
 " Nothing of the sort ever happened in our 
 family before; in fact," tossing her head, "Don't 
 know as it ever did happen. I expect I have mis 
 judged Edena; the money is what puzzles me 
 though; it made a coldness between us from the 
 first." 
 
 Helene was walking the room rapidly. Pride ! 
 Where was her's? She must begin her atonement 
 now this very night. Turning abruptly toward 
 Silvia, her eyes flaming, her face red not from fire, 
 but from shame her hands nervously clutching 
 each other, she said : 
 
 "Silvia, you do your sister a great wrong. I 
 am the mother of Aleppo, and the money that has 
 troubled you was mine." 
 
 Silvia had passed the age of enthusiasm ; tra 
 gedy to her seemed far-fetched. She knit a whole 
 round on the sock, then raising her eyes to Helene, 
 said severely : 
 
 ' ' You should have lifted that shadow off from 
 my sister before." 
 
 "In truth, Silvia," Helene was trembling like 
 an aspen ' ' I never dreamed that you had put such 
 a construction on Edena's care of my son." 
 
 " How else could I look at it ? A. poor woman 
 suddenly becoming rich and adopting a lad; it car 
 ries evidence on its face. I am glad, for the honor
 
 130 EL RESHID 
 
 of my liouse, that she was innocent ; but 'tis the 
 more shame for you." 
 
 Silva was a privileged character, she spake her 
 full mind, and Helene took the ethereal slap with a 
 meekness heretofore unexperienced by herself. 
 
 The roar of the blast outside had subsided into a 
 kind of wail, the logs in the great fireplace were 
 smouldering, and the cold had crept in through the 
 crannies and cracks. Silvia was inclined to be 
 dumb, and the click-clack of her needles spoke of 
 a certain condensed scorn for the woman by her 
 side, which words could never express. Helene 
 felt it, and broke the silence: 
 
 " I know now, that you'll not care to pro 
 long your stay, you will leave me to-morrow; be 
 thankful, however, that I have cleared up Edena's 
 character and restored your family to its pristine 
 state." But Silvia was not as hard as she looked. 
 
 ' ' Tut tut ! ' ' she dropped the sock in her lap 
 "so you '11 turn an old woman out in the storm; 
 well I shan't go; understand, I'll stay my week out 
 as I came to do, perhaps longer, for that matter." 
 She made great show of anger, but Helene felt the 
 crude kindness to the depths of her soul, and went 
 over to old Silvia, who was looking very severe. 
 
 "You are Edena over again." She threw her 
 arms around her neck, buried her face on the old 
 woman's shoulder, and sobbed as though her heart 
 would break. 
 
 " There, my beauty," this was the only time
 
 HELENS 131 
 
 that Silvia had spoken tenderly " you've not aged 
 enough yet to spoil your eyes; when you get like 
 me 'twon't matter." But Silvia let her stay, and 
 stroked her hair a little. It was the sweetest 
 touch that Helene had known for many a year. 
 
 The room grew colder and the fire went down, 
 till the corners were black with shadows; still the 
 golden head rested on Silvia's shoulder, andHelene's 
 low sobbing mingled with the gale outside. She 
 was neither repenting of her sins, nor regretting 
 retribution; Silvia had found her clean, and was 
 holding her in her arms. It takes a strange thing, 
 sometimes to break up the ice-floe of the heart. 
 
 Edena's sister staid her time out; and after she 
 had gone, Helene waited restlessly for a visit from 
 Issachar. Having ascertained nothing from Silvia 
 that could give her any clew as to the whereabouts 
 of Aleppo, she had resorted, almost against her 
 judgment, to the Jew. Not aware of his precise 
 address, she directed a letter to Venice, in hopes 
 that by some good fortune it would reach him, 
 requesting a visit as promptly as possible, and 
 appealing to the mercenary side of his nature with 
 a large bribe. The days went by, but brought no 
 news. Almost in despair, and frozen by the savage 
 peaks of the Alps, she made up her mind to go to 
 Venice, and make personal search, when a letter 
 arrived, addressed in French, and mailed in Egypt. 
 IJ was from Issachar, and read as follows :
 
 132 EL RESHID 
 
 Madame : , 
 
 Your epistle received in Venice. Have since 
 been following one Aleppo Bracciolini young man 
 with his father and brother. I am suspicious that 
 he may be Aleppo Romanes. Will go after him to 
 the end of the world, provided that ^you bestow 
 upon me a sum worthy of the task. Issachar is a 
 prince, remember. No other on earth can prove 
 the identity of the son of Romanes; for was it not I 
 that burnt the sign of an order into his back ? The 
 devil knows his own mark. 
 
 Shall await your command at Cairo. 
 
 JACOB ISSACHAR. 
 
 What the pecuniary demand of a self-styled 
 prince might be, Helene had no idea; nor could 
 she, nor any but Issachar decipher the devil's mark. 
 The Jew had stated truly, that he, alone, of all on 
 earth, could prove the identity of Aleppo Romanes. 
 To be sure, the boy adopted by Edena might be 
 verified by Silvia, but he had been in an asylum 
 three or four years, and might, for all they knew, 
 be a different child from the one booked as Aleppo 
 Bracciolini. The mark alone was the test; and 
 from the hint in Issachar's letter, Helene had grave 
 doubts as to its being a sign of the order to which 
 Romanes belonged. A subtler brain than Helene's 
 might have seen that proof positive was not even 
 to be found in the oath of the Jew. Capable of 
 deception once, why not again ? The signer of the
 
 ON THE NILE 1^3 
 
 devil's mark, could easily perjure himself, but, sub 
 tleties to the contrary, Helene believed that Issa- 
 char was the one and certain clue. Her fortune 
 was large and her sacrifice had already begun. If 
 Issachar must have money, she would pour out her 
 own to the last penny; with the rash audacity of a 
 woman who had known no half-way experience in 
 all her life, she dashed off the following reply to 
 the Jew's letter: 
 
 Jacob Issachar : 
 
 Sir : Make your terms, by telegraph. If within 
 my power, will acquiesce. 
 
 Address. 
 
 HELENS CRESSEY, 
 
 Vienna. 
 
 Upon sending this, she returned to Vienna to 
 await events, while the fire of her life burned 
 rapidly toward its end. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 ON THE NILE. 
 
 " The five " had increased to seven; two rather 
 ancient sisters, friends of Mrs. Hancock, had met 
 her by appointment at Cairo, with the understand 
 ing that they were to make the Nile trip together. 
 They were harmless ladies, and called the Misses 
 Richard. The older by perhaps a year or two was
 
 134 EL RESHID 
 
 Sarah, while the younger answered to the giddy 
 name of Bess. With Mrs. Hancock they balanced 
 the party, adding enough of conventional dignity 
 to overcome the Bohemian tendencies of the other 
 four. They were to make the Nile trip in a 
 dahabeah, about which Regan had employed him 
 self for several days. He had hunted for a drago 
 man till he found just the " right thing," so he 
 said; though why this individual should be styled 
 a "thing," he never explained. They had 
 eschewed Cook and steam and taken to wind and 
 sails; for time, being of no account, and the 
 Nile everything, they had all voted to go up to the 
 first cataract with the pace of a snail. 
 
 Their dragoman made a picturesque figure with 
 his turban and slouchy trousers, and his English 
 equalled any pidgeon vernacular that a Chinese 
 was capable of. He took the pride of a titled lord 
 in his small but nicely furnished dahabeah, and 
 showed the passengers over it as though it were a 
 floating palace. It was like all dahabeahs, with its 
 flat bottom and forward mast. There was the out 
 door Darlor with its Oriental furnishings, the in 
 door saloon, its mite of a kitchen, and tiny state 
 rooms. 
 
 Their dragoman was a musselman named Haggi, 
 though his religion counted for very little. He was 
 literally all things to all men a kaleidoscopic 
 chameleon as regards color of thought and tone of 
 speech.
 
 ON THE NILE . 135 
 
 It being Autumn, they were to sail against the 
 current and float down with it on their return to 
 Cairo. The day of their start was a fine one, the 
 Mohammed hurried along like a bird, flying by 
 palaces, temples and gardens; while the pyramids 
 in their majesty pursued her like veritable avengers. 
 She passed vanishing groves of palm, huts of mud, 
 and yellow hills; thus floating on and on, till night 
 set in, when, staked like a weary ostrich, she slept 
 by the side of a little village that dreamed, as it had 
 for centuries, the Hareem-tinctured dreams of a 
 servant of Allah. 
 
 In a few hours after leaving Cairo they were all 
 at home, their belongings settled and adjusted, and 
 themselves in a frame of mind amicable in the ex 
 treme. Aleppo felt that for some time at least he 
 need have no dealings with Issachar, while Rhea 
 was in literal rhapsody, realizing a cherished vision, 
 where the Nile had wound and coiled like an insinu 
 ating serpent of yellow and green in and out of 
 her life for years. Sallus rejuvenated, was becoming 
 conscious of powerful ambitions, while Mrs. 
 Hancock gloated over the long hours in prospect 
 where table linen and embroidery silks should 
 reign supreme. The addenda, called Sarah and 
 Bess, were as benignly conventional as it was 
 proper to be, and Regan Regan! king! In spite 
 of the musselman Haggi, in spite of dead calms 
 and the tracking of Arab sailors, in spite of Mrs. 
 Hancock's scornful snubs and the cook's pre-
 
 136 EL RESHID 
 
 eminence, king! There was no denying it, this 
 was the place for Regan. 
 
 " Ton my word, I wonder I've never tried this 
 before " it was the brightest kind ot a morning, 
 the second day on board. 
 
 " It seems to me you like to have but few people 
 about, you're a natural boss," said Mrs. Hancock 
 snappishly. 
 
 " No, that's not exactly it; bossing isn't after my 
 style. The fun of this thing lies in its opportunities. 
 I've always wanted to be lazy, but never had a 
 chance before. To move and be lazy at the same 
 time is happiness done brown. It's as much like a 
 massage as anything I know of you are exercis 
 ing, and yet you are not. To lie on your back and 
 be kneaded is very much like going up the Nile 
 See?" 
 
 ''How horrid !" Mrs. Hancock looked scanda 
 lized and the conventional Misses Richards turned 
 their backs. 
 
 " Well it's just this way you're going along and 
 seeing the identical mud hut, duplicated from Cairo 
 to Karnak; at the same time you are sitting still. 
 Besides you feel young and frisky down here in old 
 Khem ; comparison makes kids of us, don't you 
 see, Mrs. Hancock? " 
 
 "They say," said Rhea, " that one never realizes 
 his ideals; it's a mistake, for I'm realizing mine." 
 
 " That's just it ; " answered Regan, " your ideal 
 is up to the Nile; Mrs. Hancock's isn't. Folks are
 
 ON THE NILE 1H7 
 
 different two peas to the contrary. My ideal is 
 realized in active laziness or lazy activity one way 
 of putting it is as good as another. I like to be 
 doing and yet not doing, see ? Going and keeping 
 still is the sum total of happiness the Nile suits 
 me." 
 
 ' ' You ought to have been happy at Stamboul, 
 where, metaphorically, you embraced two conti 
 nents at once ' ' 
 
 "That is a kind of paradox, sure East and 
 West tumbling into each other's arms; but 'tis 
 nothing to this calm motion which the Buddhist 
 describes as Nirvana." 
 
 " Wait till the wind lulls and those Arabs get to 
 "tracking;" you'll sing a different song most 
 likely," said Sallus whistling. 
 
 " I expect so; I hate to be pulled anywtere by 
 one of my kind. No help for it though, if the 
 wind lulls, unless I get out and join in." 
 
 " Yes; you'd make a pretty figure along side of 
 those Arabs " Mrs. Hancock snapped her eyes at 
 him as she said it, but it was all wasted on Regan; 
 he was proof against Mrs. Hancock's eyes in any 
 shape; their flashes either celestial or terrestrial 
 were as harmless as sheet lightning, as far as he was 
 concerned. Regan loved two boys and one girl and 
 Mrs. Hancock was utterly shut out. She knew this 
 and a woman scorned, or rather ignored, is bitterer 
 than aloes. She tolerated the young fellows 
 because of their youth, but Regan, from the fact
 
 13S EL RESHID 
 
 of his utter indifference and extreme good nature, was 
 beyond endurance. She enjoyed herself however, 
 exceedingly; to have a grievance was to her a source 
 of great delight, so she nursed her petty hatred and 
 poured out her feelings on the innocent heads of 
 the Misses Richards much to their enjoyment also. 
 In fact the Nile voyagers, while outwardly one, were 
 inwardly two the forces being diametrically 
 opposed. 
 
 Rhea had assumed the role of mother confessor 
 to Sallus, and had maintained it with so much 
 dignity that the young man had completely changed 
 his mind in regard to her. That he had determin 
 ed to marry her, he remembered with a species of 
 awe. How he could ever have been so audacious he 
 failed at present to understand. He would die for 
 her gladly, but marry her never ! She had talked 
 to him as though his senior by twenty years. She 
 had raised herself so high on her pedestal of dignity, 
 that he thought of her as a denizen of another 
 world here by mistake but sure to return to 
 whence she came, when the time was ripe. What 
 ever of passionate love he had conceived for her on 
 their first meeting in Brindisi, she had succeeded in 
 putting out, and in place of it, had arisen in Sallus' 
 mind a sort of worship such as a devotee bestows 
 upon his idol. Rhea was Sallus' church and Sun 
 day School; more a veritable flesh and blood god 
 dess to whom he said his prayers. Aleppo had 
 discovered this peculiar condition of affairs between
 
 ON THE NILE 139 
 
 Rhea and Sallus long since, and felt particularly 
 content in consequence. 
 
 Sallus was saved; his redeemer was Rhea. Aleppo 
 had no more anxiety about his beloved chum, and 
 Rhea was the sweet friend of himself for though 
 their tongues were silent their eyes spoke. 
 
 The " tracking " came according to Sallus; the 
 patient Arabs pulled like mules along the bank of 
 the Nile, and so slowly that there was plenty of 
 chance to investigate and take notes. 
 
 They had reached the region of the Dom palm. 
 Here they had opportunity to exercise, and instead 
 of motionless motion, according to Regan, they went 
 for a wajk through a small Arab town. It had the 
 squalor of Cairo, without its splendor ; it was 
 a typical place Bazaar, flies, shops, rugs, saddles, 
 flies, dogs, camels, donkies, flies, men, women, 
 children, flies this is an Arab town. 
 
 They were moored at night as usual, and the 
 party, tired after their walk, were lolling about on 
 the deck parlor, each dreaming or plotting, as the 
 case might be. There was a soft, seductive moon, 
 which flooded the Mohammed with a fantastic glow. 
 The Nile, on whose bosom lay a phantom of her 
 lunar self, was glittering and flashing in a sort of 
 rapture, to which Rhea responded with full heart. 
 She had thrown herself among the cushions, and 
 looked, in the splendor of the night, like a dream- 
 child of the Orient. She was dressed in a white, 
 clinging robe, with loose, half-open sleeves, that
 
 140 EL RESHID 
 
 displayed the sculptured beauty of her arms, whose 
 ivory tinting was intensified by the light on high. 
 Her face, as she reclined among the cushions, with 
 those beautiful arms clasped above her head, had in 
 it the expression of rapture that an unrealized pas 
 sion sometimes brings. She revealed in her look 
 and pose, the ecstacy of a waking dream, untrans 
 lated, save in song. Aleppo was near her, and 
 with half- veiled eyes, watched the celestial beauty 
 which the moon had made. There was a hush on 
 the Nile, and in his heart. He seemed to be wait 
 ing for something what, he could not tell. The 
 others had stolen away, and he and Rhea were 
 alone. He thought of the queen Cleopatra. He 
 forgot the blackness of her character, and remem 
 bered but the charm. Something in Rhea recalled 
 her, as one star brings out another. He thought of 
 icy peaks and lotus flowers, of pine trees and palms, 
 of the mystery and witchery of color, of the magic 
 and majesty of sound. He beheld the flashing eyes 
 of Egypt's queen the starry eyes, veiled to hide 
 their passion, or opened wide in the deadly splen 
 dor of their power. He saw her challenge Caesar, 
 and conquer Antony, and felt, stealing over 
 him, the charm of life, life, LIFE ! the voluptuous 
 spell of the poet the Sapphic cry of an exultant 
 love. He was conscious of the teeming luxury of 
 earth. He melted moonlight pearls and drank 
 them in cups of magic wine. He felt the Greek 
 heart beat in Egypt's breast, and while he dreamed,
 
 ON THE NILE 141 
 
 the serpent Nile coiled and uncoiled, and flashed 
 and quivered its million glittering scales alive 
 with color, speaking in their Iris glow and glitter 
 life! life ! life ! ! Entranced, half lost in rapture, 
 there stole upon his ear, a voice the same that he 
 had heard since time on earth began. It was 
 Rhea's; her soul went out in song, and her voice 
 pure contralto floating on and on in Aleppo's 
 heart forever and forever : 
 
 " I loved you in the old time, 
 I love you in the new 
 Forever and forever 
 My heart belongs to you." 
 
 He was shocked to his feet. Was he dreaming? 
 
 Where had she heard it ? It was his ! the song 
 of his soul and Rhea was pouring it out to the. 
 moon with the rapture of a singing-bird. He dared 
 not speak. The powerful, thrilling rhapsody died 
 died away, till only an echo floated softly through 
 the Dom palms on the shore, mingling and losing 
 its sweet cadence in the ripples and the glitter of 
 the Nile. 
 
 She ceased; her beautiful white arms fell listlessly 
 in her lap, and her head dropped on her breast. 
 
 "Rhea! Rhea!" 
 
 She lifted her face and looked Aleppo in the eyes. 
 
 ' ' Where did you learn that song ? ' ' 
 -" I have known it forever.' ' 
 
 " And so have I"
 
 142 BI/ RESHID 
 
 She looked at him like a startled fawn, then 
 turned away. 
 
 " Rhea! Rhea ! " he came very close and took 
 her hand. <l How happens it that you and I have 
 sung the same? " 
 
 Even in the moonlight he saw the color steal up 
 from her rosy neck to her brow and hair. ' ' Can 
 you not speak to me ? Rhea ! ' ' 
 
 " Since I can remember, I have sung this song." 
 
 "And I," said Aleppo, "I have it written 
 down." 
 
 In startled speech, hardly knowing what she 
 said, she went on: "I have always known that 
 somewhere on earth this dear love dwelt. I have 
 sung to this unknown forever. Some one there is 
 who loves me some one." Here she paused and 
 turned away. 
 
 " It is I, Rhea! it is I! Can you not understand? 
 I have written to you a thousand times; I have 
 sung to you a thousand more; I have seen you, 
 since I could dream at all. To-night, in the 
 moon's soft glow, you came again the virgin face 
 within my soul. Sweetheart, it is I; our song is 
 one; we respond to the same love note; the stars 
 have told us, and the moon; the Nile is alive with 
 light. Oh, Rhea!" 
 
 She shuddered, and drew her hand away. " The 
 light is for you, dear heart, the shadow for me." 
 
 She sat erect, the soft languor gone, her eyes fol-
 
 ON THE NILE 143 
 
 lowing the sinuous river, as though within its ser 
 pent coils she read a tale of doom. 
 
 " It is true, we sing the same song; but, ah! there 
 is something a shadow; it comes between us like 
 a veil; on one side it is bright the white light of 
 the sun, on the other, dark! I see you, Aleppo, 
 on a shining height; myself out in the night, 
 alone ! 
 
 " Oh, Rhea, too much of happiness has made you 
 sad; it seems to me my heart will burst with joy. 
 I have the letters all; this very night I will place 
 them in your hands; and the song it is written 
 down. They will tell you what I cannot say 
 the story of my life my love. 
 
 She arose and reached both hands to him; a little 
 taller than he, her robe falling in classic folds about 
 her form, her perfect profile touched by the waning 
 light of the moon, she looked a pure Greek, and 
 sent Aleppo back to Attica with the swiftness of 
 thought. 
 
 ''Aleppo, I am older, and I know by some 
 strange insight, that you and I must part; yet, 
 wherever you may be, I too shall dwell, in soul, 
 with you." 
 
 " Dear love, for once you are wrong; this voyage 
 upon the Nile will last -forever." 
 
 She smiled, it was both sweet and sad; there was 
 a hush upon the river; the moon had paused a 
 moment in its downward course. 
 
 " May you be right, but speak to no one of this
 
 144 EL RESHID 
 
 blessed night; it is as sacred as our song ' I love 
 you.' " For one short, but eternal moment, he held 
 her in his arms, and pressed that loved form to his 
 own the first kiss, and the last. Never on earth, 
 again, through the years that came and went, did 
 their lips meet. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 KARNAK. 
 
 The mighty pillars of Karnak preach the sermon 
 of the ages, not only defying time, but telling of 
 the bold grandeur in the mind of man at the dawn 
 of history. Thebes with its sitting colossi, its 
 magnificent propylon, its avenue of sphinxes, and 
 its temple of Ammon points unceasingly backward 
 to the flower of Egyptian splendor, Ramases the 
 II. Whether or not this Pharaoh of Pharaohs 
 lashed on the Israelites to the building of the 
 temples whose ruins are the world's wonder, 
 whether the stiffened mummy of the tyrant of the 
 Pentateuch lies in the muse.um of Bohlak, or some 
 where else, it is nevertheless true, that Ramases the 
 Great made the Thebes of to day a spot of unrivaled 
 ruins, to whose giant remains our modern monu 
 ments are as pygmies and dwarfs. If the splendor 
 of ancient Egypt is to be guessed by its decay, the 
 moderns have no great cause to boast. The colossi 
 still sit solemnly on the banks of the mystic Nile,
 
 KARNAK 145 
 
 while headless sphinxes hide the secret of Amtnon 
 whose mighty temple challenges the centuries. 
 Defiant in its deathless decay, it cherishes its 
 columnar perspective ; and steadfast as is Isis, 
 remains the translator of old Egypt, and the 
 revealer of ancient Thebes. 
 
 When Aleppo first beheld Karnak, his intellect 
 rose to its greatness, though the shadow of its 
 propylon fell like a cloud upon his heart. He had 
 been supremely happy, as man is once in a life. 
 On the right of the Nile was a range of mysterious 
 mountains in his soul was the song of Rhea. 
 There was nothing to show him that the great 
 ruin was at hand, nor to warn him of his coming 
 life. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, appeared the 
 propylon of a temple, and with it the shadow, 
 beside which the sunlight of his after days must 
 always glow. 
 
 At Luxor, he found two letters one from Caesar 
 Catus, the other from the beloved correspondent 
 whose name was a mystery. He kept the more 
 precious till the last, and read the words of Catus 
 with great interest : 
 "Dear Aleppo: 
 
 " This letter will be waiting you at Luxor. What 
 do you say to a trip with me later to Damascus ? I 
 will meet you at Cairo on your return, and we will 
 run off together to Syria. Don't disappoint me; 
 there is no reason why you should not go you 
 have no ties. Let us see the charmed spot together. "
 
 146 EL RESHID 
 
 There was much more to the letter, but the 
 suggestion in regard to Damascus was of chief 
 interest. Aleppo smiled to himself "Caesar 
 thinks I have no ties; if he only knew ! No man 
 was ever bound as I am. Even Catus cannot drag 
 me from Rhea whose eyes of late are sad." 
 
 He opened the second letter it was entitled : 
 
 " PERSON AL1TY. 
 
 " Persons belong to themselves; the truth be 
 hind them, to everybody. The person of the 
 teacher may be dear, but the maxims taught are 
 priceless. Guatama is dead; the Tripitaka lives. 
 Jesus has departed, his truth remains. 
 
 "Personality is transient, principles are eternal. 
 
 4 ' Climb on the ladder of your teacher to a height 
 where you can tower above his head. Make of him 
 a way to an end- a door through which to pass to 
 the Ultima Thule of your soul's splendor. The 
 person may be loved as is a fading flower, the 
 eternal principle for which he stands, adored. He 
 who puts his trust in persons is floating on the 
 glittering sea of change, but one who dwells on Law, 
 is fixed. ' ' 
 
 This letter, like the propylon, was unutterably 
 dreary. The Great Gate through which he was 
 doomed to pass, was the entrance to a boundless un 
 known country, upon whose broad expanse, though 
 extending to the sky, was no familiar face. He found 
 it difficult to explain the cause of this apprehension;
 
 KARNAK 147 
 
 the fear of Issachar had departed he felt himself 
 a man, in his secret heart he kew the soul of Rhea, 
 and yet the glitter of the heaven-kissed desert, 
 upon which the shadow of the propylon fell like a 
 band of mourner's crape, predominated all, and 
 subdued his joy, till his song thrilled with a sad 
 rapture like that of the dying swan. He went 
 among the ruins of Karnak day after day, some 
 times accompanied by Rhea, more often alone. 
 
 The party had no idea of the secret compact 
 between these two; in fact, Aleppo and Rhea were 
 less often together than before ; yet, somehow it 
 was realized that there was a change in both of 
 them, that it was hard to understand. 
 
 Rhea's eyes were sad, Mrs. Hancock declared, 
 " 'twas enough to make anybody cry, to be in a 
 heap of rubbish, "as she styled Karnak. 
 
 "Aleppo," Regan remarked, "must have caught 
 a Luxor fever don't know whether it's of the 
 body or the mind; but it's apt to come on amid 
 ruins. It might be the microbes of old age, or it 
 might be the ghosts of the ancients. Aleppo, you 
 see, is a sort of a mystic, and as susceptible as a 
 medium. I think some old spook of an Egyptian 
 is trying to use him. The East will make an adept 
 out of lyep, if I know myself. Never saw a fellow 
 like graveyards as he does; if he wants to dream, 
 he hunts out a headstone; if he wants to fight 
 with himself, he crawls into a tomb. Cypress 
 trees are after his own heart, and the wail of the
 
 148 EL RESHID 
 
 banshee the sweetest sound on earth. I never 
 could understand " here he looked at Mrs. 
 Hancock mysteriously, "why Aleppo and Sallus 
 are so fond of each other; of course being brothers 
 cuts no figure. Sal has no more respect for the 
 dead than he has for the living; don't believe as 
 much. That fellow Sal likes live beauty, if ever 
 anyone did. He's getting mopy down here at 
 Luxor." 
 
 Mrs. Hancock tried to prick Regan with meta 
 phorical needles from morning till night, but he had 
 the hide of a rhinoceros. 
 
 "You can't make me believe " there was malice 
 aforethought written all over her ' ' that those 
 two fellows had the same mother, if you are their 
 father which I don't swallow either." 
 
 " 'Tis a big gulp so diverse in each particular. 
 They show it more in photographs than when 
 together; types different see?" 
 
 " Yes, I see with my eyes shut." She was angry. 
 Regan slipped away from her as easily as an eel ; 
 she could neither get a grip on him nor make him 
 speak truth. He was the most optimistic pessi 
 mist that ever walked the earth. He kept up the 
 spirits of the party at Karnak in ppite of his owl- 
 like hoot and frog-like croak. Not in the least 
 awed by the sitting colossi or the headless sphinxes, 
 he slandered the ancient children of Khem with an 
 apparently malignant tongue, though in reality 
 there was no poison in his fangs. He had no
 
 KARNAK 149 
 
 respect for relics, and called a scarab a beetle with 
 out biting his lips. The cartouche of Ramases the 
 II made upon him no impression whatever, and he 
 spoke of the tragedy of the children of Israel as a 
 myth. Regan tore glamour into shreds and stuck 
 his rugged New England head through the window 
 of the past without regard to the smashing of the 
 pane. He was so much of an iconoclast that he 
 toppled over Karnak's last pillar and would have 
 cleaned up no end of rubbish had he not desired to 
 be busy elsewhere. 
 
 Sallus considered Regan the greatest philosopher 
 on earth, and agreed with him from first to last. 
 
 " You see," said Regan leaning against a pillar 
 of the temple of Ammon, with his feet on a block 
 of stone as high as his head, "I've always had a 
 fancy, that to whitewash Rome would make it a 
 heap healthier; the dust of ages is full of small-pox 
 and typhoid fever." 
 
 "I suppose," said Mrs. Hancock indignantly, 
 " that you'd advertise your egg-beater on the walls 
 of Karnak ; 'twould be as good a place as any, 
 according to your idea." 
 
 " Well now, that depends; trouble is, 'twould be 
 taken for a hieroglyphic, and relegated to the first 
 Pharaoh. No, 'twouldn't do; besides the thing has 
 been advertising itself for ten years." 
 
 " Don't you feel," said Rhea, in love with the 
 quaint humor of Regan, "the majesty of these 
 ruins the age ? "
 
 150 EL RESHID 
 
 " Now Miss Rhea, that's a question; the majesty 
 does impress me, must confess. I've been trying to 
 puzzle out in my head ever since I came, how many 
 tons of rock there are in this thing anyhow. As to 
 the age, it doesn't count for much; the rock anywJiere 
 would be as old as the world, however you fix it 
 one part of the earth is as aged as another for that 
 matter." 
 
 " Of course, as far as the material is concerned," 
 answered Rhea, laughing, "but the putting to 
 gether of the thing the building ? " 
 
 "Time's all a matter of comparison. I don't 
 believe Karnak holds a candle to the Kitchen - 
 middens in the Swiss lakes. Historic man is quite 
 a young biped compared with the other fellow who 
 got in before history. In my opinion, the world is 
 a heap older than we think it is and man with it." 
 
 One day it was as bright as any other Aleppo 
 stood at the door of the little hotel at L,uxor, and 
 looked with half- frightened eyes upon Rhea <l I am 
 going over to Karnak alone; do not worry if I am 
 late to-night." 
 
 Rhea bent forward as though to kiss him, then 
 restraining herself, touched her fingers to her lips, 
 and threw him an airy salute which he never for 
 got. Often in years after, in strange countries and 
 stranger conditions, he remembered those soft, half- 
 mischievous eyes and the pretty finger tips that had 
 thrown him a tantalizing good bye. 
 
 She stood in the full glow of morning, with a
 
 KARNAK 151 
 
 smile on her lips and in her eyes the sweetest 
 promise that man could crave and yet his heart 
 was a stone in his breast. 
 
 The lyUxor sky was in its usual condition, of 
 cloudless serenity. The great temple was isolate, 
 like himself, and a relic of a life long gone. He 
 felt that he belonged to another age and race, and 
 had somehow fallen upon a century with which he 
 was out of tune. Why had life been thrust upon 
 him in the dark, with no ray anywhere to light up 
 the mystery of himself. He longed for a family 
 record to show to Rhea the extended pedigree of 
 an honorable house. Kven a Bible with the 
 account kept, something anything, to present to 
 the woman he loved, as a clean page behind him. 
 He had dared speak no word to her of the future, 
 for the years ahead are the legitimate children of 
 the past he had no past. 
 
 And here he was, on the verge of life his Para 
 dise, as he had said to Regan hanging over hell. 
 He wandered, restlessly, among the ruins, brooding. 
 There was but one thing for him he must know. 
 Never would he take Rhea to his heart and life on 
 this uncertainty. She had seen the shadow on the 
 Nile; it was cold, like a night mist. He had given 
 her the letters; she knew what he knew, but that 
 was not enough. This beautiful woman had a 
 proud, Puritan ancestry behind her; every line of 
 their history was written; the pages had faded in the 
 'sun. For an instant only for an instant Aleppo
 
 15'2 EL RESHID 
 
 pitied himself. He had led a clean life he was 
 as chaste as a pure-souled girl, and had followed 
 his higher instincts as naturally as he had breathed. 
 All the passion and power in him had gone out to 
 beauty and truth; burning ever with that inextin 
 guishable love for the great, the supernal, he had 
 wings as white as the sea-gull's, and as strong. He 
 came to the propylon, and leaned wearily against 
 its inner walls, looking upward at the arch over 
 head with tears in his eyes. Beyond was " the 
 way." Through this mighty gate, he would travel 
 somewhere, over the wreck and ruin of a life. Had 
 he deserved it all? Was justice but a name? 
 Softly, in the depths of his own soul he heard a 
 voice- " He that would climb on a ladder to the 
 stars, must have the courage to look down." He 
 dashed the tears from his eyes, and stood erect; the 
 propylon bore his weight no more. With head 
 thrown back, he went through "the gate" and 
 stood face to face with Issachar the Jew. He 
 stopped abruptly, and the ancient bowed his head. 
 
 "So you have followed me again." Aleppo 
 had passed the crisis of his life and feared no man, 
 
 The Jew, with quick glance, noted the change; 
 instead of a half-terrified boy, he was facing a 
 young David, whose sling-stone was as deadly as a 
 cannon-ball. But Issachar was shrewd. The 
 whitest child of heaven ofttimes is more than 
 matched by the wily servant of the god ' ' on 
 change."
 
 KARNAK 153 
 
 "Yes, I have come to try again the common 
 speech of human kind. If that should fail, I know 
 well what to do." 
 
 " You are right; hitherto I have acted the craven 
 and the cur. Speak on, but let there be no lies." 
 
 ' ' Lies ! 'Tis thou that liest. 
 
 "I lie no more." 
 
 "Who art 'thou ? " said Issachar. 
 
 " Aleppo Bracciolini." 
 
 " Dost thou know thy father and mother ? ' ' 
 
 " I do not; but what is that to you ? " 
 
 " Much ! Much ! " Here the Jew moved from 
 head to foot like a snake. "I have proved thine 
 identity, as thou well knowest. Shall I reveal to 
 thee thy past ? ' ' 
 
 For a moment Aleppo seemed to turn to stone, 
 then, getting power of speech, said calmly, " Yes." 
 
 The Jew tried the effect of his eyes, but without 
 avail ; the young man looked beyond them into 
 space. 
 
 " Thou wast born out of wedlock. Thy mother 
 was a young English widow, and thy father a 
 member of a sacred order, sworn to celibacy. The 
 symbol on thy back, is my own, put there by the 
 command of thy mother, and known only to 
 myself." 
 
 Again Aleppo's heart stopped beating ; but find 
 ing words once more, he faced Issachar with a 
 challenge in his eyes. " Are you my father ? " 
 
 The idea was new to the Jew; for a moment he
 
 154 EL RESHID 
 
 lost his poise, and calculated the value of the sug 
 gestion, then threw it aside as of no account. 
 
 " Are you my father? " 
 
 Aleppo spoke in the low voice of one in deadly 
 earnest. 
 
 "No." 
 
 The Jew smiled; the revolting white teeth were 
 all displayed, as suggestive as those of a hyena. 
 
 The reaction came. Aleppo wiped the beads of 
 sweat from his brow, tossed back his hair, and 
 breathed. The Jew went on. 
 
 " I know thy father well, and thy mother; they 
 desire thee. I am their messenger; wherefore 
 otherwise should I follow thee here, or take thee by 
 force at Memphis ? It is not I who pursue thee, 
 but thy parents." 
 
 The blow had fallen ; the young man saw Rhea 
 vanishing, the airy kiss gone with her. Sallus 
 and Regan, dim memories of the past, and him 
 self alone, with Issachar the Jew. No ! What 
 subtle power had wafted to his spiritual sense the 
 garden of Damascus ; what dream was he still 
 dreaming that he caught the scent of roses and the 
 breath of Syrian vales ? 
 
 He stood an inch taller, and looked down upon 
 the Jew. 
 
 " What proof have you? " 
 
 "Come with me," said Issachar; for the first 
 time bowing low to Aleppo Romanes. " My
 
 C^BSAR CATUS 155 
 
 proof is all in writing, clear and clean, in yonder 
 hut; come, follow me. 
 
 Aleppo walked proudly behind the Jew, an ille 
 gitimate son of a disloyal father ! Never in all 
 his life had he held his head so high. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 CATUS. 
 
 In a room at the hotel at lyUxor, six anxious 
 people were holding council, drawn together for the 
 first time, and all of one mind. It was the morning 
 after Aleppo's departure for Karnak, and he had 
 not returned. Mrs. Hancock bustled around ner 
 vously, suggesting this, that and the other to the 
 Misses Richard, who looked as dreary as pall 
 bearers. Regan was worried to that degree that he 
 had lost his humor, while Sallus, wildly impatient 
 to take some step in the search, was rapidly pacing 
 the room ; Rhea, alone, said nothing, though her 
 eyes were beyond fathoming. 
 
 The excitement had begun at breakfast; no one 
 had known of his absence save Rhea, who had 
 watched all the evening for his home coming, and 
 had walked her room the remainder of the night. 
 The party had been in the habit of dividing and 
 going off on exploring trips each day, meeting the 
 following morning to relate their adventures and
 
 156 EL RESHID 
 
 start out again. At first, with the exception of 
 Rhea, whose divine intuition rarely failed her, they 
 took the matter of Aleppo's absence lightly, 
 remarking to each other that he would come in 
 later; but as the morning grew apace a cloud settled 
 over the whole party, culminating in a down 
 right shower of surmises and suppositions, which 
 multiplied on themselves every instant. What 
 could have happened ? Was he murdered ? Even 
 Mrs. Hancock found in her woman's heart an affec 
 tion for the absent Aleppo, whose presence she dis 
 liked. In her feminine inconsistency she mani 
 fested true anxiety, and revealed her better side, 
 much to the surprise of all. 
 
 When something really serious falls upon one, 
 the depths of the soul are moved, and the kinship 
 of humanity is discovered. 
 
 Regan called the party together at once to hold 
 council, and, after a few moment's conversation, it 
 was decided that the two men should start imme 
 diately for Karnak, making a thorough search of the 
 ruins; but Rhea would, on no account, be left 
 behind. So the three departed hastily, leaving 
 Mrs. Hancock less comfortable than she had been 
 for many a day. 
 
 A week was spent in untiring search ; they went 
 everywhere, notified the authorities, and moved 
 heaven and earth; but Aleppo ''was not." The 
 dread that hung over them at first was lifted ; they 
 expected to discover his dead body at any time,
 
 C^SAR CATUS 157 
 
 and each undecipherable object that startled them, 
 they shrank away from, for fear of a revelation. 
 Regan's humor was all gone and his pessimism 
 with it; he neither smiled nor complained, but 
 Sallus was a distracted Damon without his Pythias; 
 he would have followed Aleppo to the end of the 
 world, and here in Africa his friend had vanished. 
 Each night, after the day's failure the six met and 
 made new plans, trying at the same time to deci 
 pher the riddle. That Aleppo had voluntarily left 
 them they never once considered. He was utterly 
 loyal. Foul play, they spoke of in whispers; 
 though the motive for such a thing they failed to 
 discover; that is, the most of them. At the end 
 of the week, however, Regan called Sallus into his 
 room and locked the door. 
 
 " Sal, I've sifted it down to this the Jew is 
 behind the whole business. " 
 
 "The Jew !" 
 
 " Yes the arch fiend ! " 
 
 " But we left him in Venice.' ' 
 
 " He didn't stay there though, mark my word. 
 Aleppo's terror had some backing; he was incon 
 stant fear in Cairo, for he told me so." 
 
 " Did he meet Issachar up there ? " 
 
 " Not that I know of; if he did he kept still about 
 it ; he was ashamed of his terror, perhaps. I'm 
 right though; it's the one probability out of the 
 innumerable possibilities. That Jew was deter 
 mined to have Aleppo Romanes, and what was to
 
 158 EL RESHID 
 
 hinder him from slipping down here and carrying 
 him off from Karnak." 
 
 "Why didn't he strike at Cairo? I/ep was 
 always wandering about alone." 
 
 " Possibly he wasn't ready, he may have heard 
 some news that changed his mind. There's a mys 
 tery back of Aleppo, as you know, yourself, and 
 it's deepening." 
 
 " Does this idea relieve you any ? " asked Sallus, 
 anxiously. 
 
 " Yes, and no ; I believe his life is valuable and 
 will not be tampered with ; in a sense,. that thought 
 is comforting ; nevertheless he'll see no end of 
 trouble if my conjecture is correct." 
 
 " What do you propose to do ? " 
 
 "Get after that cursed son of Satan, if I know 
 myself. ' ' 
 
 "Shake on that, Regan; I was a hog till L,ep got 
 hold of me; I have something to live for now. If I 
 don't lay that Jew may I be the cursed son of the 
 devil himself." 
 
 Sallus rose to his six feet. There was something 
 inspiring in his knotted muscles and set teeth. He 
 had never fully comprehended the spiritual side of 
 Aleppo, and for that reason loved him with devo 
 tion. He had felt himself a huge bear in compari 
 son with his friend's fine figure and beautiful eyes, 
 little knowing how Aleppo had hung over him when 
 he slept, filled with admiration, tinctured with
 
 C^SAR CATUS 159 
 
 envy, of his superb Greek proportions and hand 
 some American face. 
 
 They loved, because they were entirely different 
 and needed each other beyond telling. Sallus 
 expanded to the occasion with the elasticity of a 
 true son of Columbia. He was the typical Ameri 
 can, and required something large to draw him out; 
 evolving rapidly through opposition, and surpris 
 ing everybody who had previously pronounced 
 judgment upon him. The more bitterly he was 
 interfered with by environment, the more ready 
 was he. He needed hard knocks, and the loss of 
 Aleppo was a downright blow. Regan, in his 
 heart, had adopted Aleppo and this was his first 
 real grief. So the two men combine, and the Jew 
 must indeed be a magician to escape the Nemesis 
 upon his track. 
 
 Rhea had passed all possibility of a surprise; she 
 had dreamed, night after night, that Aleppo had 
 vanished, and when, one beautiful, sunlit morn 
 ing, he went away, she watched his retreating 
 form and sad face (for he continually turned around 
 to look back at her) with a consciousness that her 
 dream had come true. When the sun had set and 
 he failed to return, she knew that the shadow of 
 the Nile was upon her, to be lifted, if ever, under 
 another sky. 
 
 During that dreary week at Luxor she read, over 
 and over again the letters he had placed in her 
 hands. It was the strangest courtship that woman
 
 160 EL RESHID 
 
 had ever known. These passionate words of love 
 had been poured out long before he had met her, 
 and were the innocent, spontaneous expressions of 
 a full and devoted heart. He had translated all of 
 the missives, written in a tongue unknown to 
 Rhea, and had enclosed them with the originals, so 
 that she had no difficulty in making them out. 
 The song' was in a number of them, sometimes 
 recorded in foreign tongue, and again in English. 
 About this bit of music she wondered and won 
 dered, and indeed it would have puzzled a greater 
 psychologist than Rhea. A. hard-headed, matter 
 of fact individual would have emphatically asserted 
 that the explanation was easy. The word coinci 
 dence covers a great deal ; they both had some 
 time read the lines in early youth, had taken a 
 fancy to the same, and had retained them in mem 
 ory, forgetting that they had ever seen them. That 
 the same identical words could have sprung np in 
 the minds of two individuals of different nationali 
 ties and thousands of miles apart not only the 
 same words, but the same air was too much for 
 even a credulous person to believe. Whatever the 
 fact may have been, however, Rhea looked upon 
 this song as the seal of her soul's kinship to Aleppo, 
 and she hummed it over and over, all through that 
 melancholy time at Luxor, as though it were a 
 funeral dirge. She kept her own sweet secret; it 
 belonged to no one on earth save Aleppo, and he, 
 alas, had flown. But her eyes betrayed her with
 
 CATUS 161 
 
 their unutterable longing; and Regan read the sad 
 story, though he made no sign. 
 
 The six returned to Cairo as rapidly as 
 possible, discarding the dahabeah and resorting to 
 steam; for as Regan declared to Sallus 
 
 " We shall never find Aleppo down here; Issachar 
 has hustled him off, as sure as you're born. We'll 
 try Cairo everywhere; the Jew is a striking figure; 
 somebody may have seen him up north." 
 
 They were scarcely more than settled at 
 Shepherd's when a card was sent up for Aleppo 
 Bracciolini, on which was engraved the name, 
 Caesar Catus. Sallus had heard Aleppo speak of 
 him a hundred times and rushed into the parlor at 
 once." 
 
 "A thousand pardons," said Sallus, "you have 
 not heard Aleppo has disappeared; no trace as yet, 
 vanished at Karnak. I am glad you have come," 
 all this in one breath. 
 
 Caesar manifested no surprise whatever, but said 
 rather quietly, " Yes, I understand." 
 
 " How on earth did you know ? " 
 
 His visitor smiled and stroked his beard. He was 
 a man of medium height, in the prime of life. His 
 head was large and finely shaped, and though, as 
 Aleppo had stated, he was of oriental extraction, 
 his appearance failed to bear it out. He hailed from 
 Italy and was of the type of ancient Rome. He 
 had a handsome, powerful nose with the true 
 aggressive curve ; deep-set, quick-moving eyes,
 
 16'2 El, RESHID 
 
 under heavy imperial brows; and a smooth cheek, 
 without prominence of bone, which was slightly 
 flushed where his tawny, well kept beard had failed 
 to intrude. His complexion was surpassingly fair 
 and his brow, where the hair was thin about the 
 temples, white as sun-tinted snow. Punctilious in 
 dress, and slightly pompous as to form, he was as 
 striking and clear-cut a figure as one often sees, 
 and might have been a reincarnated Caesar of 
 ancient Rome, being distinctly an aristocrat with 
 out the malignity of the tyrant. In spite of his 
 aristocratic lineage he had the shyness of genius, 
 which set peculiarly on his erect personality and 
 gave in him the touch of eccentricity, always mani 
 fested in men of this type. 
 
 To be sensitive and at the same time masterful is 
 to present a contradiction to the world. 
 
 Behind Caesar Catus was one of tw r o things. 
 He was either the relic of a pedigree that had been 
 born to rule, or in some far away life, he himself, 
 had ruled. He stood for a domineering ancestry, 
 or for another Caesar whose shoes he still wore. 
 Whichever was true, Catus was backed by some 
 thing that he evidenced in himself; for he revealed 
 from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet, 
 the aristocrat, cursed or blessed by a versatile genius 
 which enabled him to turn in any direction and to 
 conquer innumerable obstacles. Nevertheless this 
 very versatility was in a sense a detriment; because 
 .lost in the charm of variety, he had, in times past,
 
 CATUS 163 
 
 either as Ms great, great grand sire or another self, 
 failed to discover that unity which makes the 
 master out of the man. He quivered with mascu 
 line nerves, the power of which he took off and 
 transmuted into something that flashed from his 
 eyes like the gleam of gold. He was impetuous 
 for or against a thing, and as quick to get a grip on 
 himself as the steersman is of the helm. 
 
 Whether we are drawing a pen-portrait of Caesar 
 Catus or some other Caesar we are not prepared to 
 decide. We imagine, however, we write of some 
 other Caesar, for the man who stood before Sallus 
 was not exactly the one here pictured. If the 
 patronizer of the extremes can strike a poise, Caesar 
 Catus had done it, and must have got, by some 
 mysterious means, a new conception of himself within 
 the last few years. He had a certain air of authority 
 which was not that of blood or of aristocracy, 
 but rather derived from an influx of wisdom lately 
 acquired, and which gave him such a puzzling 
 aspect that one not expert in human nature would 
 have found him hard to translate. He made him 
 self unpopular -with the Regan party, because of 
 his indifference about Aleppo. Catus could be run 
 after and liked, or avoided and disliked, as he chose. 
 He had the power of not ' ' putting himself out ' ' 
 when the mood struck him, that procured for him 
 an ?rray of enemies, bitter indeed. On the con 
 trary, with apparently no effort he could win right 
 and left, if he so desired, making for himself hosts
 
 164 EL RESHID 
 
 of friends; both popular and unpopular, sometimes 
 affable in the extreme, again insuperably bored, he 
 had friends and foes enough to send him to Paradise 
 and the Inferno at the same time ; consequently he 
 went to neither, and remained content. 
 
 As we have said, he was unpopular with the 
 Regan party; all except Rhea, who read more deeply 
 than most women. He had manifested little or no 
 surprise at Aleppo's absence, and expressed it as 
 his opinion that he was in safe hands, and would 
 put in an appearance later. This all seemed childish 
 and unreasonable in the face of facts; but Rhea felt 
 that Catus knew more than he was disposed to tell, 
 and took a deal of concealed comfort from the 
 thought. 
 
 The whole " family " had gathered in the parlor 
 to talk with Catus and had learned, that he expected 
 to be in or near Cairo for some time; later on, how 
 ever, he was to take a trip to Damascus and the 
 Holy Land. After he had gone, the six looked at 
 each other without speaking ; then Regan spoke 
 out 
 
 "I like the face of that man better than any I 
 have seen for many a day, but his actions give the 
 lie to his looks. How he can show so little loyalty 
 to an old and true friend 'pon my word, I don't 
 understand." 
 
 "I think he knows more than he tells," said 
 Rhea. 
 
 "Pshaw!" Mrs. Hancock bristled, "You're
 
 CATUS 165 
 
 always ferretting mysteries out of nothing; we've 
 got the bona fide thing now in the vanishing of 
 Aleppo without turning that Catus into a Sphinx 
 too." 
 
 " It seems to me," said Sallus, "that he might 
 have shown a grain of interest; we don't need him, 
 that's certain; he'd be worse than nothing on the 
 track of Aleppo with his blamed indifference." 
 
 Sallus doubled his fists unconsciously. 
 
 " I believe Rhea's right," said Regan. 
 
 " Catus never spirited Aleppo off, that's certain, 
 but he suspects lots; and if he don't get after him 
 in his own way, I can't solve conundrums nor guess 
 riddles." 
 
 The search went on in Cairo much as. it had in 
 Ivuxor. Sal was indefatigable ; Regan stopped 
 occasionally, but Sal never ate nor slept, as Mrs. 
 Hancock remarked, but just kept going till he lost 
 color and flesh. He was no more tempted to bad 
 ness than he was to fly, the veiled beauties of Cairo 
 were out of his sphere and the weed and glass, 
 things of the past. His heart was lead in his 
 breast. He visited revolting places, interviewed 
 disreputable people, and penetrated the most 
 dangerous localities without regard to his health and 
 life. 
 
 The roue had brought forth a hero, whose loyalty 
 to friendship none could surpass. The same "hail 
 fellow well met ' ' feeling which he had shown in
 
 166 EL RESHID 
 
 the bacchanal debauch of his former days, had 
 grown to the immensity of " your's until death." 
 
 Regan was amazed at Sallus and called him a 
 book that had never been read. 
 
 One night he came to the hotel in a hurry and 
 called for Rhea; the young lady had retired, but 
 hastily dressing, emerged from her apartment and 
 met Sallus in the long hall. He was intensely 
 excited and the words came from his lips with a 
 rush. 
 
 " Miss Nellino, I've seen the Jew ! " 
 
 She had been informed by Regan of their suspi 
 cions and understood perfectly what Sallus meant ; 
 the color left her face but she said nothing. 
 
 "I was prowling 'round Cairo, seeking some 
 clue, when Issachar came out of a little shop and 
 passed into another, where he disappeared." 
 
 " What did you do? " said Rhea, her eyes fiery 
 with excitement. 
 
 " Rushed over and plunged in ; but he was no 
 where ; the shop-keeper looked as innocent as a 
 girl, said he hadn't seen him ; but he lied where's 
 Regan? " 
 
 " Gone with the detective. ' ' 
 
 " I wish to goodness the detective was in Tophet; 
 if ever I wanted Regan, it's now." 
 
 He remained for no comment from Rhea, but 
 rushed out, leaving her in an indescribable state of 
 anxiety and hope. Was Aleppo in Cairo ? So near! 
 She walked back to her room like one drunk,
 
 ARCANA CCELESTIA 167 
 
 steadying herself by the stair railing as she went, 
 but nothing came of it. 
 
 The Jew, if in truth it were Issachar, could 
 not be found ; and Regan with his detective ( he 
 had given up the role of father and had made him 
 self known to the whole party ) and Sallus, alone, 
 went their weary round of search for a clue to the 
 whereabouts of one who, for aught they knew, was 
 dead. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 ARCANA CCElvESTlA. 
 
 Henrique Romanes lived like a recluse in his 
 house in Paris. 
 
 He received no guests, and with the exception of 
 an occasional letter, had cut himself off from the 
 outside world. He was waiting for Aleppo, expect 
 ing that in some way El Reshid would discover him 
 and bring them together. As for himself he never 
 lifted a finger in the search, feeling that a master 
 detective was on the track, and that whatever efforts 
 he might make, would be but child's play. Nor 
 had he any idea of what would be the outcome of 
 this meeting with his son. In fact, from the time of 
 his half hour's consultation with El Reshid, he had 
 locked the door of his Paris house and remained 
 inside, forcing himselt by pure will to a state of calm, 
 which had become a condition of cold. He had
 
 168 EL RESHID 
 
 presumed, from his having written to Helene of the 
 visit of El Reshid, that she would abstain from all 
 further efforts in regard to Aleppo, trusting entirely 
 to one in whom they both believed ; and, having 
 heard nothing from her to the contrary, rested upon 
 that conclusion. 
 
 The days passed one after another, all alike; the 
 only break in the monotony being the occasional 
 reception of a letter from El Reshid to Aleppo; 
 otherwise his life was as quiet as is the stagmant 
 pool, but without its lillies and lotus-blooms. This 
 stillness was ominous, and seemed freighted with 
 woe. He tried, with his powerful energy and 
 intense will, to lift the load from his heart, and to 
 tear off his shroud, for he felt himself already 
 wrapped in the garments of the tomb. He strove 
 to pierce the darkness with the eyes of his soul, but 
 the opaque veils of shadow defied and frightened 
 him. He seemed already dead and though he 
 moved and talked with a semblance of life, his 
 heart beat time to a funeral march ; each throb 
 bringing him nearer to the coffin and the clod. 
 
 It was a tempestuous winter in Paris. Ice, snow 
 and sleet followed or vied with each other, half 
 freezing the poor and killing the aged. 
 
 Romanes was cold no heat could warm him ; 
 and when the raging gale without, struck the house 
 like an enemy, he drew farther and farther within 
 himself, and sat over the smouldering fire of his
 
 ARCANA CCELESTIA 169 
 
 own soul, striving to get warmth from the burning 
 wreck which had lost its power of flame. 
 
 It was a night even wilder and bleaker than that 
 out of which El Reshid had come. In his usual 
 place in his library, with an unread book in his 
 hand, he had listened to the voice of the storm for 
 hours; and, the sash being lowered, the weird and 
 majestic music struck full upon his ear. For the 
 first time for long months he felt an exhilaration 
 and renewed life; a something akin to the thrill 
 which he had known when for the first time he saw 
 Helene Cressy an emotion like that with which 
 El Reshid had inspired him over and over again. 
 
 A servant rapped softly at the library door, and 
 receiving a summons to enter, glided in like a grave 
 phantom and bowed low; he was a Hindoo and as 
 lithe as a snake. In soft, melodious voice, and look 
 ing as unconcerned as a dummy, he announced that 
 a lady was in a hack outside, who desired to see 
 him. Had he stated that an angel had arrived, 
 Romanes could not have been more surprised. 
 
 ' ' Did she hand you her card ? " 
 
 The servant shook his head in the negative, and 
 bowed again. Waiting no longer, Romanes hurried 
 through the passage and down to the street curb 
 where the carriage was in waiting. 
 
 " Romanes ! ' 'He would have known that voice 
 on the farthest star. I wish to see you, take me in." 
 
 Helene was the last person on earth whom he 
 expected to meet at his Paris house; she had never
 
 170 EL RESHID 
 
 visited him in her life, but her word was law. An 
 hour later she was seated in his library, or rather 
 propped up with pillows on a couch where the fire 
 light struck warmly on her face. She was very ill, 
 and talked rapidly to Romanes, as though to con 
 dense all that she had to say into a short space of 
 time. 
 
 ' ' I went to my physician in Vienna before coming 
 here, and he informed me that there was no ray of 
 hope; my life hangs upon a thread. I feared that 
 I should die without seeing you; there is so much 
 to tell." She twisted her fingers nervously, and 
 the hectic flush mounted to her temples. Romanes, 
 for her sake, suppressed his emotion, though his 
 heart was breaking. 
 
 " You see/' said Helene, " this did not come to 
 me as it will to you, by slow degrees the shock of 
 our meeting, my renewal of the responsibility of 
 Aleppo, was a sentence of death. I shall never lose 
 my youth my beautiful hair and bright eyes, 
 Romanes." She smiled with pathetic coquetry 
 that seemed odd in one in the shadow of the tomb. 
 " Death will be kind to me and take me quickly, 
 with the roses still on my cheek. I love beauty, I 
 hate decay." This tortured Romanes, but he made 
 no sign. "The time is so short," she went on, 
 "only a day or two at most." 
 
 She reached to the little stand near, and lifting a 
 glass of cordial to her lips, drained it to the dregs ; 
 then, taking a letter from her bosom, handed it to
 
 ARCANA CCELESTIA 171 
 
 Romanes. He perused it at one glance, and what 
 of color remained in his face left it instantly. It 
 was dated at Cairo, and ran thus : 
 
 ' ' Madame : 
 
 " Upon receipt of a deed to your Vienna estate, 1 
 will introduce to you, in good health, Aleppo 
 Romanes. Should you fail to comply with my 
 request you need make no attempt to discover 
 either myself or your son. We shall vanish 
 forever. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 JACOB ISSACHAR." 
 
 "What did you do?" 
 
 ' ' I telegraphed to him that the estate should be 
 his." 
 
 She was extremely pathetic; her eyes had the 
 light of death in them, and were unnaturally 
 bright. She kept clasping and unclasping her 
 hands, and watching the stern face of Romanes, 
 with the intensity of one conscious of having made 
 a mistake; yet, withal, so noble in her complete 
 self-abandonment, that a heart of ice must needs 
 have melted. 
 
 Romanes felt that Helene's compact would per 
 haps be fatal to the finding of Aleppo; yet in this 
 supreme moment, with death knocking at the door, 
 all care for his son vanished. 
 
 Helene ! Helene ! There was naught else in 
 the universe now; the stern precepts of El Reshid
 
 172 EL RESHID 
 
 were forgotten; the order was a dream. Only 
 those anxious, beaming eyes, with earth's last flash 
 in them, and the nervous hands, clasping and 
 unclasping; only those hectic cheeks, blushing at 
 their meeting with the bride-groom, death. Only 
 Helene. What were the few years of stress and 
 fever; what the one mistake ; even the sad soul, 
 wandering, lonely on earth without parents or 
 country what of him ? Weighed in the balance 
 with the love eternal they were light, like vapor, 
 and invisible as air. She was grand in her dying; 
 she had given all, and the cursed Jew would force 
 upon her the dregs of the cup. 
 
 In this supreme moment, Romanes saw his life of 
 a day like a passing shadow, already vanishing into 
 memory's dream. He felt himself cold, wretched, 
 selfish, debauched. What was his great wisdom, in 
 the face of this passion, which could warm up 
 to death with the fire of self-sacrifice? Her lip 
 quivered; she discovered no approval in his face, 
 nor love in his touch. She strove to read the book 
 of his soul, but finding it closed, the tears welled 
 up in her dying eyes. The saddest sight on earth is 
 the tear of one half dead. 
 
 He would have given all the world if he could 
 have told her that he cared nothing for the order, 
 the teacher, or Aleppo; that she, herself was every 
 thing everything ; but his lips refused him speech. 
 
 It was bitter to be so judged, yet he had forced it 
 upon her the misapprehension, the despair. Even
 
 A PROBLEM 173 
 
 in dying she was proud; and he, more abject than 
 a slave in her sacred presence, carried himself with 
 the demeanor of a prince. Such is the anomaly 
 called man. 
 
 Helene picked up the letter; tears fell on the 
 page. She folded It carefully, and returned it to 
 her bosom; then, lying down calmly, turned her 
 face to the wall. Her beautiful brown-tinted hair 
 had loosened and fallen over the pillow, a plaything 
 for the firelight, which flashed in and out with fitful 
 shimmer. For a moment Romanes clung to his 
 chair for support, then, forgetting everything save 
 Helene, he threw himself down by her side, and 
 buried his face in the tangle and mesh of her beau 
 tiful hair. An occasional spasm shook him from 
 head to foot, but no word could he find in which to 
 tell her the depths of his woe. 
 
 The fire went out on the hearth, and the icy 
 wind blew in at the open sash. At last, rousing, he 
 softly touched the cheek of the woman beside him; 
 the hand. She was dead. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A PROBLEM. 
 
 There are men as easy to read as a child's primer, 
 and others harder to decipher than the Book of 
 Revelation. Only a magician comprehends a 
 magician. The Sibylline scroll is revealed to none 
 save those who have the key.
 
 174 EL RESHID 
 
 Caesar Catus was a problem to Sallus and Regan ; 
 they had met him a number of times after his first 
 call at Shepherd's and they grew less acquainted 
 with him, but more fascinated every day. One 
 night, on a street in Cairo, they came plump against 
 him, and he insisted that they visit him at once. 
 The}' went to a house, whose bird-cage balconies 
 hung over the street, and were introduced into 
 apartments, the like of which they had never seen 
 on earth. It was a room, impromptu, he said and 
 got up for a temporary habitation, but one would 
 have thought that he had fixed himself for eternity, 
 so elaborate was his environment and so numerous 
 were his belongings. It was a sculptor's den, an 
 artist's studio, and a musician's retreat. He 
 worked in clay, he dabbled in paints, and scraped 
 the strings of his violin with a ready bow. There 
 were books, portfolios, curios, bronzes and rugs. 
 He occupied a number of apartments all blending 
 in and intruding upon each other in an indescrib 
 able fashion. His audacity in the rainbow tints 
 made him their master; his color blindness, as he 
 called it, resulting in combinations that bewildered 
 and charmed. He was daring with red, and the 
 absence of the mezzo shades was noticeable at a 
 glance; but he reveled so much in the shadows and 
 browns, that all things were toned and softened in 
 a way that no son of the Occident can manage. 
 Jewelled lamps hung here and there, giving a sub 
 dued, smoky light, that added a clouded brilliancy
 
 A PROBLEM 175 
 
 to the place. He had " slung things together " he 
 said; but some people's slinging so far excels other 
 folks' studied art, that comparisons are out of order. 
 
 No sooner had they arrived at this unique suite 
 of apartments, than Catus retired to his dressing 
 room to appear five minutes later, as a thorough 
 Oriental, having on a mysterious robe with droop 
 ing sleeves, which was a cross between that of a 
 Japanese and a Hindoo. On his head was a red 
 fez which set off becomingly the tawny coloring 
 of his beard and hair, while it emphasized the 
 Roman cast of his face. That he was devoted to 
 tobacco no one could deny who looked about, there 
 were pipes of every description, oriental and 
 occidental; cigars, small and large, pale and black, 
 beside cigarettes and plug cut. Regan trembled; he 
 had become a total abstainer, and this array was 
 almost more than he could bear. Catus had filled 
 the apartments with fumes of incense aloes, 
 sandal wood, myrrh, and the curling smoke ascended 
 ceilingward like ethereal snakes. 
 
 "Now then" Caesar was a fine host "we'll 
 have our coffee." He clapped his hands sugges 
 tively, and a slim Arab came upon the scene as 
 though materialized then and there. He must have 
 been concealed behind the arras, but from appear 
 ances he was an effect without a cause. In his 
 hands was a tray upon which were three tiny 
 jewelled cups, containing the far-famed coffee of
 
 176 El* RESHID 
 
 Egypt, black and strong. It exhilarates one like 
 wine, and set the men's tongues all going together. 
 
 " I declare," said Regan, " this is the first time 
 I have been comfortable since I came to Cairo; 
 somehow I 'm not worrying as I was,' ' and a flash 
 of the old humor lighted up his rugged face. "It's 
 strange how one fellow will get a hold on another ; 
 that Aleppo anchored me; since he vanished, I've 
 been scudding like a ship under bare poles. I 
 wouldn't have thought anybody could have held 
 me like that. Sal's case is different. But I'm 
 beyond myself, that's a fact." 
 
 "Everybody is, for that matter," answered Catus, 
 at the same time lighting a prime Havana and 
 establishing himself in a chair, whose fat padding 
 threatened to bury him altogether. He looked 
 supremely content. " Everybody is," he went on; 
 ' ' we express about as much of ourselves in a life 
 time as is good for us; but I tell you, we're bigger 
 than we seem." 
 
 " I've heard it said," replied Regan, sighing with 
 inward regret for his vanished quid, "that we 
 would extend from here to Jupiter, if we were 
 expanded to our final possibilities ; of course we'd 
 be rather vaporous, but we'd get there all the 
 same." 
 
 "I'd rather be more condensed." said Sallus 
 the boy was weary and half asleep; he had scarcely 
 rested since his return to Cairo, and this was his 
 first chance at luxury. Catus scanned him admir-
 
 A PROBLEM 177 
 
 ingly ; he was the final touch to the room, the 
 masterpiece of Greek art. Phidias could have well 
 turned him out, or Praxiteles. Sallus said nothing 
 more, but succumbed at once and lay the whole 
 evening, a beautiful, dreaming statue, from which 
 Catus scarcely took his eyes. 
 
 " Do you suppose he'd let me do it ? " Catus said 
 at last, looking at Regan. 
 
 "Do what?" 
 
 " Make a copy of him; he's the finest male speci 
 men I've struck in this incarnation." 
 
 " Don't know ; guess he's too restless ; he isn't 
 what he used to be, he's pining for Aleppo, same 
 as I am beats all what a hold that fellow had." 
 
 Catus said nothing, but rose and lifted a damp 
 cloth from a life-size clay head, which stood upon 
 his moulding board. 
 
 "Great Scott! that's Rhea," said Regan with 
 amazement. 
 
 " I'm glad you recognize it; 'twas meant for her." 
 
 " Don't tell me she's been sitting down in this 
 den." Regan stared at the head with a glare in 
 his eyes. 
 
 "Not exactly" Catus took out his cigar and 
 looked lovingly upon its red end; then stuck it 
 back in his mouth and puffed vigorously. 
 
 "But it's a perfect likeness, " said Regan with 
 suspicion. 
 
 " What of it; don't you remember I saw her at 
 Shepherd's ? "
 
 178 EIv RESHID 
 
 " You don't mean that you can fix a face like 
 that in your mind ! " 
 
 " 'Twas easy enough to fix Miss Nellino's it's a 
 veritable Phryne, and takes me back to Greece." 
 
 " I'll buy that of you," said Regan shrewdly. 
 
 " It's not for sale." He covered it up with as 
 much reverence as he was capable of showing 
 which was very little, and sitting down once more, 
 lighted a fresh cigar. 
 
 Regan failed to settle himself so quickly; he was 
 puzzled about the clay head of Rhea. 
 
 " It's hard to find a face like Miss Nellino's; it 
 has the Mono Ljza charm and the Greek caste. 
 There are plenty of Hellenic heads, with no ex 
 pression whatever, and hundreds of magical faces 
 with no purity of form; but Miss Rhea, as you call 
 her, has the witchery and the outline. I never have 
 seen just this thing in life before that is, this life. 
 "By the way," abruptly changing the subject, "do 
 you like music ? " 
 
 "Yes, if it's fiddle playing ; there's nothing like 
 the cat-gut and bow to my mind." 
 
 "You are right, if ever you were; but do you 
 suppose 'twill wake him ? " 
 
 Regan cast his eyes over Sallus; " Don't believe 
 a thunder-clap would bring him out of it; he's half 
 dead. I guess it's the best thing that could have 
 happened your dragging us in here; he's getting 
 a rest at last." 
 
 Catus began softly to tune his violin taking but
 
 A PROBLEM 179 
 
 an instant about it; he drew the bow across the 
 strings with such exquisite delicacy that one was led 
 to expect a love rapture or the plaint of a nightin 
 gale. To the surprise of Regan he burst into a 
 queer, mysterious song, with something of a rollic 
 in it. He played a few, fantastic strains, and then, 
 scarcely touching the strings of his bow, dashed off 
 into a tarantella; afterward singing one stanza in 
 baritone, the next in tenor; to fall upon his violin 
 again, and draw forth more weirdness and melody. 
 It was a peculiar performance, a sort of medley of 
 Tyrolese extravaganza and Japanese wail. A cross 
 between oriental and occidental music, which pro 
 duced a tipsy banshee, that both amused and 
 frightened the listener, with its sorrowful merri 
 ment. And this was the song : 
 
 Two dancing girls from Cairo ! 
 Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 An expert and a tyro ! 
 Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 
 One tripped from eve till morning, 
 
 Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 
 Her lover's kisses scorning, 
 
 Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 
 The other perished grimly, 
 Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 Her dream is cherished dimly, 
 Ha ! ( ha! ha! ha! 
 
 Two dancing girls from Cairo ! 
 Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 An expert and a tyro ! 
 Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha !
 
 180 EL RESHID 
 
 "Well, I don't know," said Regan, scrutinizing 
 Sallus, to see if he still slept, " whether I like that 
 or not; you see it's beyond me. I never tried to 
 shine up to dancing girls but once, and then got 
 snubbed. I guess we aren't elective affinities. " 
 
 Catus was not a smiling man, but his eyes 
 laughed a little. Regan had stopped abruptly in 
 his talk and was staring at a picture which hung 
 right in front of him. 
 
 ' ' Did you do that, Catus ? ' ' 
 
 "Yes, why?" 
 
 "Never mind; though I'll say this much; I 
 wouldn't sleep in the same room with that thing 
 for a twenty dollar gold piece." 
 
 "Ah! What's the matter?" He lighted a 
 third cigar. 
 
 " Everything, or nothing; I don't know which." 
 
 "It's called 'The Devil and the Angel;' an 
 original design. Do you consider it good work ? " 
 
 "Too all-fired good. If I had the thing, I'd cut 
 it apart; I'd keep the angel and send the devil to 
 sheol." 
 
 " They are better together ; they show you your 
 two selves, or, rather, your extremes of possibility." 
 
 " Bosh ! Excuse me, Mr. Catus, but I could 
 never be one nor the other ; that angel is as much 
 beyond me, as is the prettiest woman in Christen 
 dom, and the devil I couldn't touch him with a 
 ten -foot pole." 
 
 "That's because you think you are smaller than
 
 A PROBLEM 181 
 
 you are. The fact is, in Jupiter you'd be the 
 devil, on earth the angel; you've got a long stretch, 
 Mr. Regan." 
 
 " May be," without the least air of being con 
 vinced, " I wouldn't have that thing in my bed 
 room, though; but what's this? " 
 
 He took up some parchment, covered with what 
 seemed to him hieroglyphics, and scanned it search- 
 ingly. 
 
 " I'll be blamed if that isn't exactly the style of 
 writing that Aleppo used to indulge in." 
 
 " True, " said Catus, unconcernedly, "I taught 
 him the dialect and the symbols. That scroll con 
 tains an outline of the cult of the Olympians." 
 
 " Do you mean the twelve apostates on the 
 Greek mountain ? ' ' 
 
 " Hardly, there are hundreds of these." 
 
 "What do they do what's their profession? " 
 
 " They do a great many things, out of sight; and 
 they profess the law of antithesis. " 
 
 "Strikes me that's a good thing; how do they 
 work it? " 
 
 " About as polarit}' is worked in physics. Action 
 and reaction's their hobby; the meeting of 
 extremes, and all that." 
 
 " Exactly ; it's clear as mud." 
 
 " I told you that they kept out of sight." 
 
 "Well, the wicked love darkness rather than 
 light ; I suppose they're bad." 
 
 "That depends," said Catus; "'twould have
 
 182 EL RESHID 
 
 been rather uncomfortable for them about the time 
 of the middle ages, if they had shown a hand." 
 
 "So old as that! must be antiquated," said 
 Regan. 
 
 "The so-called mummy is not dead, though; you 
 can't kill an immortal." 
 
 "Are you one of them?" said Regan, more 
 blunt than polite. 
 
 Catus, as though deaf, clapped his hands once 
 more, and the invisible became visible in the shape 
 of the Arab, this time- bearing cream, cakes and 
 fruit. 
 
 " Have a bite, "said Catus, "shall we wake up the 
 Greek ?" But Sallus, through some sub-conscious 
 ness of the good things awaiting them, was already 
 rubbing his eyes, and looking lamb-like in his 
 humility. 
 
 Nothing more was said of the Olympians, and, 
 after the supper, the visitors left. 
 
 " Ton my word," said Regan, when he reached 
 the street with Sallus, " I believe Catus is a sort of 
 magician, second only to the Jew. Can do no end 
 of things, and one's as good as another. He has 
 painted the most diabolical picture on the planet ; 
 the background is a blending of light and shade, 
 and right about the center of the uncanny thing is 
 a figure made up of two an angel and a devil ; 
 they blend together, like the sky and a thunder 
 cloud ; the angel is beyond compare, and the devil 
 worse than Faust's conception, they are the
 
 A PROBLEM 183 
 
 queerest couple that were ever conceived; the 
 Siamese twins can't hold a candle to them; its a 
 pity you didn't see it." 
 
 " I don't know what's the matter with me, " said 
 Sal; "I was so dead gone I just turned in. I 
 could 't help it to save my life." 
 
 " Plain enough," answered Regan, "'twas the 
 incense; some. folks can't stand incense, but he did 
 something else." 
 
 ' ' What was it ? " said Sallus, interested. 
 
 "He sang a song, about two Cairo dancing 
 girls." 
 
 "What! He?" 
 
 "Yes, he!" 
 
 "He must be hard up," said Sallus, whistling. 
 
 " Don't know about that; sure's you're born, you 
 never can tell what a man like Catus will do next; 
 he springs surprises on you just as he did the 
 Arab; he has no more reverence than a long-billed 
 eagle, yet, he has made a clay bust of Rhea." 
 
 " Good heavens ! " It was Sallus's turn to wake 
 up. "Of Rhea?" 
 
 " Yes, of Rhea; it's good too, caught her like 
 ness, that day he called at the hotel, carried it 
 around in his head, or his heart, till he imprisoned 
 it in clay; now he has got her." 
 
 " He must be uncommon smart, ' ' said Sallus in a 
 maze. 
 
 " Smart's no word for it; it's uncanny, I tell 
 you. "
 
 184 EL RESHID 
 
 "If he would only put some of his brains into 
 hunting for Lep, I'd like him better." 
 
 Upon Sallus saying this, they were both swal 
 lowed by the great hotel, and lost to view. 
 
 After they had left him, Catus lighted another 
 cigar; his capacity in the direction of the weed was 
 enormous; then, clapping his hands again, the 
 Arab appeared, carrying a beautiful South Sea 
 shell upon which lay a letter. The moment that 
 Catus was possessed of it, his aspect changed; he 
 had been, through the evening an indifferent, non- 
 chalent sort of person, but with the touch of the 
 letter he became nervous and reverential, and, 
 tearing off the envelope, he read it out loud. It 
 was entitled : 
 
 " FACT AND FICTION. 
 
 " You are too apt to settle down upon yourself 
 as you are. The potentialities of your being to 
 a great extent, you let alone. Of course you are 
 busy and extremely energetic along the lines on 
 which you have started, but there is danger of get 
 ting into the ruts even there. 
 
 " We have driven you to reason with a whip of 
 knotted cords. We have insisted on it; in fact, 
 our philosophy has no basis other than logic ; yet, 
 the fact that logic is at the bottom, proves that 
 sentiment, imagination, and emotion are at the top. 
 
 " It is a poor animal that is all bones and no fat; 
 a skeleton, whose ribs shine through his drawn
 
 A PROBLEM 185 
 
 skin, is not after our fancy. Logic, if intense 
 enough, can move a man to tears; it is the mount 
 ain whose grandeur is overwhelming; it is the tor 
 rent that sweeps all before it; it is the whirlwind 
 with fury in its breath. The splendor of a logical 
 syllogism turns ice to fire. A terrible result of logic 
 will carry conviction that culminates in passion. 
 L,et an orator pour a volley of logic on the heads 
 of an audience, and he rouses them to frenzy. 
 Extremes meet; passion flames, and action follows. 
 " Our logic means nothing if it has failed, by this 
 time, to rouse you to emotion. We believe that it 
 has ; the fact that fiction is running riot with you 
 is a good sign; fiction is the mate and opposite of 
 fact. You would freeze on fact, if fiction had not 
 blown at the flame. The severe nakedness of truth 
 sometimes calls for cosmetics and dyes; bald truth, 
 nude truth, exposed truth, palls after a time; so we 
 dress her up. She is truth still, for however you 
 may turn her, fiction is fact, and truth is error. 
 This is a paradox. Notice, truth is many sided; 
 she is false when she shows a rim of herself, to this 
 extent that she implies that she is exposing all. 
 She is true, in that whatever manifestation is laid 
 bare, it is an exact manifestation of herself, in a way. 
 She is false in her specialization, true in her gener 
 alization; that is, she misleads by her exhibition of 
 the part as to the consistency of the whole. She is 
 true, in that every part stands for the spoke of its 
 relative wheel. Thus truth and fiction are two
 
 186 BL RESHID 
 
 poles of one. To the Master there is no fiction; 
 to the Master all is fiction; that is, he goes by steps 
 specialization, or by bounds generalization; he 
 leaps from extremes to extremes, or walks slowly, 
 saying one thing at a time. Thus, he who has not 
 reveled in the opposite of truth, which is fiction, 
 is but half-fledged. 
 
 ADDENDUM. 
 
 The fiction of truth lies in this, that when you see 
 but one spoke, the chances are, that you will relate 
 it to the wrong wheel. The spoke is a true one, 
 but you find the fallacy in attempting to place 
 it. An expert can tell what kind of a wheel a 
 certain spoke fits. To get into the real charm of 
 fiction, one must utterly ignore the wheel, and con 
 sider an unlimited number of spokes. 
 
 The fiction of theology and orthodoxy, and so- 
 called philosophy, lies in putting yellow, green and 
 blue spokes together; some longer and some shorter; 
 and he who enjoys superstitiously his church or his 
 cult, is the one who never wakes up to the fact 
 that there is a wheel at all. 
 
 The true sage makes no such mistake, and con 
 sequently revels understandingly in parable, story 
 telling, fancy and fable. Christ was the poet of 
 Syria; he wrote the epic of the Jew. 
 
 In studying character, the most of us commit 
 this grave error, we take a yellow spoke of a man 
 and put him beside a blue one, where he wiggles
 
 A PROBLEM 187 
 
 and waggles, being too short for the rim. We 
 grumble and growl, because he fails to fit, and 
 finally decide that he is no true spoke at all. L,et 
 me tell you, that he is just as much of one as 
 yourself, but you have stuck him into the wrong 
 wheel, and betray your own insufficiency in con 
 sidering him afterward. . 
 
 The Master knows how to fit the spokes, or to 
 ignore the rim altogether. He never spoils the 
 fancy of his fable, by thinking it untrue, on the 
 contrary he turns fiction into fact by believing in 
 it for the time being, in toto. Nor does he dream 
 that each event in his history is fallacious, until he 
 intentionally throws off the glamour, as a bird 
 shakes the dew from its wings, when new washed, 
 he starts after fact again, with a vim which a clean 
 man always has. 
 
 The paper was signed with a peculiar symbol. 
 Catus read it over a number of times, then putting 
 it on file with other similar letters, went to his 
 writing desk and dashed off the following : 
 
 Have postponed my visit to Syria ; hope to go 
 later; will let you know all facts. Have a strange 
 feeling that something has happened in Paris ; will 
 make certain. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A like symbol to that on the letter just received 
 was stamped at the end. Then the Arab entered 
 with the South Sea shell, to depart in an instant
 
 188 EL RESHID 
 
 with the second epistle, whereupon Catus threw him 
 self on the divan where Sallus had been lying, and 
 went, as though with a clear conscience, into the 
 region of dreams. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A CANTANKEROUS OLD LADY. 
 
 Regan and Sallus held a consultation the next 
 day after their visit to Mr. Catus. 
 
 "Understand," said Regan, " I don't condemn 
 him; simply can't grasp him. His indifference 
 about Aleppo would imply that he knows some 
 thing; if he does it is his duty to come out and say 
 so; that's my opinion." 
 
 "And mine too," said Sallus; " of course, if it 
 is sifted, it amounts to this: He either knows or 
 he does not; if he does not he is the most milk and 
 water friend conceivable; if he does, he is in league 
 with the Jew. Which ever way you look at it, he's 
 not to my liking." 
 
 "Maybe you're right," said Regan, " though 
 somehow I don't feel like committing myself. One 
 thing is certain, however, we must keep in with 
 him till we settle our minds. If he is Issachar's 
 ally, we ought to know it; if we are convinced 
 that he isn't, we can cut him at once." 
 
 " I hate playing the hypocrite," said Sallus. 
 
 " True, but this isn't exactly hypocrisy; we
 
 A CANTANKEROUS OLD LADY 189 
 
 don't put our arms around him and kiss him, do 
 we? Nor get on our knees? We just exchange 
 visits, hover about, etc. We are neither enemies 
 nor friends; most people in the social world are 
 indifferent to each other. We are just like the rest; 
 it isn't hypocrisy, it's mutual understanding." 
 
 But Sallus was not going to be a good detective, 
 that was evident. For downright hard work and 
 complete self sacrifice no one could beat him; but 
 when it came to sitting on the fence, with one leg 
 in the enemies' quarters and the other in his own, 
 well, he was not the man for it; so he went on his 
 " own hook," and Regan fraternized with Catus. 
 
 Mrs. Hancock took Rhea to task one morning, 
 though it was understood, at the beginning of their 
 trip, that her aunt should follow her to the earth's 
 end; for that matter, the young lady was her own 
 mistress, and paid all Mrs. Hancock's expenses, 
 yet the old lady was becoming exasperated, and 
 broke out in open rebellion one fine day in Cairo. 
 
 "We've staid here long enough; I'll not remain 
 another week for anybody." 
 
 "Do just as you like, Aunt Carrie; I have no 
 power nor desire to compel you; nevertheless, 
 even though you go, I shall stay till Mr. Regan an 
 Sallus give up the search for Aleppo. I have made 
 several lady friends here, both English and Ameri 
 can, and really have no need of you, unless you 
 desire to be with me." 
 
 " What I want to know, is, what Aleppo Brae-
 
 190 EL, RESHID 
 
 ciolini is to you, that you throw yourself at his 
 head," said Mrs. Hancock. 
 
 Rhea bit her lip and turned white, but her power 
 of transition from anger to humor was marvelous. 
 
 " If I remember rightly, Aunt Carrie, in Brindisi 
 you gave nae a lecture, the text of which was just 
 the contrary. You advised me to use all the arts 
 and wiles of a first-water society girl to catch any 
 body in the shape of a man. You even requested 
 me to go so far as to give up the best part of myself, 
 presenting humbly to whatever suitor might appear, 
 a perishable thing only. You more than advised, 
 you insisted, informing me that I was already on 
 the verge of middle life and would soon be out of 
 the market. You implied that it was all a ques 
 tion of supply and demand; and here you are going 
 back on what you have said. 
 
 But Rhea was really too sad at heart to indulge 
 in much humor; though hope, of late, had set her 
 soul singing again, and enabled her to do battle 
 with her aunt in the old fashion. 
 
 ' ' You might as well be dead as to get in love 
 with a mystery like him; there is no telling who he 
 is, nor what his parents are." 
 
 ' ' We'll leave Aleppo out of the question, Auntie, 
 if you please; though I'll say this much, once and 
 for all, to set your mind at rest, if I loved him, or 
 any other man, it wouldn't make the slightest dif 
 ference with me, what his parents turned out to be, 
 or whether he were legitimate or illegitimate, a
 
 A CANTANKEROUS OLD LADY 191 
 
 prince or a pauper; if I loved him, I say. But 
 enough of this, one thing I want you to understand 
 from now on; I positively insist that upon the sub 
 ject of love and matrimony you never speak to me 
 again. On this condition only can we remain 
 together. Do you comprehend ?" 
 
 Mrs. Hancock did. When Rhea was emphatic, 
 her aunt knew what it meant; besides Mrs. Han 
 cock was a financial dependent; so she closed her 
 lips as you shut a desk, and said nothing; her hot 
 temper, however was boiling. 
 
 " Now about Cairo, Auntie, you can do as you 
 please, stay or go. I can get along either way." 
 
 Mrs. Hancock was dangerously mum, and Rhea, 
 discovering that there was no answer forthcoming, 
 arose and left the room. She had scarcely gone, 
 when the Misses Richards slipped in; they had 
 heard every word. As eavesdroppers they could 
 nowhere be excelled. Their zest in life lay in the 
 world's contentions. They, themselves, never 
 quarreled, not even with each other. They were 
 like a large proportion of the saints, that sin by 
 proxy. They enjoyed evil in its reflex, and licked 
 the platter after the gravy was gone. No sooner 
 had they arrived and properly seated themselves 
 than Mrs. Hancock burst out. 
 
 " She's going to stay, and I can't help myself." 
 
 ''How long," said Bess, in apparent surprise. 
 
 " Forever, I hope; then, perhaps, she'll get 
 enough of it."
 
 192 EL RESHID 
 
 " How sad!" said the Misses Richards, in one 
 voice. 
 
 " It's more than sad; it's scandalous; the whole 
 town will be talking if she don't look out. What's 
 that Aleppo to her, that she has to be dangling 
 around as though she were married to him." 
 
 "Perhaps she's keeping a secret," said Miss 
 Richards, "could't you discover? Maybe Bess 
 could find it out." 
 
 " Rhea can't stand a spy; neither can I," turn 
 ing on them; but the ancient ladies were altogether 
 impervious to her mysterious hints, and answered 
 again in an angelic voice, 
 
 "Too bad!" 
 
 Mrs. Hancock was no fool, and was Yankee 
 enough to know on which side her bread was but 
 tered; so she swallowed her wrath and declared to 
 the Misses Richards that they need not alter their 
 plans in the least on her account; that she expected 
 to become a martyr; it had always been her fate, 
 and always would be. 
 
 " I don't hope to get my reward here, but on the 
 other side; if it wasn't for the Rev. Hitchock I 
 should pray the Lord to take me now, but I do 
 want to sit under the ministrations of my dear 
 pastor once again. I was born to suffering, as the 
 sparks fly upward; only a few are so privileged." 
 
 "Too bad! " again responded the female doves. 
 
 " Rhea's a black sheep," her venom getting the 
 better once more. " From the time she was born
 
 A CANTANKEROUS OLD LADY 193 
 
 she would have none of the Rev. Hitchcock, nor 
 sit under the droppings of the sanctuary. In my 
 opinion she's afraid of hell. She would run when 
 the minister came, though scarcely more than a 
 baby, and hide her head in the bed-clothes. If we 
 dragged her out she would shut her eyes and 
 wouldn't look at him." 
 
 ', How sad!" 
 
 (< It grew worse as she grew older, and though I 
 must say she wasn't a liar, nor a thief, nor a mur 
 derer, she persisted in thinking for herself, in the 
 face of revelation, and I felt sometimes that the 
 burden was more than I could bear." 
 
 Mrs. Hancock wept angry and uncharitable tears, 
 and the Misses Richards, wiped them away. 
 
 " And now," the irate woman was about to 
 make an awful revelation "she is secretly loving 
 an idol- worshipper. 
 
 " How dreadful ! " The ancient sisters positively 
 shuddered. 
 
 " I am positive I am right: She's ashamed of it, 
 or she'd tell; she wants to stay here because she's 
 stuck on Isis^and Osiris. I know it, as sure as I am 
 born; it's not Mohammedism she cares about, it's 
 the original. She has a half a dozen little sinful 
 idols more or less, on her dressing table, and in my 
 opinion she prays to the whole lot." 
 
 "Oh! Oh!" 
 
 " Yes it is, Oh! Oh! What would my poor, 
 dear sister say, if she could look out of heaven at
 
 194 EL RESHID 
 
 all this wickedness. She's that fixed that I've no 
 hope of turning her." Here the Misses Richards 
 drew near and adjusted their eye-glasses. " She's 
 a rank heathen; that's why I call her a black sheep. 
 'Tisn't Aleppo, so much, though he's at the bot 
 tom of some of it; it's innate; and all she needed 
 was this country and these lying Arabs to bring it 
 out. I believe she's thinking of entering an 
 order." 
 
 " What? " The two sisters drew very near. 
 
 "She used to get hold of books, at Sandwich, 
 that made my eyes ache, about mysteries, and a lot 
 more ungodly stuff. I burned up two or three of 
 them, and she never knew where they went to." 
 
 "She must be a crank," said Bess, speaking for 
 the first time to some effect. 
 
 " Pshaw ! you put it too mildly; she's a lost 
 soul, and it's my mission to save her." 
 
 Mrs. Hancock shed a few more tears, and the 
 Misses Richards again dried her eyes. 
 
 " Her mother was only a half sister of mine, and 
 not a bit like me. If I had had my way, Rhea 
 would never have been born." 
 
 " Is there no hope? " asked the curious Bess. 
 
 " Not the slightest, unless I get the power to 
 work miracles. I don't despair, though; for what 
 would I be ordained to look after her for, if 'twasn't 
 for her good; never mind about me, my sufferings 
 are nothing, compared with the awful fate ahead of 
 her."
 
 SALLUS 195 
 
 Here the door opened and the beautiful sinner 
 entered; she took in the whole situation, smiled 
 beamingly, and passed out, closing the door as 
 softly as though it were the entrance to a minister's 
 study, or the class-room of a New England Church. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SALIAJS. 
 
 As we have said, Sallus discarded detectives, and 
 hunted for Aleppo alone. Since his vision of 
 Issachar, he had spent much time around the shop 
 where the Jew had vanished, in a vain hope that he 
 might see him again. Neither he nor Regan had 
 veered from the idea that Issachar was at the 
 bottom of Aleppo's disappearance; and the fact 
 that Sallus had seen him in Cairo, when he was 
 supposed to be in Venice, confirmed them in their 
 former conclusion. 
 
 "I'm working along the line of the smallest 
 evil," said Regan, in a cheerful pessimistic drawl; 
 " men talk about choosing the least of two evils ; 
 it seems to me that there are always about forty 
 to pick from. I never was reduced to two 
 evils yet; I see the sense however, of grabbing the 
 littlest one in the pile. They 're heaped up pretty 
 high around us now, that's a fact, and the least evil 
 just at present is that Jew; without him we'd be 
 nowhere. If ever a man vanished, Aleppo did;
 
 196 EL RESHID 
 
 and if it wasn't for that cursed black clue of an 
 Issachar, I should think he'd been translated or 
 confiscated by an ancient. As it is, I feel that he's 
 alive; mark my words, that son of L,eah is after 
 money, and whoever owns Aleppo will have to buy 
 him, see? 
 
 " I've a notion," answered Sallus, " to take up 
 my quarters down near that shop; where the devil 
 was once, he's likely to go again." 
 
 " That's not a bad idea," answered Regan, "you 
 don't sleep as it is, and you might as well live in 
 the street as anywhere else." 
 
 It was done. Sallus managed to wedge himself 
 into a small hired apartment, not over clean, in the 
 thickest of Cairo where he had a window-eye that 
 stared down at the shop night and day. 
 
 One morning, very early, he had come in from a 
 night's work, as he called his still hunt for Aleppo 
 and was looking up the half deserted street. It was 
 scarcely four o'clock, and a dim smoke lay over 
 everything. Suddenly there appeared a figure 
 looming, white, out of the gray haze, which Sallus 
 stared at with the glare of a crouching cat. It 
 was Issachar the hooded head, the immaculate 
 robe, the claw-like hands and the smile. Beside 
 him was a young girl, somewhat disheveled in 
 appearance, as though she had come hurriedly from 
 her sleeping apartments, half dressed. She was 
 expostulating with the Jew, who answered her with 
 naught save smiles smiles. Even in the dim gray
 
 SALLUS 197 
 
 of the morning Sallus could see those gleaming teeth 
 and scintillating eyes. The girl pleaded with the 
 Jew as though her life were at stake, but he shook 
 his head and smiled again; then waving his hand 
 imperiously, turned and vanished through the door 
 of the shop. 
 
 Sallus waited no longer, but throwing on a long 
 cloak which effectively concealed his figure, and 
 drawing a slouch hat over his eyes, he hurried into 
 the street, where the disheveled young lady stood, 
 looking at him in a bewildered way as he approached 
 her. She was evidently not an oriental woman, 
 for her hair was fluffy brown, though her eyes were 
 large, dark and full of sentiment which had culmin 
 ated in tears. In spite of her hastily donned attire 
 she was very pretty and singularly pathetic. 
 
 " Pardon," said Sallus, stepping close to her and 
 speaking in a low tone, "but may I have a word 
 with you it is on business very important." 
 
 She scanned him for an instant, gazed all around 
 her in a half frightened way, and then stepping 
 close to him said, 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " That man whom I saw with you just now will 
 you tell me where I can find him ? " 
 
 She looked startled, but whispered. 
 
 " Come ; " leading Sallus into a side street, "walk 
 with me a pace and I will tell you what I know." 
 Then turning her great dark eyes on him, swimming
 
 198 EL RESHID 
 
 with tears, she exclaimed, " For the sake of Allah 
 will you help me ? " 
 
 "You! yes." every drop of his chivalrous, 
 American blood boiling, " what is it? " 
 
 She wiped the tears from her eyes, with her 
 beautiful bare hands, and poured out the story of 
 her woe into his shocked ears so rapidly and with 
 so many pauses and breaks, that he could scarcely 
 catch its meaning; she spoke in French. 
 
 "I've lived with him always that man you saw, 
 since I was born ; but he's not my father nor 
 relation. I am stolen; my mother was stolen 
 before me. Oh!' ' here she broke down completely. 
 "I have told lots of people, but no one believes." 
 
 " What do they think," said Sallus, his voice 
 choking with anger at Issachar. 
 
 " That he is my uncle; that's what he tells every 
 body his sister's child by a French father, and 
 they believe." 
 
 " But you he tells you differently? " 
 
 "The old nurse did, who took care of me; and 
 when I accused him, he did not deny. I begged 
 him this morning I'm always pleading with him 
 to take me back to Europe I want to escape. I 
 was in Venice with him last year, but he suddenly 
 brought me here again." 
 
 " It was getting lighter and Sallus looked up and 
 down the street anxiously. 
 
 ' ' Can you come to my room will you be 
 missed ? "
 
 SALLUS 199 
 
 " Who should miss me," she said, her lips 
 curling. Even Issachar doesn't care now." Then 
 she looked the young man over with a quick glance. 
 " Yes I will come." 
 
 He hurried along a little ahead; she following, 
 even into the bedroom of this stranger. In the 
 eyes of the world this would seem scandalous; but 
 theie are evils and evils, and this, at the time, 
 appeared to be the least. 
 
 "Now," said Sallus, handing her a chair, " you 
 have begun by trusting me; don't worry, I shall 
 never betray your confidence. I should not have 
 brought you here, but time is precious ; we could 
 not talk safely in the street no harm can come of 
 it." 
 
 The girl looked a little startled and dropped her 
 head. 
 
 "Tell me, "went on Sallus; assuming a very 
 business like air and drawing a chair near her, "all 
 you know of Issachar ; and I will then state to you 
 the reason why I desire this information. 
 
 " I don't know much ; " she said, still keeping 
 her eyelids down. " He kidnapped my mother a 
 few months before I was born. She was a wealthy 
 French lady. He strove to negotiate with her family 
 for a large sum of money. My father was dead, 
 and he took my mother by some means from my 
 father's grave, when she was decorating it with 
 flowers. He brought her here and kept her on the 
 desert, where I was born, and she died. This
 
 200 EL RESHID 
 
 upset his plans ; her life had money value, or 
 something else, I don't know what, but mine 
 doesn't seem to have any. He has been trying for 
 seventeen years, for that is my age, to negotiate 
 for me, but my relatives have lost interest, and I 
 am of no account. Still he will not let me go ; I 
 shall always be a prisoner, Oh ! " as she broke 
 into sobs. 
 
 Sallus was intensely moved, but he controlled 
 himself ; it was no place to comfort her here. 
 
 " What have you been doing all these seventeen 
 years ? " he asked excitedly. 
 
 " I had a governess until last year; then Issachar 
 sent her away. I think he is tired of me. He had 
 hoped my relatives would come to terms, so he 
 educated me a little and all that, but he finds they 
 won't; it was my mother they wanted, not me. 
 Besides, I believe f he has some new scheme on 
 hand." 
 
 Sallus sprang to his feet " Tell me quick, what 
 is it ? " The girl looked startled. 
 
 " I'm not sure that it's anything; but he brought 
 me suddenly to Cairo and one day I saw a young 
 man ' ' the beads of sweat started on Sallus' 
 brow 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! when? where ? " 
 
 " In a room of our house." 
 
 ' ' Where is your house ? ' ' 
 
 " Over the shop." 
 
 " How did he look quick ! "
 
 SALLUS 201 
 
 The girl seemed not to understand this anxiety, 
 and stared in amazement at Sallus. 
 
 ' ' Oh, speak ! ' ' said Sallus he was pacing 
 rapidly. 
 
 "He was dark, very; .with beautiful eyes. He 
 seemed to be sick; he staid but a short time, at the 
 house, and was taken away." 
 
 ' ' Taken away ! Who took him ? " 
 
 "Some Arabs Issachar's slaves." 
 
 "Slaves !" 
 
 " Yes, the same as slaves." 
 
 " Can you tell me, have you the least idea where 
 they have taken him? " 
 
 He had come very near to the girl and pierced 
 her eyes with his own. 
 
 "No," she said shrinking, ''my mother was 
 taken to the desert, and died there; yes, and I was 
 born there." 
 
 She wondered why he had forgotten her case so 
 quickly and was thinking only of the dark young 
 man. 
 
 " Forgive me; but I have been searching for my 
 brother for weeks " he still called Aleppo his 
 brother. " I'm crazy about him. I have suspected 
 .the Jew; now I am certain. Where is Issachar 
 this minute, can you tell me? " 
 
 " Gone away ; far, far, while we have been talk 
 ing; he goes and comes, no one knows where." 
 
 Sallus' conscience smote him; ought he not to
 
 202 EL RESHID 
 
 have followed Issachar; he feared that he had made 
 a great mistake " When will he come back? " 
 
 "I con't know. I hope never," said the girl 
 bitterly, rising at the same time. 
 
 Sallus was wild; what could he do? He had let 
 Issachar slip, and had this poor child on his hands 
 whose sorrows appealed to his tender heart. But 
 Aleppo was first and above all even this pretty 
 girl must stand aside. He walked back and forth 
 a few times, then stood between her and the door. 
 
 " I have made a mistake; I should have followed 
 the Jew. My brother is all the world to me. Now 
 listen, my poor girl," he could scarcely think of 
 her as other than a child <l I swear to you that 
 your cause shall be mine also. I'm going to find 
 that Jew or die. He has kidnapped my brother as 
 he did your mother. We must work together you 
 and I. I shall live in this room, you must watch, 
 and spy, and connive, and cheat, and lie and do 
 everything wicked to learn the facts. Get on the 
 track of Issachar as you prize your liberty, and 
 leave the rest to me." 
 
 " But he is so slimy," said the girl, shivering ; 
 he is like a snake." 
 
 "Has he abused you, poor child;" his eyes 
 snapping. 
 
 ' ' No, not that, he has been very good ; till last 
 year I was kept like a princess. Now he neglects 
 me, he has sent away the governess, only old Spino, 
 the nurse, remains; and she hates him venomously.
 
 SAI^US 203 
 
 I'm afraid if he gives up all hopes of obtaining a 
 ransom for me that he will sell me to a hareem 
 Oh!" 
 
 " Never," said Sallus, biting off an oath before it 
 was out. " And this Spino, is she faithful ? " 
 
 "True as steel; an Arab a servant of Allah." 
 
 " Ah ! and you, your name? " 
 
 "Cicily." 
 
 " Cicily ! What a strange name." 
 
 "Yes, Cicily." 
 
 ' ' How did the Arab woman know your history ?' ' 
 
 " From her husband, who helped to kidnap my 
 mother." 
 
 " And your governess did she understand? " 
 
 " She was indifferent, utterly; she was well paid 
 to keep still, and she was very wise." 
 
 The sun was now up, and flashed into Sallus' 
 bare room, all over the girl who stood in its full 
 glow. Then it was that Sallus saw how dazzling 
 she was. Her dress but partly fastened displayed 
 her beautiful, young neck, daringly. The color 
 had come to her cheeks ; and the disheveled hair, 
 "every which way," enhanced with its soft, yellow 
 tint, the startling splendor of her eyes. She was 
 in a state of intense excitement, her bosom rose and 
 fell and she now and then clasped her hands as if in 
 prayer, raising her great eyes, full of ecstasy one 
 moment to Sallus, the next, dropping the lids, as 
 though half-frightened at being with him there, 
 alone.
 
 20 1 EL RESHID 
 
 "You must go now," said Sallus decidedly, 
 turning his eyes away; "but can I not visit you; 
 Spino will be good, and understand; tell her all the 
 moment you return; make an ally of her at once. 
 This evening I will come." 
 
 For the first time Cicily smiled. It was a 
 dangerous thing to do, but the girl's apparent inno 
 cence was more of a protection than all the guardian 
 angels of heaven above. Sallus opened the door 
 for her as though she were a queen, and Cicily 
 glided out with a swift, serpentine movement, more 
 oriental than otherwise, and wonderfully sugges 
 tive to him of Constantinople and former days. 
 
 Had he been deceived, or was she what she claimed 
 to be; she had stated that no one believed her. How 
 intoxicating she was ! How beautiful ! Yes, there 
 could be no mistake, unless Issachar himself were 
 using her as a decoy to trap him also. He had failed 
 to read her ; she was too bliudingly beautiful, too 
 seductively sad. Through her he would either find 
 Aleppo or walk into a trap. As he grew cool- 
 headed and more sober, he realized how either 
 might be true. 
 
 Issachar well knew that both he and Regan were 
 making search. He had probably discovered 
 Sallus' proximity to his own headquarters; what 
 was to hinder him from using this young girl with 
 her pathetic story as a means to capture him also. 
 On the contrary, there were some things about 
 Cicily that spoke to his very soul. But Catus !
 
 SALLUS 205 
 
 who could tell whether Catus connived with 
 Issachar, his head ached; he had been up all 
 night ; his adventure of the morning was abnor 
 mally exciting. He was thrilled with a pair of 
 beautiful eyes ; altogether, he was in a bad way. 
 The sun was pouring into the room, and the flies 
 were a million. Coffee! Ah ! Egyptian coffee ! Ah ! 
 Shepherd's ! Regan ! He got out of that quarter 
 of Cairo as quickly as he could go, and went for his 
 breakfast at a haunt of his own; then hunted up 
 Regan, whom he found in bed at Shepherd's. 
 
 " 'Pon my word this is out of order," said the 
 philosopher, sitting up and yawning; " never knew 
 you to make such a break as this; what's the 
 matter?" 
 
 Sallus took Regan by the two hands, dragged 
 him out of bed and jumped in. 
 
 " It's my turn now," said he, "let me doze off 
 for an hour, and then I'll tell you am dead tired." 
 
 He turned over with the last word, and nothing 
 more was heard of him till noon. When that hour 
 arrived, he opened his eyes, and met those of 
 Regan who sat by the window with his feet on the 
 mantel. 
 
 ' ' Have I slept an hour ? ' ' 
 
 "Several." 
 
 Sallus sat up and rubbed his eyes. 
 
 " The problem gets stickier every minute ; this 
 morning I saw Issachar."
 
 20" EL RESHID 
 
 " You did ! " said Regan, opening the door to let 
 in some breakfast. 
 
 "And the prettiest girl on earth" Regan 
 whistled softly. Sallus, between munching his rolls 
 and sipping his coffee, told Regan everything, even 
 to his fascination and fear of Cicily. 
 
 Regan sat in a brown study for a good ten 
 minutes, then began 
 
 " It amounts to just this; we've got down to one 
 evil that's Issachar, he's the biggest and the 
 littlest. If it's a trap, you may be caught; but I 
 am afraid you'll have to try it, or let L,ep slip 
 altogether. Of course you know, I'll be on the 
 watch with a strong guard; may be 'taint a trap; 
 perhaps the girl is all right, but I'm scared." 
 
 "Can't help it," said Sallus, getting out of bed 
 in a hurry. I am not the coward to let Aleppo go 
 that way, trap or no trap ; besides that's the 
 prettiest girl I've ever seen. 
 
 "She's a trap anyhow; you're bound to be 
 caught however you fix it. Count on me Sal, 
 first, last and all the time, from now to the day of 
 judgment." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 MYSTERY. 
 
 Regan found Mrs. Hancock alone in the hotel 
 parlor on the day of Sallus' escapade with Cicily, 
 and that fair daughter of New England poured all
 
 MYSTERY 207 
 
 her venom upon his head at once; she scolded, 
 threatened and blamed Rhea, without scruple, for 
 keeping her in Cairo. 
 
 "Why don't you go," said Regan, " I'm sure 
 you're of age, and can do as you like. Rhea has 
 plenty of friends and will be perfectly safe without 
 you." 
 
 "I'm sworn to stay by that girl till she dies or 
 gets married, and I'm going to, in spite of you or 
 anybody." 
 
 "Married!" said Regan, thrusting his hands 
 into his pockets; I wonder any decent girl dares to 
 try it, in these days of pulpit oratory and priestly 
 advice." 
 
 ' ' What on earth do you mean ? ' ' shrieked Mrs. 
 Hancock. 
 
 " Why, it was just before I left the States, that 
 I strolled into an influential church in New York, 
 and the parson was talking on matrimony, giving 
 advice to his young flock, and all that, and what do 
 you suppose he said ? " 
 
 "I'm sure I can't tell," snappishly. 
 
 " He told them the same thing I've read a hun 
 dred times, or more, and always swore at; " Dearly 
 beloved," he drawled, " marriage, to a man is but 
 an incident, to a woman, 'tis her whole life !" And 
 he thought he had said a fine thing. I should have 
 sworn at him. if it hadn't been for the usher ! Such 
 beastly stuff to teach young women. So man goes 
 into this church-ordained business of marriage
 
 208 EL RESHID 
 
 as a sort of side issue, or by-play, exactly like a 
 Mormon, if I know myself; and woman, beautiful 
 woman, talented, educated woman, is ordered by 
 these wolves in sheep's clothing to give her whole 
 life, and that in free America, where justice is sup 
 posed to be done. What's the man going to do 
 after the incident is over, I'd like to know; seek 
 another and another, incident piled on incident, 
 event on event ; and she was requested by that 
 same gent in the pulpit to solace herself with 
 memory the recollection of the incident, I suppose 
 the incident!! I got the hymn book ready to 
 throw at his head, when I caught the eye of the 
 usher, and stopped short." 
 
 " I wish that usher had caught you by the nape 
 of the neck and thrust you out of God's house, into 
 the street; you were blaspheming divine truth, and 
 putting out was too good for you." 
 
 "Maybe, but I got after that parson all the 
 same." 
 
 "You did!" 
 
 " Yes, I did! I went to his study and informed 
 him that I wanted a consultation about a lost soul; 
 he rubbed his hands with invisible soap, and anx 
 iously inquired if it were I that were lost. I tried 
 to catch his eyes, but they shifted like moonbeams, 
 and I gently instructed him that it was he that 
 couldn't be found." 
 
 " What did he do," said Mrs. Hancock, in an 
 awed whisper.
 
 MYSTERY 209 
 
 "He just put a chair between us and pointed to 
 the door with the majesty of a justice of the peace; 
 he was choking so that he couldn't speak; but I 
 smiled and coughed, and gaped, and looked at my 
 watch, and tied one shoe, and dusted. off my sleeve, 
 and wiped my eye-glass, but he kept "his index 
 finger straight out, till he looked for all the world 
 like a yogi practitioner. 'Not so fast,' said I, 
 ' you're lost, because you taught those lambs in 
 your flock a cursed lie ' he still pointed, and I 
 yawned again, and tied the other shoe ' you 
 advised those young women to take up with men 
 who treat marriage as an incident. I'd bet on you 
 as against old Brighatn, every time. It's another 
 form of hareem you're advocating, or my name's not 
 Regan.' Then I bowed very low, and backed out, 
 while that parson was still pointing." 
 
 "You are the most disrespectful man on God's 
 footstool; you haven't the least reverence for the 
 church nor the minister; you'll have to answer for 
 this some day." 
 
 " As for reverence, I guess I can bestow it, where 
 it belongs. My father was a respected parson and 
 text expounder, and if I do say it, who shouldn't 
 there was never a better man. He and I didn't 
 agree on all points; we quarreled over the Bible, 
 that's what parted us the Bible; but for all that, 
 I'd like to find one who could beat him. When 
 he got to singing those psalms and hymns the whole 
 congregation roared, their voices blending into one
 
 210 EL, RESHID 
 
 monotonous thunder peal, that was just about the 
 grandest thing that ever struck a fellow's ear. Yes 
 ma'am, Mrs. Hancock, that father of mine was 
 worthy of reverence, if ever a man on earth was, 
 and whether he was right or wrong, he had a soul 
 as white as swan's down." 
 
 " You don't take after him! " spitefully. 
 
 " Couldn't preach a sermon to save my life, " said 
 Regan, " nor speak in meeting either suppose you 
 do, though ?" 
 
 At this point Sallus entered and called Regan 
 out. Mrs. Hancock was left alone with her cogi 
 tations, which were more or less of a tumultuous 
 kind. 
 
 "I'm going, now, said Sallus, ''to keep my 
 appointment with Cicily; if it's a trap I may not 
 come back." 
 
 " 'Twont be sprung yet, trap or no trap. You're 
 safe enough for a time; will send a detective after 
 you though, so don't fret. Get on the good side of 
 Spino, that's the first thing Spino." 
 
 After Sallus had gone, Regan sought Catus; these 
 two were great chums. To-night, however, Regan 
 proposed to spy on him a little, and get him, if 
 possible to commit himself in regard to Aleppo. 
 
 "Mr. Catus," said Regan, stretching his long 
 legs on a stool and sipping his coffee, " have you 
 ever met a particular Jew, called Jacob Issachar ? " 
 
 His host reflected a moment, and said, dreamily, 
 "The name is familiar; how does he look ? ' '
 
 MYSTERY 211 
 
 "About as infernal as the prince of darkness; 
 that is, if you don't happen to admire his style. 
 He's a giant in size, wears a woman's dressing 
 gown, parts his hair in the middle and allows it to 
 stream down the sides of his face; teeth of an animal, 
 swarthy complexion, and four or five thousand 
 years old." 
 
 "Yes, I know him," said Catus indifferently; 
 " he looks comparatively young, though, but 
 adopts the style of a patriarch; literal descendant, 
 I presume a Syrian Jew eh? " 
 
 " That's he, now what of him? " 
 
 "Oh, nothing much; makes his living by the 
 black art, same as lots of orientals." 
 
 "What's the black art?" 
 
 " He got hold of a few secrets, in fact they had 
 come down from time immemorial; there's money 
 in them, any amount; that Jew knows a heap." 
 And Catus lighted up and settled himself in his fat 
 chair. 
 
 "Is it out and out magic or a fake ? ' ' urged 
 Regan intensely interested. 
 
 " That depends upon what you mean by magic. 
 Anyone can know magic who acquires certain laws 
 and makes use of them; a little hypnotism, a good 
 bit of human nature, a subtle logic, immense con 
 centration, knowledge of chemistry, a quick eye, 
 a quicker hand, and lo! the magician." 
 
 " Black or white ? " said Regan.
 
 212 EIv RESHID 
 
 " Either; power is power used for good or evil, 
 according to the man." 
 
 " Now you talk sense. I never could believe in 
 these fakirs who get something out of nothing; 
 they're sharpers. See?" 
 
 " Of course," said Catus, " they have their hands 
 down so fine they can pick a man's pocket right 
 before his eyes, and he never knows it. They have 
 a way, too, of looking at you, and absorbing your 
 soul; there's no mistake, they're great men. The 
 fellow who would be an expert must begin before 
 he is born. The way they can concentrate is 
 beyond telling; patience ! patience is no word for 
 it, they're simply sublime; they run an idea to the 
 ground, they suck their subject till it's like a 
 squeezed lemon; they never let up when on the 
 trail, no matter what interferes; they follow scent 
 like a hound. Obstacle! They climb over it as 
 they would a mountain; if it were as high as 
 Everest it would make no difference; they would 
 get on top and come down the other side, or die." 
 
 " Die ! Do they die?" 
 
 " Yes, after a fashion, but not like other folks; 
 they go into a hole, as a frog does, and exist 
 without eating or drinking till they're made over; 
 it is a sort of prolonged fast, accompanied by 
 stagnation and inertia." 
 
 " And is Issachar that kind of a man ? " 
 
 "Shouldn't wonder." 
 
 " Would he kidnap anybody, do you suppose? "
 
 MYSTERY 213 
 
 "He might, if there were money back of it; 
 there's one thing they can't do." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 "Transmute base metal into gold; on the 
 contrary, base ideas are turned to filihy lucre with 
 a wave of the hand." 
 
 Now, in my opinion," said Regan, mysteriously, 
 and drawing closer to Catus, " Issachar has his 
 clutches on Aleppo, and money is back of the 
 whole business." 
 
 " Ah," said Catus, puffing at his cigar. 
 
 "What is your idea," said Regan, edging still 
 nearer. " 
 
 " How do you know there is any money behind 
 Aleppo?" 
 
 " I don't, except that Issachar 's after him, and 
 what on earth but money could animate the legs of 
 that Jew?" "Tisn't revenge, nor enmity, for the 
 boy had never seen the fellow but once, since he 
 was a child. No, 'tis money, sure." 
 
 "What are you going to do about it?" said 
 Catus, indifferently. 
 
 " Move heaven and earth, till I find him. Fight 
 money with money, what else? If everything 
 else fails, I'll stake my egg-beater, that little thing 
 weighs heavy in the market income from it alone 
 would set a Jew crazy: then there are several other 
 unmentionables. Oh, we've got him in the long 
 run, but first I'm going to try for him in another
 
 214 EL RESHID 
 
 way; that fellow's committed a crime, did you 
 know it?" 
 
 " You haven't a scintilla of proof; you're surmis 
 ing that it's Issachar because he happened to call 
 on Aleppo in Venice; the young man was afraid 
 of him, etc. Very likely you're doing a great 
 injustice." 
 
 "May I ask you an out and out question ?" 
 
 "I don't object." 
 
 "Then tell me, please, why you are so utterly 
 indifferent about the disappearance of Aleppo 
 Bracciolini; you, who were such a good friend to 
 him in Italy, and such an excellent correspondent 
 afterwards, you puzzle me." 
 
 " I am a sort of conundrum, everybody thinks so; 
 well, about Aleppo, what's the use, the inevitable 
 is the inevitable. If he's dead, I can't bring him 
 to life; and if he's hid in Cairo, I might as well 
 save my energy as to waste it hunting here, 
 'twould be of no use. If he's spirited out of the 
 country, how on earth can I tell whither. No, Mr. 
 Regan, 'tis the law of cause and effect; I accept 
 the inevitable. 
 
 "To hell with your fatalism!" said Regan, 
 more emphatic than polite. Will is on top of fate 
 and effect and everything, if you did but know it. 
 Why, man, 'tis a cause itself; it always was and 
 always will be; it's first and foremost. How 
 would your protoplasm ever sprawl around in an 
 Ameba if will or desire wasn't back of the whole
 
 MYSTERY 215 
 
 business. You can change an effect as quick as a 
 wink, if you can get will enough that's the way 
 the world is run. Will is sovereign, or there never 
 was a king on the throne; from everlasting to ever 
 lasting you've been willing something, and have 
 got it, too, in the long run. The mills of the gods 
 grind slow, but they grind, I tell you; and that 
 god in you, is your will." 
 
 " But what of fatality," said Catus, not moved 
 an iota by Regan's effort, at the same time yawn 
 ing, as though bored, and lighting a fresh cigar, 
 "what of fatality? " 
 
 ' ' Oriental fatalism knocks me silly. ' As you 
 sow, so shall you reap,' but you're always sowing, 
 and 'tis the will that's the sower, or my name isn't 
 Patrick. In my opinion, this excuse of fatalism is 
 only a blind to cover something. When a man 
 is up to mischief he talks fatalism from morning till 
 night; he's revelling in evil, and excuses himself 
 for wallowing, because of his Nemesis called Fate. 
 No, you're on the wrong track, Mr. Catus. If Fate 
 is after Aleppo Bracciolini, I'll get after Fate, and 
 we'll see see whose legs are the longest. If you 
 must make Fate to blame, my back is broad, I can 
 stand it, far I am that very gentleman Fate, him 
 self." 
 
 " You, Fate ! " 
 
 " Yes, I, or you, or anybody that gets his finger 
 in the pie the Jew, if you'd rather."
 
 216 EL RKSHID 
 
 "You're a slippery one," said Catus; " I halt 
 believe you're a philosopher." 
 
 " Which is another name for Yankee," putting 
 his feet as high as his head and looking longingly 
 at his host's cigar. 
 
 It was no use; he gained nothing from "the 
 riddle," for that gentleman failed to commit him 
 self, and wending his way back to the hotel, he 
 inwardly decided that he had found a match for his 
 own sharp practice in Caesar Catus, of ancient 
 Rome. 
 
 Catus clapped his hands, as soon as Regan had 
 departed, and the Arab materialized with another 
 letter on the South Sea shell. It was stamped with 
 the symbol. He opened it forthwith. These were 
 the contents: 
 
 "Caution! Remember that there are tombs all 
 along the Nile, in the mountain range; also, that 
 about two hundred and fifty miles from Cairo, on 
 the desert, is an oasis; also, Serapeum, the tombs 
 of the sacred bulls; also, that the sands of Libya 
 retain no tracks; also, that something of grave 
 importance has occurred in Paris; also, that upon 
 one man alone must you bring yourself to bear. 
 
 " A bove majori discit arare minor." 
 
 Symbol. 
 
 Catus sat in deep study for an hour, lighting one 
 cigar after another, and throwing them away. 
 When sure that he had deciphered correctly, he
 
 SPINO 217 
 
 clapped his bands, and remarked to the waiting 
 Arab, " Have my traps all packed to-night; Heave 
 Cairo immediately." 
 
 Bowing, the servant vanished, and Catus, going 
 to the pile, placed the latest with the other letters, 
 and sank down among the cushions of his couch 
 and fell asleep. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 SPINO. 
 
 Spino was the strangest old hag that ever wore 
 shoe leather; if she had any shape at all, it was so 
 variable that she was never twice alike. Sometimes 
 she was tall and sometimes short, now bent almost 
 double, again straight as a barber's pole. One 
 shoulder was higher than the other, one day the 
 right and the next day the left. Her legs and arms 
 differed according to the time of the week, and her 
 eyes were the worst match on record. That which 
 grew on her head, which people called hair, was 
 much like the stub of an old clothes brush, uncer 
 tain as to color and changeable as to length. Her 
 skin of the hue of pale molasses, was written all 
 over with a net-work of hieroglyphics which the 
 world called wrinkles, but which the wise read like 
 the pages of an ancient book. She had not a tooth 
 in her head save one which forced her mouth open 
 in spite of herself, betraying a deep and awful
 
 218 EL RESHID 
 
 cavern behind her thin lips, from which came a/ 
 variety of sounds from the profundo of a guttural to 
 the high treble of a screech. Her nose was a bea'k, 
 with nostrils that betrayed blood of race, but 
 whether her pedigree were black or white no one 
 could tell. She was so utterly ugly that she was 
 not ugly at all; grotesque she might be, artistic 
 surely, but hideous, never. Besides she was inter 
 esting like a sixteenth century manuscript or a 
 scroll of black magic, and shrewd and keen and 
 sharp and wise, with no touch of senility anywhere, 
 but quicker, brighter, more apt than the young 
 folks of her time. This was Spino, the constant 
 companion and perpetual foil of Cicily. 
 
 When Sallus arrived, according to appointment, 
 at the house of Issachar he found himself in a 
 strange place; it might have been a continuation of 
 the shop below were it not for the fact that nothing 
 was sold above stairs. The rooms were in irre 
 deemable disorder, but wonderfully enticing in their 
 chaotic splendor. If Issachar had been pitching 
 things right and left at the heads of the occupants 
 they would have assumed about the position that 
 they occupied at the time of Sallus' call. Such 
 beautiful things ! or sins, as the toothless Spino 
 called them. There were stuffs, oriental and 
 occidental, of the rarest bronzes, embroideries and 
 rugs, curtains and hangings, treated with as little 
 reverence as so much old junk and so many rags. 
 The rooms were lighted by stuffy candles stuck into
 
 SPINO 219 
 
 the most elaborate hammered brass sticks, or behind 
 greasy bits of glass of every color, that flashed 
 dimly at the shadows, where the curtains hung here 
 and there without object or purpose, save simply to 
 hang shameless exhibitions of their own embroi 
 dered splendor. 
 
 There was but one homely touch to the place a 
 brass tea-kettle hung over an alcohol lamp and sang 
 madly while it sputtered into the eyes of an intru 
 sive bronze dragon that had the curiosity to inves 
 tigate. 
 
 Spino greeted Sallus with a cork-screw bow 
 which made her ancient skeleton crack from head 
 to toe; then bustled around the tea-kettle like a 
 witch with a caldron. She went on the principle 
 of tea, or die. She looked quite scandalized when 
 Cicily entered, and bowing to Sallus took her old 
 head in her arms and laid her face against it in the 
 most loving fashion, saying, "Granny, this is 
 Sallus." 
 
 Cicily could have done no more coquettish a thing, 
 were she artful or artless, and about which of the 
 two natures that young lady had, Sallus was more 
 puzzled than ever. 
 
 To lay her face against that of Granny was to 
 enhance her beauty a thousand fold her youth, 
 her charm. The force of contrast threw her into 
 a halo of magical splendor, from which Sallus 
 could never disentangle her in the years to come. 
 She was dressed like a tawdry Oriental princess
 
 220 EL, RESHID 
 
 who had had no new clothes for a year. Her gar 
 ments must have cost a pretty sum, but were shabby 
 from over and ill usage; still they gave a touch of 
 pathos to her irresistible beauty which Spino was 
 destined to foil. She was a conscious or unconscious 
 coquette an artful child of sin, or an artless angel. 
 From her surroundings and manner she might have 
 been either; but whichever she were there was no 
 mistake about one thing; she was fascinating 
 fascinating, with that witching glamor of the flesh 
 and the Orient, that made Sallus an easy prey. He 
 stood in awe of Rhea, but Cicily was a warm 
 blooded creature of earth ; a woman of dimpled 
 arms and half-clad bosom, with red cheeks and 
 seductive eyes. 
 
 "Now this tea," said Spino she began her 
 sentence in French, but Sallus interrupted. 
 
 " Can you speak no other tongue than that ? I 
 can make it out, but it's mighty hard." 
 
 "Talk English," said Cicily with a coaxing 
 smile; so Spino finished up in English " this tea 
 is good." 
 
 "You see," said Cicilyin a whisper, "she speaks 
 every known tongue under heaven; she is as wise 
 as Issachar. " 
 
 " Is she his mother? " said Sallus awed. 
 
 "No, she hates him. It is a constant battle 
 between them. " 
 
 1 ' Why does the Jew keep her ? ' ' 
 
 " He likes the opposition, I guess."
 
 SPINO 221 
 
 Spino came wriggling toward them in a rotary 
 motion, and presented the tea which was strong and 
 bitter; on the saucer was a lump of sugar wet with 
 brandy. 
 
 " We drink tea constantly," said Spino, " from 
 morning till night." 
 
 "And always with brandy? " 
 
 " Always with brandy." 
 
 "I can't go that," said Sallus throwing the 
 sugar at a bedraggled dog that was curled up on a 
 Smyrna rug. He was a toper, no doubt, for he 
 nestled up to Sallus forthwith and begged piteously 
 with his eyes for more. " I've given it up; a drop 
 is one too many for me, for it leads on to a second 
 and then a third, till I get where I can't stop." 
 
 Cicily looked amazed. " In that you are like 
 Issachar, who never touches a drop. He's as 
 abstemious as an Arab, but it doesn't hurt me; and 
 she picked up the sugar and placed it between her 
 red lips; those lovely lips that sugar was powerless 
 to sweeten, those luscious lips made for kisses 
 kisses. So thought Sallus and how could he help 
 it. He was young; the brandy he had thrown to 
 the dog, but her lips ! ! ah ! ! 
 
 "Madam," he said, turning to Granny, "is 
 Issachar as base as he seems ? " This question was 
 put to open the subject. 
 
 " He is black," said Spino, shaking her head. 
 
 " Do you know one called Caesar Catus ? " 
 
 " Yes," croaked Granny like a mournful raven.
 
 222 EL RESHID 
 
 " Is he a tool of the Jew; did the Jew send him 
 to Italy to study with one Aleppo Bracciolini, years 
 ago?" 
 
 " You ask too much ; I know not that. Caesar 
 spake twice with me, but with Issachar I know 
 not." 
 
 " And may I inquire what he said to you." 
 
 ' ' It was about the young man whom he called 
 Romanes, who staid in these rooms a few hours." 
 
 " What did he say," said Sallus excitedly. 
 
 " He inquired if he were better; he came twice 
 in the same day to ask." 
 
 "And that was all." 
 
 " That was all." 
 
 " The rascal !" said Sallus, biting his lips to 
 keep from giving vent to a volley of oaths. ' 'Would 
 you take him for a friend of Issachar, or an enemy." 
 
 "That I know not." 
 
 "Curse him; if he were a friend, he would have 
 captured Aleppo by force ; he's in league with 
 Issachar, and Regan and I are in his clutches like 
 mice in the claws of a cat. I expect he has been 
 spying on Aleppo for years; undoubtedly he went 
 to the studio to be near him curse him ! " 
 
 " It would not have been easy to have taken 
 the young man from the Jew by force, even 
 if he were here longer. Issachar has ways and 
 means of hiding one instantly." She wriggled like 
 a polly-wog ; her English was beautiful in its 
 dignity; her manner supremely grotesque.
 
 SPINO 223 
 
 ' ' What was the matter with Aleppo; can you 
 tell?" 
 
 " He seemed to be very sick. I think it was one 
 of Issachar's drugs; he was hardly conscious when 
 brought here, and though he roused a little was 
 taken away in about the same state. 
 
 "Is the drug dangerous," said Sallus nervously. 
 
 " No, I imagine not, except that it prostrates one 
 for a time." 
 
 1 ' Where do you suppose Issachar has taken 
 him? " 
 
 "Of that I haven't the slightest idea," said Spino, 
 pouring out more tea and swallowing it with a great 
 noise. 
 
 Here Cicily came closer to Sallus and looked 
 appealingly in his eyes; "Your whole thought is 
 for the young man; what of me? " 
 
 He blushed; he was proving a great cavalier 
 indeed. 
 
 " Really, Miss Cicily, I shall do as I said; I must 
 find Aleppo and steal you; there is no other way.' 
 
 " When you have found him, it will be too late to 
 steal me; Issachar will put me out of sight. Spino 
 and I must get off somehow, but we have no 
 money." 
 
 " That's easy enough to remedy; but wait " an 
 awful thought had shocked him " you will have to 
 be patient till Aleppo is found; there is no alterna 
 tive. Should we spirit you and Spiuo away, the 
 Jew will take revenge on Aleppo."
 
 224 EL RESHID 
 
 "Then his life is more important than mine," 
 she said this in a piqued tone. 
 
 " His life is everything ! " said Sallus, rising and 
 walking the room, "but don't you worry, Miss 
 Cicily; I have a powerful backing and plenty of 
 money. I can buy you from Issachar. You say 
 you're of little value to him since your relatives 
 have thrown off on you; he will be glad to get a 
 customer. Stay here quietly with Spino and act as 
 though you had never heard of me. Keep on the 
 watch though, and send your old nurse out with 
 letters to my room when there is news; it is the 
 only plan. Trust me, sweet girl, will you? " 
 
 A rosy blush spread over her neck and face ; but 
 pouting she said, " It seems strange to be bought." 
 
 " 'Tis, rather, but never mind Miss Cicily; I'll 
 tell Regan all about it, and he'll back you too." 
 
 "Who is Regan? " 
 
 " My best friend since Aleppo vanished a phil 
 osopher and a Yankee. You can trust him too." 
 
 The girl seemed mystified, but said nothing. 
 Sallus discovered a tear dropping from her long 
 lashes, and his heart smote him. Yet, it might be 
 all a part of the trap, a fictitious sorrow conjured 
 with a purpose. He was becoming suspicious of 
 Catus, of Spino, of Cicily. Were they all a band 
 worked by the Jew ? Yet, she was pretty, this 
 Cicily, and so pathetic. He must leave instantly ; 
 he was afraid of himself. If he failed now, or lost 
 his bearings, or varied from his fixed purpose, what
 
 SPINO 225 
 
 would Aleppo say, to whom he had vowed to be 
 loyal unto death ; so he put on a stern look and 
 faced Spino. 
 
 " Do you not think it rather strange that Isaachar 
 should have brought Aleppo here ? How did he 
 know but that you might betray him ? ' ' 
 
 " Do you think we are fools ? " she answered ; 
 " Issachar considers our gabble as harmless as rain 
 drops. No one believes us, understand ? ' ' 
 
 "Ah!" Sallus backed toward the door. "I 
 shall be in the room across the street ; send me 
 word if you have news any news." He reached 
 his hand to the old lady, then to the young, and 
 bowing, drew back the curtain and began to 
 descend the stairs. A cold sweat broke out over 
 him ; he knew not why. The passage way to the 
 region below was narrow and dark. He glanced 
 nervously right and left and then behind him. 
 
 Ah ! a claw-like hand was drawing back the 
 portiere through which he had just passed, and 
 Issachar, noiseless as a cat, stepped from the dark 
 passage near the stair-way into the lighted room he 
 had just left. 
 
 The young man shivered from head to foot ; then 
 bracing himself, for he was no coward, began to 
 think. Should he face the Jew then and there, or 
 was it a part of wisdom to slip out, leaving Issachar 
 misled. Sallus condensed an hour's cogitations 
 into a minute. "The Jew," he thought, ''imagines 
 he has played the spy without being caught. He
 
 226 EL RESHID 
 
 heard all that I had said ; nevertheless I am fore 
 armed because forewarned." And during this 
 minute of condensed thinking Sallus' eye was 
 fixed intently on the arras at the head of the stairs- 
 " Should I open Issachar's eyes to my knowledge 
 of his presence here, it would be the worse for 
 Aleppo; yes, I must go." He swallowed his 
 wrath, which was rising with his hot blood, and 
 deliberately finished his descent ; passing out into 
 the street, the most mystified man in Cairo. He 
 had gone but a few steps when he met Regan 
 sauntering before the shops. He had finished his 
 visit to Catus ; had been to his hotel and returned 
 to watch for Sallus. The two started homeward 
 arm in arm. 
 
 "Well, "said Regan. 
 
 "Whew ! ! " 
 
 "What's up?" 
 
 " The devil's to pay." 
 
 Sallus recounted everything to Regan, who whis 
 tled between sentences one melancholy minor note 
 that filled into Sallus' impassioned speech like 
 a musical accompaniment to a stage tragedienne. 
 
 When he had finished, Regan remarked dryty, 
 "A trap after all." 
 
 "As far as Issachar goes, yes ; but the girl I 
 can't fathom." 
 
 " Nor I ; but say, how much of this business 
 does Rhea know ? " 
 
 " She understands a little about Issachar," said
 
 SPINO 227 
 
 Sallus, " and thinks we have a clew ; she's braced 
 by hope. In ray opinion, though I've never spoken 
 of it before, there's something between Aleppo and 
 Rhea." 
 
 " Shake on that," said Regan, squeezing his com 
 panion's arm, " she never says anything, but no 
 girl on earth would wait 'round for a young man 
 unless there was something like that. She has the 
 tour of the planet before her, and her aunt is rag 
 ing. She has a cause for staying, or I'm off my 
 base." 
 
 Sallus was silent. 
 
 They were nearing the hotel when the men both 
 turned suddenly, conscious that some one was fol 
 lowing them. Getting over the ground very 
 rapidly was a peculiar figure wrapped from head to 
 foot in a black shawl. Sallus recognized the gait 
 and bearing of Spino, and said directly, 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 She came very near, displaying her grotesque 
 face to the astonished Regan. 
 
 "The Jew is back," she hissed; the words 
 piercing the men's ears like needles ; then without 
 waiting for comment she vanished down a side 
 street, leaving Regan and Sallus rooted to the 
 ground. 
 
 " Good God !" said Regan, "what was that ?" 
 
 " A woman." 
 
 ' ' Heaven save us ! " 
 
 " It is Spino."
 
 228 EL RESHID 
 
 "I've seen women and women," said Regan, 
 " but she takes the cake. Has she ever been 
 married ? " 
 
 "Probably." 
 
 " He had lots of nerve, * said Regan. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 THE LIBYAN SANDS. 
 
 A skin tent was pitched about a hundred miles 
 west from Cairo, on the trackless waste. The 
 Khemseen had been blowing all day, but, as the 
 sun set, a hush fell on the desert, and the tent was 
 thrown open to the fresh air. 
 
 A young man, on a pallet of straw, looked out 
 on the broad expanse, stretching, stretching end 
 lessly, even to the blue depths, where the stars 
 floated. He watched the celestial splendor with 
 patient eyes, whence longing had departed, and 
 where only a resigned self-reliance remained. They 
 were dark, beautiful eyes, somewhat sunken 
 beneath a forehead, whose pallor betrayed both 
 weakness and pain. His face was white as the 
 driven snow; even the hot wind of the desert had 
 failed to paint it; its thinness being more apparent 
 from the heavy masses of black hair, which had 
 been brushed back carelessly from his brow. He 
 was too weak to get upon his feet, but, raising him-
 
 THE LIBYAN SANDS 229 
 
 self upon his elbow, he leaned out of the tent and 
 watched a slim Arab, as he moved back and forth 
 in the shadow, preparing sticks for a fire. 
 
 From another goat-skin habitation, near by, 
 there emerged a remarkable individual, a Bedouin, 
 a monarch, a desert king. He gave directions to 
 the Arab in a commanding voice, and then 
 approached, with dignified strides, to the young 
 man's tent. 
 
 " Aleppo Romanes, I have come to instruct thee 
 yet again." 
 
 " As you please," said Aleppo, wearily. 
 
 " The map of heaven I read like a book," his 
 voice rose and fell in a sing-song monotony "from 
 the stars I gain strange revelations, warnings, 
 omens. See'stthou that fiery sun that banishes all 
 others from the sky, and cuts the blue with its 
 million keen blades of light, as though it were 
 armed against the entire heaven; it sends its rays 
 even into thine eyes, and reflects thyself to thyself. 
 It is Sirius the star of thy nativity, the self-illumi 
 nating, the mystic, the all-absorbing; it is typical 
 of thee. In the forming of self thou shalt melt to 
 a white glow, and burn with the fire that never 
 goes out. Thy handmaid is Vesta; she serves 
 thee well. 
 
 " What mean you by this talk," said Aleppo, 
 mournfully. " It seems to be a vague monologue, 
 that carries no weight." 
 
 "I mean," said the Bedouin, "that thy fate is
 
 230 EL RESHID 
 
 written on thy hand, and in thine eye; thou art 
 destined by the centuries behind thee, to the 
 majesty of isolation; thou art constrained to be great, 
 for the march of events has lifted thee above low 
 passion, into power." 
 
 " Indeed, I am very weak, said Aleppo, brushing 
 a tear from his eye, yet looking on the star-lit face 
 of the Bedouin with fascinated gaze. 
 
 " Thy body is prostrate; thy soul is in the cruci 
 ble; but the day cometh when thou shalt wax 
 strong." 
 
 " You have befriended me," said Aleppo, " with 
 out you I should have died. Can you not tell me 
 the purpose of Issachar, and the meaning of this 
 delay ? " 
 
 "The purpose of Issachar is naught to me nor 
 thee. The Jew is great, but signs are greater. Thy 
 fate is written in the stars; not even Issachar can 
 stay Aldebaran in its course, nor stop the march of 
 Hercules." 
 
 "Astrology is blank to me," said Aleppo, sigh 
 ing; "nor do I believe, either, in the scroll of 
 heaven, or this thin palm of mine hand; in you, 
 however, I have faith. You are more subtle than 
 your creed, and would know me, were no mark 
 upon my body, nor star in the sky. And you speak 
 truly; the past has forced me to the desert, where, 
 alone, I shall see heaven; no golden mean remains 
 for me; the extremes, alone, are mine either to 
 blanch, a skeleton, upon this trackless waste, or
 
 THK LIBYAN SANDS 231 
 
 rest mine eyes in ecstacy upon the star of stars. 
 A 5-6, Sirius, to thee I look; a burning splendor, 
 majestic and alone," 
 
 " He, only, who can endure isolation, is worthy 
 of the crowd." 
 
 "You speak well," said Aleppo; "man must 
 know the desert, if he would be worthy of life. 
 There was one in Judea who spent forty days in 
 the wilderness; I feel myself banished for a life 
 time. You are wise, my faithful friend, but will 
 you not rid j^ourself of the rubbish of superstition, 
 which sticks to you like rags to the beggar." 
 
 "Already thou hast begun to teach, said the 
 Bedouin, a peculiar expression lighting his face. 
 
 "It strikes me," replied Aleppo," that pure 
 wisdom needs no veil. Truth should be clear-cut, 
 like a cameo. Why blur it with astrology, 
 alchemy, delusion ? Is not science good enough, 
 and fact ? ' ' 
 
 The Bedouin cast on Aleppo a strange look, and 
 said calmly, 
 
 " Canst thou read a riddle ? " 
 
 "I might," said Aleppo, " if I puzzled long 
 enough; but why the riddle? Are not the eternal 
 principles inscrutable without making mysteries out 
 of self-asserting truth, which refuses to be hid ? " 
 Nay, my friend, get rid of your rubbish, and polish 
 your gem; it will be bright enough if you will but 
 let the sun bring out its glitter." 
 
 " Canst thou read a riddle ? " repeated the Bed-
 
 232 EL RESHID 
 
 ouin, who still maintained the same peculiar 
 expression of face. 
 
 Aleppo looked at him with surprise. 
 
 " What mean you ? " 
 
 " Consider well; to-morrow evening I shall speak 
 to thee again." He walked into the haze of night, 
 leaving Aleppo tired, but astonished. 
 
 He was getting better, and would lie for hours 
 recalling as much as he found possible of the events 
 which had followed each other in his life since he 
 had met Issachar at Karnak. 
 
 He remembered well, following the Jew to the 
 Arab hut, where he had been shown the papers 
 that proved his identity, beyond a doubt. He 
 recalled the sensation of faintness that had over 
 come him, and the glass of water which Issachar 
 had placed to his lips; then nothing for days. 
 Later, he had opened his eyes to watch the moon on 
 the Nile and feel a phantom Rhea, kissing his lips. 
 He recalled how his consciousness had come and 
 gone. Once he had looked about a strange room, 
 and had seen Issachar preparing a -draught; also a 
 witch-like woman and a beautiful girl. 
 
 He had been on the desert for weeks, though at 
 first he had realized but little of it, conscious only 
 that they had changed their location again and 
 again, and that once he had waked up to gaze at 
 the walls of a tomb, where Issachar and the Bedouin 
 were sitting side by side, on the ground, deeply 
 engaged in earnest talk. For a long time, now, how-
 
 THE LIBYAN SANDS 233 
 
 ever, he had been of strong and lucid mind, though 
 his body still failed to do his bidding. For the past 
 week they had remained in one place; Issachar 
 being absent, and the Bedouin on guard. 
 
 Aleppo, in his mental wanderings backward, had 
 come to the conclusion that since he had been at 
 Karnak, something had been given him continu 
 ously, to keep him in this helpless state. He could 
 neither surmise the reason of this, nor prove the 
 fact; nevertheless, he felt certain that his judgment 
 about the matter was correct. 
 
 Strangely, he neither regretted his past, nor the 
 fate that was overtaking him, but felt dimly, yet 
 surely, that he was destined, by the very nature of 
 events, to realize something better than he had 
 ever yet known. Nor did he feel that Rhea was 
 lost, save to the eye and the touch. He was so 
 conscious of this and the vague ecstacy of spirit 
 ual contact, that his deprivation in the physical 
 seemed as nothing. He was as one who sensed 
 Paradise and realized the golden age. Never more 
 would the old delights overwhelm him, nor gross 
 pleasures subdue. He had had a drop of the elixir 
 on his tongue and the taste remained with him. All 
 else was now judged by comparison; the divine 
 charm throwing the lesser into the shadow. He 
 felt his celestial destiny; not for the reason of his 
 environment, nor through the persuasion of others, 
 but because of his consciousness of self. When he 
 passed under the Propylon, he was flooded with
 
 234 EL RESHID 
 
 light his former years were to him as nothing; his 
 future a dream; only to-day was of value, with its 
 majesty of desert stretches and its arch of blue; 
 only the stars, and his illuminated soul, which felt 
 causation and futurity as one and the same; and the 
 present hour as a throb of rapture. He had come 
 from the narrow by-path of specialization, to the 
 broad expanse of a full view, where his eyes swept the 
 meandering roads of his past with a clear glance, 
 and focussed all that was behind him on an isolated 
 
 * 
 
 spot on the sands of Libya, where his body lay 
 prostrate in a tent of skins. He had lost his life to 
 find it. His friends, phantoms, whose voices were 
 dying echoes; his passionate love, a far-off throb of 
 bounding blood; his ambitions all in the past, long- 
 gone ; and he, with mind attuned to celestial music, 
 with eye fixed on Sirius his natal star saw, 
 clearly, the meaning of himself. Something in 
 him had awakened, which clarified his intellect and 
 purified his emotions. A comprehensiveness of the 
 purpose of his life, a quick and subtle logic, an 
 ecstacy of sensation, that in other days he had but 
 dimly known. There was nothing in this new 
 splendor of himself which savored of sickly senti 
 ment, or the froth of feeling; on the contrary, he 
 had begun to be conscious of the masterly poise, 
 which is struck through the realization of the subtle 
 limit of the power of head and heart. 
 
 He thought of other men, young men, who, like 
 himself, loved. He saw them wedded and settled
 
 THE LIBYAN SANDS 235 
 
 in life, and, as the years went by, falling into the 
 wearying drudgery of the commonplace. He felt 
 the fate of the mortal and shuddered. Doomed to 
 sully his ideal, man crushes the wings of the but 
 terfly and cripples the soaring bird. But he, out 
 side of conventionality by the fatality of his birth, 
 beheld the short road to immortality, clear-cut and 
 direct. 
 
 Some discover the breadth and power of being 
 by slow degrees; lighting a million little tapers, 
 one after another, they pick their way out of the 
 darkness into the glare of noon. Others take but 
 a step, and lo! the dungeon is behind them, and 
 the sun overhead. 
 
 Aleppo had no plans, nor much philosophy. 
 Some things, however, were clearly revealed. He 
 must elude the clutch of Issachar; turn his back 
 on his parents and his past, hold a last, sweet inter 
 view with Rhea, then seek the rose gardens of 
 Damascus to sit at the feet of one whose name 
 was a mystery and whose face was veiled. To 
 accomplish this, he must recover his strength, and 
 seize upon an opportunity when Issachar was 
 absent to make his escape. The prospect was cer 
 tainly gloomy. He had no idea on what part of 
 the desert he was hid; but surmised that they 
 were either near Cairo, or an oasis, for several 
 times fresh Arabs had arrived and deposited water 
 skins, while the old ones had departed. The 
 Bedouin would make no communication about their
 
 236 EL RESHID 
 
 situation and prospects, and he was left, in this 
 respect to his own cogitations and plans. 
 
 The next evening after his talk with the nomad, 
 that strange individual appeared in his tent again, 
 finding Aleppo much stronger, and sitting cross- 
 legged on his bed of straw, like a Turk. 
 
 " The sickle of the moon has appeared in the 
 heaven," said the Bedouin; "and when it hath 
 grown to a full orb, thou wilt be well." 
 
 ''Most gladly will I get about once more," 
 answered Aleppo, with his old beaming smile. 
 ' ' But will you not tell me the plans of Issachar ? 
 I have continued to beseech you, but in vain." 
 
 " Issachar 's plans are naught to me or thee, as 
 before thou hast been informed." 
 
 "You seem to be my friend in spite of appear 
 ances; I trust you, although you are acting in har 
 mony with the Jew, and depriving me of the right of 
 liberty, if not of health; still, I feel your friend 
 ship and wisdom, and doubt not but that you, 
 yourself are deceived as to Issachar 's real motive, 
 and are doing his bidding with a clear conscience." 
 
 The strange, half -veiled smile that had been on 
 the Bedouin's face before, appeared again; he 
 looked searchingly at Aleppo, placed his hand to 
 his breast, then dropped it, speaking sharply at the 
 same time, as if impelled by a power beyond him 
 self. 
 
 " And what wouldst thou do with thy liberty if 
 it were thine ? ' '
 
 THE LIBYAN SANDS 237 
 
 With these words he gazed, with a keen, intense 
 expression, into Aleppo's eyes. The young man 
 felt the challenge, and tossing back his hair in the 
 old fashion, said, promptly, as though no other 
 answer were possible, 
 
 " I would seek the feet of the Master, and lean 
 on him, that I, too, may become great." 
 
 "Thou hast friends, ambitions, love," said the 
 Bedouin, " what wouldst thou do with these ? " 
 
 " I would make myself worthy of them; till then, 
 my friends and I must part. He only is fit to have, 
 who can do without. He only is able to rule who 
 has first served. He only is worthy of love who 
 can abide alone." 
 
 " Aleppo Romanes, thou has stood the test; take 
 this." He drew from the folds of his robe a sealed 
 letter, and placing it in the young man's hand 
 turned and left the tent. 
 
 The light was dim, but the keen eyes of Aleppo 
 caught the familiar symbols and tearing it open, he 
 ravished the self-illuminated scroll with his very 
 soul. 
 
 THE LETTER : 
 
 " The mortal passes from the womb to the grave, 
 reversing all things. He acquires learning with 
 out wisdom, and love without service. He repro 
 duces without regeneration, and dies ere he has 
 lived. 
 
 ' ' The immortal wrenches victory from the grip of 
 defeat, and life from the clutch of death; he makes
 
 238 EL RESHID 
 
 the desert to blossom as a garden, and hell to glow 
 with the light of heaven. He turns despair to 
 ecstacy, and frenzy into rapture. He extracts 
 honey from bitter herbs and the dregs of the cup 
 are sweet upon his tongue. Losing love in the 
 flesh, he gains it in the spirit, and escapes the vul 
 ture and the worm. 
 
 "Arise! Thou art chosen! To-day thou dost 
 look up; in time thou shalt look down." 
 
 Aleppo struggled to his feet and stood in the 
 door of his tent. The heaven was blazing with 
 star-light and a thousand eyes beamed on him from 
 the arch overhead. He breathed deeply the soft, 
 warm air of Libya and felt his blood rush through 
 his veins. 
 
 To whence had vanished the half timid boy ? 
 The eyes of Aleppo had suddenly acquired the 
 quick glance of the Master, who mocks at fate, 
 and defies destiny. 
 
 A half-fledged bird had stood on the edge of the 
 nest; challenged by hunger and mocked by death; 
 but spreading his wing lo! space universal, height, 
 motion, freedom, life. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 WHEREFORE ? 
 
 Caesar Catus was a man of affairs. He left Cairo 
 promptly on the morning after his interview with 
 Regan, and appeared again at a railway station in
 
 WHEREFORE 239 
 
 Genoa, where, cigar in mouth, he walked up and 
 down the platform awaiting the arrival of an in 
 coming train. It was near dusk and the depot was 
 already lighted. Catus consulted his watch a 
 number of times, but without any appearance of 
 restlessness, and stopped to reward two or three 
 vagrants for doing nothing, carrying himself 
 altogether like a man of the world, even to having 
 a word or two with a dissolute woman who flaunted 
 her shame in the eyes of the railroad officials with 
 unblushing audacity. What he said to her was not 
 heard on the outside, but it was noticed that she 
 departed from the station straightway with a smile 
 on her lips. A street boy caught the glitter of gold 
 coin in her hand, as she went out, and yelled loudly, 
 " Struck it rich, didn't you." Later, that same imp 
 of the pavement sauntered up to Catus and began a 
 pitiful tale; he struck it rich also, for that gentle 
 man collared him on the spot and gave him such a 
 scathing look that he did not get over it for many 
 a day. Catus accomplished a good deal in the few 
 minutes of waiting; he made a number of notes; 
 read and answered a letter; sent a telegram and 
 drank a cup of coffee; all without any fuss and with 
 great dispatch. He was dressed in a strictly correct 
 English costume, and looked quite a different figure 
 from the one that lounged in the oriental den in 
 Cairo. The epicure was metamorphosed into the 
 man of action, who carried his load of responsi-
 
 240 EL RESHID 
 
 bility with great ease, as though used to the wear 
 and tear. 
 
 The engine of the incoming train came snorting 
 to the station like a roaring bull in harness, and 
 wheezed and puffed as it slowed up as though it 
 were the victim of an incurable asthma. Catus 
 placed himself instantly at the door of a particular 
 car and watched the passengers as they alighted. 
 The last individual that came forth arrested his 
 attention at once, and following him to where the 
 light struck full in his face he intercepted his further 
 progress and placed his hand to his head and heart. 
 The eyes of the two met for an instant and the 
 salute of Catus was returned. 
 
 The traveller stooped somewhat, and looked care 
 worn and anxious ; his thick black hair was 
 sprinkled with white and a stubble of gray beard 
 covered the lower part of his face. His counte 
 nance, which was that of a very handsome man, 
 seemed prematurely aged; the only sign of youth 
 still retained being a lock of dark hair, untouched 
 by the ash of time, that fell on a lofty brow, in 
 Napoleonic fashion, and which his soft hat, set 
 back on his head, brought into full view. His eyes, 
 restless as though impatient of life itself, had in 
 them a composite expression of bereavement and 
 anxiety, as though they were ever weeping for some 
 thing vanished, and searching for something to 
 come. The two men began a conversation in 
 oriental dialect.
 
 WHEREFORE 241 
 
 " I recognized you at once," said Catus. 
 
 " How," asked the other wearily. 
 
 "By that lock of hair on your forehead; it is 
 famous." 
 
 The stranger tossed it back with a shake of his 
 head " In another life it will be blasted," smil 
 ing grimly " it has been both my pride and my 
 worry; but speak what news? " 
 
 " All is well," said Catus, touching his head and 
 heart again. 
 
 " And Issachar ? " 
 
 " A match for the Bedouin." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 " The combatants are unequal," went on Catus; 
 " we shall have to reinforce." 
 
 " And I in the meantime? " 
 
 " Be patient," said Catus; patience is a virtue 
 that you have need of; acquire it now." 
 
 The stranger took a letter from his pocket and 
 handed it to Catus who, without glancing at the 
 superscription, placed it inside his note-book. 
 
 " It shall be delivered." 
 
 " Now Mr. Catus," he said, "though I have 
 never met you before, I place myself entirely in 
 your hands; do with me as you will." 
 
 At this Catus glanced begind him, and an indi 
 vidual loomed up from the shadow, who announced 
 that a carriage was waiting. Catus took the arm 
 of the stranger, and the two emerged from the
 
 242 EL RESHID 
 
 station, to vanish into the black recesses of the 
 vehicle at the door. 
 
 Two or three hours later Caesar Catus, prowling 
 around some of the low haunts of Genoa, found 
 himself in front of a disreputable house that boldly 
 announced itself to those who understood its vile 
 vocation in the scheme of the universe. Scanning 
 the number, aided by a squint between the eyes, 
 he made himself manifest in a peculiar way and the 
 door flew open as though swung on fairy hinges. 
 His companion of the railway station, dressed with 
 reckless daring as to arms and neck, greeted him 
 effusively, and ushered him into a tawdry, flashy 
 apartment that spoke of the hand to mouth style in 
 vogue among people of her class. 
 
 Catus seemed perfectly at home as though used 
 to such places and women. " I announced to you 
 at the station that I should call later, and I gave 
 you some money, do you remember ? " 
 
 ' ' Yes, ' ' she said laughing, do you suppose money 
 slips out of my mind as quickly as it does from my 
 pocket? I'm sure you're a pretty gentleman, 
 Mr. Jackson." 
 
 ''Wait a minute," said the improvised Mr. 
 Jackson, looking fixedly at the woman who was not 
 half bad; " I must tell you a little of myself; I 
 want you to understand me." 
 
 " Oh, do you ? that's a new departure," said she 
 archly. 
 
 ' ' I'm accustomed to visiting places like this when
 
 WHEREFORE 243 
 
 I pass through a city, and on my return going over 
 the same ground again. " 
 
 "Well" something like a blush stole up and 
 edged the rouge on her face. 
 
 " I correspond with a hundred women like you." 
 
 She was slightly piqued ; it was an unusual 
 sensation for a woman of her kind, and she 
 wondered what was the matter with her; she was 
 amazed too, at such an eccentric visitor; she had 
 never met a man like this before, and simply had 
 nothing to say, but sat looking at him. 
 
 "Yes," went on Catus; "now and then I see a 
 face that I think is worth cultivating. You had 
 gone pretty far though to prowl around a railway 
 station; you are too young and good looking for 
 that." 
 
 In spite of herself a couple of tears fell from her 
 eyes and left their tracks in the rouge on her cheeks; 
 she had not wept for a year ! what did it mean? 
 
 " I should like very much to correspond with 
 you," said Catus. 
 
 "Me !" 
 
 " Why yes, you I write very good letters." 
 
 She lifted her startled eyes and looked him over; 
 was he crazy, or was she? 
 
 " I am going to leave you some money, and I 
 shall be back to see how you use it, later. In the 
 meantime write to me." 
 
 A new idea struck her and she asked timidly, 
 "Are you a priest? "
 
 244 EL RKSHID 
 
 " No," he replied, " nor a philanthropist, nor a 
 religious specialist. I am interested though, in 
 about a hundred women, whom I feel sorry for. It 
 seems to me they are literally driven to be bad by 
 us men. Our physicians instruct us that we need 
 you; our city government winks at this unevenly 
 distributed Yoshiwara where you and your kind 
 abide. Virtuous women have a sword continuously 
 suspended over their heads, which means nothing 
 other than a threat from their pastors and husbands, 
 that unless they walk the path laid out for them, 
 they will force their abused helpmates into your 
 very arms. Society demands you, and poor scape 
 goat that you are, more sinned against than sinning, 
 it curses you, and dumps you without coffin into a 
 pauper's grave, when your three year's work is 
 done. 
 
 The woman stood up; the tears were streaming 
 down her face, ' ' I haven't cried for a year my 
 God !" she burst into a frenzy of sobbing, and 
 tore her hair and clenched her hands like one gone 
 mad. 
 
 " There .".said Catus, "I am glad to see this; 
 you have a big heart more's the pity; the bigger 
 the heart the oftener the people trample on it; that 
 is the way with us men; we dry your last tears, we 
 squeeze the last blood from your veins, then we 
 kick you out. The more beauty you have, the 
 more pleasure it gives us to blast it. We never 
 dream of coaxing the bud of your charm into a
 
 WHEREFORE 245 
 
 flower; we tear open the petals before it has bloom 
 ed and throw it away with a curse." 
 
 "But you," she said, looking at him in a be 
 wildered way, through her dishevelled hair that 
 had fallen over her face. 
 
 "I, well, I am sorry," before he could prevent it 
 she threw herself at his feet, and on her knees as 
 though she were praying, with clasped hands, and 
 sobs she poured out her woe. 
 
 " Go away from here " she said, " go ! It is use 
 less; even God cannot help us. The priest came 
 and I drove him off; we are bad entirely. The 
 men are no worse, you mistake; we I am bad." 
 
 "Yes, I know it, ".said Catus, "You are very 
 bad, about as evil as you can be; and that means 
 that you can be very good." 
 
 "What I ? O, I should hate to be good. " 
 
 "I don't blame you," he answered; " I should 
 too, if good meant to me what it does to you." 
 
 " I have a horror of heaven," she went on, "and 
 angels, and virtuous women, and churches, nor do 
 I want a respectable funeral, nor a tomb;" and 
 while she said it the tears flew in gushes and washed 
 away the powder and rouge. 
 
 " Nor do I," said Catus, "we are out and out 
 Bohemians both of us; but you see, my dear woman, 
 your idea of what good is and mine, are different; 
 to be good is to be happy; are you happy ? " 
 
 " Happy, I don't know exactly what you mean." 
 
 " No, I presume you do not. To be happy is to
 
 2i6 EL RESHID 
 
 get the very best there is out of life; in my opinion 
 you are getting the worst." 
 
 She seemed dazed, but looked at him with that 
 wistful expression, which comes from a half-clouded 
 intellect. He was a fact however, this man who 
 sat before her, and he had expressed in her behalf 
 and those of her class a certain kind of sympathy 
 which she had missed in the priest and a few Bible- 
 women who called to level scripture texts at her. 
 She cared nothing for goodness, nor gentility, nor 
 religion, but she did admire him in that respectful 
 way that made her ashamed of her room and herself. 
 
 " Now," said Catus, " I'm not going to stay any 
 longer; promise me that you will go to bed and try 
 to sleep all night. I don't leave money with some 
 women, not a penny, but with you it is safe. I have 
 made no mistake about you I am sure. In a month 
 I shall pass through Genoa again and shall call to 
 see you; but you must not be here, understand. Get 
 a respectable room and modest clothes; keep off the 
 street and rest and grow strong, for you are sick, 
 did you know it ? Write me a long letter once a 
 week; here are the envelopes." He handed her 
 four of them stamped and addressed. "I shall 
 answer them all. Tell me where you are living, 
 and everything. Now Nita, don't be afraid; here 
 is more money than you can possibly earn good 
 bye." 
 
 He held out his hand to her; she took both and 
 kissed them passionately, while the tears fell in
 
 WHEREFORE 247 
 
 showers, and he let the precious drops dry on them 
 as though they brought comfort and strength. 
 
 When he had gone she threw the gold pieces up 
 and down and listened to them jingle, then stowing 
 them away very carefully, she fastened her door and 
 windows, and drew the shades so as to give the 
 room on the outside an appearance of darkness; 
 after that she sat down before the dressing table and 
 examined herself in the mirror with the eye of a 
 connoiseur. 
 
 " Three years," she said out loud, " and I have 
 gone through about half of it; only eighteen 
 months and then I'm done. It takes more rouge 
 and powder every day to make me up. I'm getting 
 thinner too, and she examined the visible bones of 
 her chest. And he says it's all the men's fault, but 
 I -Jknow it isn't. Nobody tempted me, that I 
 remember; I just deliberately came here. I don't 
 like being good or virtuous, now that's the plain 
 truth; yet three years is an awful short time. He 
 said that I'm not happy " here the tears fell again 
 " that's one word of truth he spoke anyhow; but 
 I wasn't happy before, never was happy I don't 
 believe he is either. I could be happy though " 
 she took out the pins and let the luxuriant hair fall 
 over her thin shoulders " if he'd come once in a 
 while and talk like that. I can't work for my living, 
 and I don't want to, but I'd work for him. I 
 wouldn't mind blacking his shoes even, but for any 
 body else I wouldn't lift a finger not I. He wants
 
 248 EL RESHID 
 
 me to go away from here; I wouldn't do it for any 
 other person, not a soul on earth. I like it here, 
 and moving is a nuisance, but I expect I'll have to, 
 yes, and he told me to go to bed and sleep. It 
 seems queer to be minding anybody; I never did 
 that before, even when I was a child I wonder if 
 this is being good." 
 
 She washed her face and threw her rouge and 
 powder boxes all into a heap in the corner, and 
 turning up the light to get a full view, she began 
 making up faces at her regenerated image in the 
 glass; "the uglier the better," she said, and she 
 squinted and scowled, and contorted her once fair 
 visage into innumerable grotesque and ugly shapes. 
 
 " Now Nita you are good," she said; " you'll not 
 paint nor powder, nor sell yourself for a month; 
 you'll grow fat maybe, and pretty again, if you 
 sleep nights and keep off the streets if it wasn't 
 for him it would be stupider than dying, but I guess 
 I can manage it. I'll not tell another woman in the 
 house a thing about this affair either, and she tossed 
 her head as though already she had attained a 
 height they knew nothing of and never could. 
 
 The next day she managed to vanish from her 
 old haunts as though she had been annihilated ; not 
 a vestige of her remained; we take that back; there 
 was one the girl upstairs found a gold piece under 
 her door which somehow she attributed to Nita 
 though why, she never knew.
 
 THE MISSION OF ISSACHAR 249 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 THE MISSION OF ISSACHAR. 
 
 . Sallus continued to reside in the house opposite 
 the dwelling place of Issachar, but that individual 
 had again disappeared; nor did he see anything for 
 several days of Spino or Cicily. 
 
 Regan spent a good deal of time with him, and 
 they planned, and threatened, and waited, but 
 nothing came of it, They dreaded to bring direct 
 legal action against Issachar, for fear that he would 
 take revenge on Aleppo; so they worked under 
 cover, in vain hope that they might, in some way, 
 outwit him, and save their young friend from per 
 sonal harm. 
 
 One day Sallus and Regan were conversing 
 together, whtn the door was softly opened and 
 Spino ambled in. 
 
 " Pull down the curtain," she said, " so nobody 
 can see me from the outside; I'd be uneasy if I 
 were discovered." She was uglier than ever, and 
 more interesting. 
 
 " What is it have you any news? " said Sallus, 
 after introducing her to Regan. 
 
 " Nothing special; only I wanted to talk. Issa-
 
 250 EL, RESHID 
 
 char has been gone a week, and I said to Cicily, 
 ' now is his chance.' " 
 
 " No you don't," muttered Sallus to himself; "we 
 want to get our bearings first. " 
 
 "By the way," said Regan, "may I ask you 
 some questions about Issachar ? " 
 
 " You may," she answered, solemnly. 
 
 " In the first place, what is his profession, any 
 how?" 
 
 "Stealing." 
 
 1 ' But you know as well as I do that he's no ordi 
 nary thief ; how do you think he manages it ? " 
 
 " As far as I can make out, it is this way," she 
 answered; "somebody vanishes from somewhere, 
 Issachar, perhaps, is a thousand miles off, but he 
 knows all about it; has his emissaries at work in 
 every part of the earth; later he cultivates the 
 bereaved relatives, and poses as a magician, who 
 discovers lost treasures and victims that disappear, 
 agreeing, through his supernatural powers, and for 
 a price, to restore the lost." 
 
 "And so he is responsible for the very disap 
 pearance itself ," said Regan. 
 
 " Always, though in nine cases out of ten he 
 never sees the victim. Issachar is at the head of a 
 band; my husband," Regan winked at Sallus 
 " was one of them ; they have a mysterious sym 
 bol, which is called the devil's mark; and make 
 themselves known to each other in any part of the
 
 THE MISSION OF 1SSACHAR 251 
 
 earth. Issachar stole Cicily's mother, and he has 
 the young man you seek." 
 
 " How is it that he is never apprehended ? " 
 
 " He! 'Twould be impossible; I defy you to find 
 a victim of Issachar, or to implicate him in any 
 way. Should he deliver up the young man to his 
 parents, he would so stipulate, and they would be 
 so implicated, that their mouths would be sealed ; 
 besides, Issachar knows the whole Sahara, to say 
 nothing of Libya, his allies are faithful unto death 
 every one; the life of a man who betrays Issachar 
 is not worth a farthing." 
 
 ' ' How about you ? ' ' said Sallus. 
 
 ' ' I might talk to all Cairo and he 'd not turn his 
 hand over. He looks upon my gabble as rain 
 water; in fact, he rather likes it; the more that 
 Cicily and I talk, the better." 
 
 The two men stared at each other greatly puz 
 zled. What did she mean? Whether she were 
 working for, or against the Jew, they could not 
 make out. 
 
 " It seems to me one person's talking is as bad as 
 another's." 
 
 ' ' No, it is not ; I used to express my opinion 
 before the whole band, but they shed it as a roof 
 does water. What we Arab women say has no 
 weight; we're all grumbling and lying, from morn 
 ing till night." 
 
 "But Cicily?" 
 
 " Oh, she repeats me; everybody knows that.
 
 252 EL RESHID 
 
 She was born on the desert and understands noth 
 ing but what I've told her. The whole world 
 believes that she is Issachar's niece; you're the 
 first folks I've found that listen to my story." 
 
 ' ' How do you know that you are correct in your 
 surmises? " 
 
 <( How do I know ! Haven't I heard them 
 scheming for hours, when the band met Issachar 
 calls it a corporation wasn't my husband a mem 
 ber ? Mark me," her voice rising to a shrill 
 shriek " I know, and what is more, I warn you, 
 that all your puerile efforts to outwit Issachar 
 and save the young man are useless. It takes a 
 magician to compete with a magician; only another 
 as subtle as Issachar, and as shrewd, whose eyes 
 and hand are trained to quickness, who has devoted 
 allies and unusual powers can hope to match Issa 
 char the son of darkness and the devil's own." 
 
 Her voice rose to a screech, but her words were 
 those of an orator. The effect was amazing; she 
 looked, in the dim light of the room, like a witch 
 of antiquity, whose rattling bones and mummied 
 visage were animated by a ghostly Csesar, or a 
 phantom Demosthenes. 
 
 " In my opinion," said Regan, getting up and 
 shaking himself, as though to throw of the uncanny 
 atmosphere that had settled on them all, " in my 
 opinion, Issachar is a blackmailer of the first 
 water. You rate him too high, Madame; can show 
 you a half dozen of his trade in New York. He's
 
 THE MISSION OF ISSACHAR 253 
 
 pretty smart, no doubt, but you put him a peg or 
 two above his mark. See ? " 
 
 Spino shook her head. "You haven't got the 
 better of him so far, have you ? " 
 
 " We've only begun; get a Yankee after a Jew 
 and they generally keep neck to neck; don't know 
 which one will skin ahead, but it will be a close 
 race, I can tell you. Now, my good woman, how 
 did it happen that Issachar was at the top of the 
 stairs, behind the arras, the day that Sallus called ? " 
 
 " That's a question I can't answer," said Spino; 
 he appears and disappears, like any other wizard." 
 
 "Moral," answered Regan, "shake every cur 
 tain, and set a trap at the stairs when you call on 
 Cicily, Sallus, my boy. See ! " 
 
 "Can you make anything out of this," said 
 Spino; " I found it in Issachar's inner pocket 
 the last time he was here; I put another in its 
 place." 
 
 She handed Regan a blank envelope, inside of 
 which was another addressed in oriental dialect. 
 
 ''Not much," said Sallus; "it is probably from 
 one of the Jew's correspondents. ' ' 
 
 "I know better than that, although I can't 
 translate it; but I know a man who can." 
 
 " How does it concern us," said Regan, doubt 
 fully. 
 
 " Trust to my instinct that it does, ' ' she answered. 
 " There's a dried-up old specimen of a linguist at 
 the end of the street. I'll bring him here, if you
 
 254 EL RESHID 
 
 say so; makes a business of deciphering all sorts of 
 hieroglyphics, to say nothing of languages; have to 
 pay him though." 
 
 The two men hesitated. To steal a man's letters 
 was not to their liking, but the emergency was 
 great. 
 
 " I have it," said Regan, " we're not obliged to 
 read the inside, if we find the outside doesn't con 
 cern us. Get him, Spino, and I'll shell out." 
 
 She was off before he had finished, and shuffling 
 down the stairs, in an incredibly short time she 
 returned with a specimen of humanity almost as 
 queer as herself. The four made an odd set; the 
 long-legged Yankee with his hollow cheeks and 
 quick eyes; Sallus, too handsome for a pen picture, 
 with his Apollo head and athletic figure; the hag 
 of hags Spino, and a wizened interrogation point 
 of a man, whom she called Quiz. He seemed to 
 be asking questions whether he spoke or not, and 
 curiosity was magnified in every part of him, as it 
 is in a cat. He touched things curiously, he 
 looked at them inquisitively, his nose had a why 
 and wherefore scent, and his ears listened for 
 answers to the never ending questions which he 
 seemed to be propounding from morning till night. 
 He looked, "What is it?" when he entered the 
 room, though his tongue was still. 
 
 " This," answered Spino, handing him the letter. 
 He opened and questioned it, mumbling a few 
 sounds with a rising inflection, then, turning to
 
 THE MISSION OF ISSACHAR 255 
 
 Spino, spoke in French, which she immediately 
 translated to Regan. 
 
 ' ' He says that the letter is addressed to Aleppo 
 Bracciolini." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Sallus and Regan. 
 
 "Listen," said Spino; "I will repeat after him 
 in English." 
 
 LETTER. 
 
 "To get the full force of the opposite, drive a 
 man to an extreme. Corner a peaceful stag if 
 you would see fight. There is a limit to the power 
 of sorrow; its other pole is joy. 
 
 ' ' The Master emerges from a pedigree that has 
 forced him to the wall. Desperate, he transcends 
 one law by another, and resorts to the principle of 
 extremity, which is the opportunity of God in him 
 self. 
 
 ' ' Imprison a man in the dark and he realizes 
 light; starve him and he appreciates food; he dis 
 covers health through pain, and beauty through 
 ugliness. 
 
 "On earth, at a given time, but few live who 
 have reacted from the wilderness to the gardens 
 of Hesperides from the cross to the crown. 
 
 " The logic of events has taken you from much 
 to naught; finding nothing at one pole of yourself, 
 you rebound to the other and discover all. You 
 were bereft of country, parents, and that which 
 men call love; the gates of conventionality clanged 
 behind you; the world of respectability was ready
 
 256 EIv RESHID 
 
 to turn its back, you faced a blank, which was as 
 clean and white as a new scroll. Reaction was 
 true to itself from nothing you recovered every 
 thingthe void brought forth a universe. A fam 
 ished Keats braces his ladder to heaven, in his 
 attic window, whence he struggles upward to the 
 stars. The desperate artist paints in his strong 
 touches with blood, and destines his canvas to 
 immortality. A wretched Pygmalion breathes 
 upon his Galatea and parts with the fire of him 
 self that the statue may live. If you would com 
 pel all things, give up all things. When a Master 
 is forged in the furnace of being, the Magi come 
 from the East, and a new star appears in the sky; 
 there is a commotion among the wise, and bitter 
 ness in the camp of the foe; the news is carried to 
 far countries and secret dispatches are sent 
 from mind to mind. There is electric contact 
 between the great, and the uprising of a thinker, 
 and a seer braces them anew. Thou didst lay a 
 spell upon thyself in ages past; to-day it takes 
 effect." 
 
 Spino had translated slowly, and Sallus had 
 written it down. 
 
 "That is beyond me," said Regan, with a more 
 serious countenance than he had ever worn before. 
 
 "I grasp it," said Spino. Sallus and Regan 
 looked at her and said nothing, but the inquisitive 
 Quiz was all ears. 
 
 " We, in the Orient, believe that desperate cir-
 
 THE MISSION OF ISSACHAR 257 
 
 cumstances, that which you call opposition, drive 
 men to fortune. The poor, when all else fails, 
 scratch at the breast of their mother, like hens, 
 and pick out gold. Genius is the legitimate child 
 of hardship. To wake up the whole man we 
 know that the gods set devils on him like a pack 
 of wolves." 
 
 " That's true, I forgot; the Lord permitted Satan 
 to interview Job, and get the better of him for a 
 time, it seems to me," said Regan. 
 
 " Only for a time," went on Spiuo, as though 
 teaching a Sunday School class. She was a marvel; 
 how she had managed to acquire such fluency of 
 language and keenness of thought under conditions 
 like her's, was beyond the understanding of Regan 
 and Sallus. 
 
 " You see you don't know me, gentlemen; I was 
 ugly as sin at the time I was born, and have 
 never improved since; that's why I know some 
 thing; learning was all the show I had. If I had 
 been beautiful 'twould have turned out differently; 
 as it is, I'm up in languages and experimental 
 science." 
 
 "But the letter," said Regan, "what does it 
 mean? " 
 
 "Just this, Issachar has intercepted it; 'tis 
 addressed to Aleppo, and is from Damascus. 1 
 expect it was enclosed in another envelope and 
 remailed; it was Issachar 's business to intercept it. 
 He cuts telegraph wires, pillages the mails, rifles
 
 258 BI, RESHID 
 
 pockets, and walks the streets of Cairo, or any other 
 city, like a king." 
 
 "Who is the author of this letter, I wonder." 
 Sallus picked it up reverently. 
 
 "It's beyond me again," answered Regan; then 
 both men stared at Spino; she had a curious, sly 
 expression in her eyes, which aroused suspicion in 
 their minds at once. 
 
 "That letter," she said, " was sent to the young 
 man by a servant of Allah." 
 
 " A Mohammedan ! " 
 
 " By a servant of Allah." 
 
 " Mohammedan ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 ' ' Is that your religion ? ' ' 
 
 "It is." 
 
 " How comes it that you go unveiled, and ignore 
 all Mohammedan customs ? ' ' 
 
 " I serve a Jew; besides I am a woman of inde 
 pendent thought." Again a sly look came into 
 her eyes. 
 
 "You really don't believe that the young man 
 has been clutched, not only by a Jew, but by a 
 buzzard of a Mohammedan also, do you ? " put in 
 Sallus. 
 
 "Shouldn't wonder." 
 
 " Ton my word, you're wrong; 'twasn't a Mos 
 lem that wrote that letter. Say, Sal, Aleppo Brac- 
 ciolini must be a mighty important personage, that
 
 THE MISSION OF ISSACHAR 259 
 
 mysterious people, good and bad, should be so hot 
 after him. I wonder if he is a prince out and out? " 
 
 Quiz and Spino exchanged significant glances. 
 
 "Look here, madame, you're keeping some 
 things back, why can't you make a clean sweep 
 while you are about it. ? " 
 
 Spino's eyes snapped, and looked like little red 
 coals, away back in her head. 
 
 " If I am an Arab, no one can drive me, not even 
 a man," she made a great show of indignation 
 "give me back the letter." 
 
 ' ' Not at all," said Regan, placing it in his breast 
 pocket and buttoning his coat. 
 
 " What do you propose to do with it ? " 
 
 " That I can't tell at present; it may come handy 
 though. Now Quiz, what's the damage? The 
 ' standing question ' named a ridiculously small 
 price, and the two eccentricities departed, leaving 
 Regan and Sallus as puzzled as ever. 
 
 " I am afraid," said Sallus, " that she is a tool 
 of Issachar." 
 
 " Why this letter, then ? " 
 
 " It is just a blind; something she's copied some 
 where; how in the world could Aleppo come by 
 such a correspondent ? " 
 
 "Ask me something easy, When you get in 
 with Jews, Moslems, and Mohammedans you don't 
 know where you're at. " 
 
 " Issachar would stop that woman's tongue if he 
 hadn't an object in letting her talk. However, if
 
 260 EL RESHID 
 
 the letter is genuine, and I can't get over the idea 
 that it is, in spite of all indications to the con 
 trary, what shall we do with it ? " 
 
 ' ' Show it to Rhea,' ' said Sallus. 
 
 " Done! and this very night." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 THE HEATHEN. 
 
 Rhea was a conundrum to herself. There had 
 been a love scene between her and Aleppo on the 
 Nile, afterward a mutual understanding, expressed 
 without words; but there had never been any plans 
 made between them, nor had the future been dis 
 cussed at all. A prudent young woman, on a trip 
 around the world, would have renewed her journey 
 long since, feeling that the moonlit beauty of a 
 Nile love dream, was scarcely adequate to hold her 
 like a fixture in Cairo, when the young man, accord 
 ing to Mrs. Hancock, had run away of his own 
 accord. 
 
 The romance of idealism in a nature such as 
 Rhea's is beyond understanding by the conserva 
 tive and worldly wise. The young lady kept her 
 self to herself, obstinately remaining in Cairo, 
 without deigning to explain farther than she had 
 already done. The Misses Richards had departed 
 long since, and Mrs. Hancock, from a sense of duty,
 
 THE HEATHEN 261 
 
 she said, but really because it was to her pecuniary 
 interest, had "settled in Cairo for life." 
 
 Rhea never for an instant harbored the idea that 
 Aleppo had left altogether of his own accord; to be 
 sure she knew but little about him except what he 
 and the letters had told. Their personal acquaint 
 ance had been very short; he was three or four 
 years younger than herself, had no prospects that 
 she knew of, and the idea of marrying him had 
 scarcely entered her head. This ma)' seem impro 
 bable, yes, impossible in the light of the fact of the 
 usual modern young lady, whose love dream is 
 tinctured with calculation, and whose heart is 
 balanced with jewels and gold. But Rhea, like 
 Aleppo, was far ahead of or behind the times; they 
 were children of romance, and suited to the days 
 of the cavalier, or the Eden of the Golden Age. 
 
 It was love that enraptured Rhea. A man-made 
 marriage, a humdrum existence, where crude 
 reality should serve to check the wild beating of 
 the heart, were scarcely dwelt upon at all. Even 
 the presence of Aleppo was not altogether essential; 
 she loved she was loved; yet, though conscious of 
 this blessedness ever with her, the green serpent of 
 jealousy had begun to sting. Her sorrow at the 
 disappearance of Aleppo had vanished, even 
 her fear, but by the true instinct of woman she 
 realized that his affection was divided, that there 
 was something that forced him from her his now 
 conscience, or a divine inspiration. Whatever it
 
 262 EL RESHID 
 
 might be, it was akin to that which compelled the 
 Prince Siddartha to wander away from the bosom of 
 his wife and the shadow of the throne. She knew all 
 this; and the conjectures of Regan and Sallus were 
 as nothing to her. She felt his personal absence 
 to be involuntary, but there was something more 
 subtle which she had sensed, and which must 
 separate them in life Aleppo Bracciolini was des 
 tined to scan the prospect from the Maha Meru of 
 being and she? All women on earth who had 
 given their fathers, husbands and sons to their 
 country, who had sent them forth for the cause of 
 science and truth, who had seen them sacrificed to 
 religion and art, were like herself martyrs upon 
 whom a Master had set the seal. Rhea was jealous 
 of truth, of grand ideals, of God; jealous of all 
 sibylline books, of mystic powers and divine possi 
 bilities; yet, though she knew, she waited striving 
 to quiet and delude herself into the belief that she 
 was mistaken. Then came a dark day. Sallus 
 requested an interview; and the mysterious letter, 
 delivered by Spino, was placed in her hands. 
 
 " How did you get this ? " she asked in a strange 
 voice. 
 
 Sallus recounted all that had happened since 
 coming to Cairo, in regard to the search; he ex 
 pressed his hopes and his doubts, his suspicions and 
 his expectations, telling her a great deal about 
 Cicily, and asking her very earnestlv to judge her 
 for him.
 
 THE HEATHEN 268 
 
 " I don't know," said Rhea still in the un 
 natural voice, " I should have to see her first; but 
 about this letter I have no doubt; it is a genuine 
 epistle to Aleppo in this I make no mistake." 
 
 " But you haven't read it," said Sallus. 
 
 Nor do I need to, to be conscious of its intrinsic 
 value, nor the source from which it came." 
 
 " You must be a psychic. " 
 
 " Perhaps I am will you trust me to-night with 
 it" still in the same strange voice. 
 
 No matter what Rhea asked, Sallus must needs 
 grant it; he was her veritable slave. 
 
 "Certainly Miss Rhea, forever, if it gives you 
 pleasure." 
 
 She took his hand, and gave him that peculiar 
 look which seemed to see, yet did not. In her eyes 
 he read misery, despair ; this Sallus could not 
 endure. That Rhea should suffer was to him 
 incredible. 
 
 " O, Miss Nellino, please don't look that way ! " 
 
 She tried to smile, but it made matters worse. 
 Tears are pathetic enough, but there is a smile 
 forced to the lips for friendship's sake, which is 
 heart-breaking. 
 
 Sallus was distracted; he faced things as a rule, 
 but this experience with Rhea completely unmanned 
 him. 
 
 " I must do something for you you suffer " 
 this in a broken way. 
 
 " Please don't bother, Sallus, I am all right"
 
 264 EL RESHID 
 
 he knew she was lying " the climate, Mrs. Han 
 cock says, is not good am a little ill to-day. Go 
 now, and I'll see you to-morrow and tell you what 
 I think of this." She smiled brightly, but the 
 young man was not deceived ; however he was 
 forced out, and went off to Regan in a state of des 
 pondency quite unnatural in a person of his healthy 
 physique. 
 
 Rhea, frozen even to her heart, sat down to read 
 the letter. It was all she had expected. No matter 
 who had carried Aleppo off, there was a powerful 
 influence overshadowing him, that compelled him 
 to face truth; that forced him to the ultimate the 
 finality of reason the premise of philosophy, and 
 the foundation of religion. She heard the voice of 
 Jesus, as he looked upon his mother "Woman, 
 what have I to do with thee ? " 
 
 Love ! it was the acme, the completion, the one 
 thing. Away with truth, logic, attainment, power. 
 Love ! the soft glamour of it, the perpetual infatu 
 ation, the chaste beauty, the song sung by the 
 breezes, the trees, the sea the rapture that has its 
 rhythm in the tide of being, rising and falling like 
 the waves the passion that fired Endymion, and 
 spent itself in Keats the Sapphic ecstasy that sang 
 its soul out to the Phaon of eternal youth. Love ! 
 the pure flame ot Vesta, burning, burning ! The 
 dim mist of the eye that veils earth in beauty, and 
 softens the blush on the rose Love ! that wafts to 
 the sense the spicy breezes of a magic Ceylon, or an
 
 10 
 
 THE HEATHEN 265 
 
 enchanted garden of Araby I,ove ! that brings 
 Adonai out of heaven to touch up the landscape of 
 Eden, and Aphrodite from the depths to intoxicate 
 the soul with the ultimate charm. 
 
 Rhea ! whose spirit was Greek, who had wander 
 ed in dream over the grassy mounds of the Helicon 
 who had dabbled her white fingers in the waters of 
 the Aegean, who had leaned against the columns of 
 the Parthenon Rhea ! who knew well the stray 
 trees and curving beach of Mitylene, whose sandaled 
 feet had trod the shores of I/esbos Rhea ! who 
 loved all Attica, and whose beautiful face was akin 
 to the marble of Praxitiles Rhea ! the poet, whose 
 song was an immortal appeal to Aphrodite, whose 
 heathen witchery compelled the gods to descend 
 Rhea ! must she tear her heart from her breast and 
 the laurel from her brow ? Ah the wine she had 
 drunk in the old time ! She felt the fiery soul of 
 Aspasia, and the burning lips of Sappho full upon 
 her own must she destroy the love immortal her 
 self- her very self? And she a Greek woman of 
 the ancients Ye gods ! To put out the fire of 
 love was to drag the Uranian Venus from the 
 Celestials and bury her beneath the sod. And all 
 this for wisdom's sake, and an Olympic view? Ah 
 no ! suffer she would, as did the poet of Lesbos who 
 stood on the Tarpeian rock the fire of herself was 
 divine; she was Eve without temptation, from 
 whom the serpent had hid. 
 
 Rhea was a thrilling rhapsody, a tragedy, a song;
 
 266 EL RESHID 
 
 and yet, the ice peak of Olympus ! the wild New 
 England shore ! In her abandon, her passion, her 
 misery, she forgot the square brow of the thinker, 
 over which her brown hair had its way ; she forgot 
 the icy stream of logic with which in times past 
 she had deluged her fiery soul; she forgot her stern 
 New Kngland ancestry and the bleak winds of the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 She was in Egypt, whose azure tints and daring 
 skies revivified the woman of history, and warmed 
 the blood of the ancient. She loved with that 
 immortal, deadly, love which was not of the body 
 but of the soul. Immortal, it would not die; deadly, 
 it sought to slay itself. And this is tragedy. We 
 view the victim of the knife and ball with horror; 
 we turn our back upon the ghastly face and prate 
 of tragedy ha ! ha ! the spatter of blood ha ! ha ! 
 
 Suddenly, as though a vivid thunder-shower had 
 changed into a sweep of falling snow, she felt the 
 ice upon her brow and the freezing logic within. 
 She was a frozen Labrador, over which the heat of 
 the tropics had passed in another age. With the 
 keen mind of the thinker she remembered her 
 situation and prospects, crushing sentiment as does 
 the Alpine climber the flower. She reasoned with 
 out mercy, and talked out loud in the stern voice 
 of the judge. 
 
 "Who are you, Rhea Nellino, that you stand in 
 the way of a man younger than yourself; who may, 
 for aught you know, be a prince destined for a royal
 
 THE HEATHEN 267 
 
 bride, and a throne, or, if called to some sacred and 
 lofty vocation, what right have you to interfere, by 
 your passionate rhapsody and Hellenic romance. 
 ' Tis absurd that you hold the episode of the Nile 
 as any but a passing fancy of one who has other 
 dreams, and visions which annihilate your own. 
 To be sure he loves you, but what of that; are there 
 not others besides yourself to whom he may 
 respond ? Why demand of him a grand absorbing 
 passion, when heaven is full of stars, and the eyes 
 of a young man rove in enraptured gaze over them 
 all. You are selfish, Rhea Nellino; give up abjure 
 spurn ! 
 
 " But I can not ! " The lightning flashed again 
 amid the drifts of snow " Can Cupid slay himself 
 with his own darts, even though Psyche hover 
 near? 
 
 "Love is immortal ! Aleppo, seek Olympus, stand 
 on its icy crest and freeze, yet must thou love me ! 
 Fly, fly to the very verge of heaven, and part us 
 by the abyss of space, yet wilt thou remember ! 
 Learn wisdom from the Master, sit at the feet of 
 the teacher who shall unroll the scroll of the ages 
 before thy astonished gaze, yet will my face appear 
 in every, picture, though time shall never end ! 
 Challenge Isis, lift the sacred veil of the future 
 before her outraged eyes, yet me wilt thou see, as 
 far as thy dim vision stretches, even to the vanish 
 ing perspective of the years ahead ! Me ! me ! 
 Rhea Nellino, coming, going, returning, vanishing !
 
 268 EL RESHID 
 
 Though thou rise to the dignity of a priest or the 
 splendor of a prince; though alone on the desert 
 nursing the shame of illegitimacy, or lifted to a 
 position of power, always my face mine ! Though 
 thou aimest to the breadth of vision of the Master 
 of Galilee, or the teacher of Benares, though thy 
 wisdom inundate thee with formulas and brace thee 
 with facts, though truth purify as with fire, still 
 wilt thou see me in a never ending dream ! 
 Though God doth wrap thee in veils till he himself 
 appear in the white light of his divinity, even there 
 will I make my way to stand before thee ! I will 
 haunt thee in the stars ; each eye of heaven that 
 greets thine own shall flash my vision at thee till 
 all the blue above shall tell of me ! The deeps 
 shall reflect me, and my name shall echo in thine 
 ears forever KS& forever! " 
 
 She paused, and held her breath like an ecstatic 
 of Delphi; seeming to see Aleppo, with the eyes of 
 an entranced soul, and to him she spoke that 
 which was above reason, or within the range of 
 experience. She prophesied a transcendentalism 
 unknown to the mortal, and possible alone to the 
 god. 
 
 Out of the veering inconsistency of variety, she 
 sensed the changelessness of unity, which, like a 
 golden thread, ran through the shimmering pearls 
 of life. She had risen above herself, and in her 
 extremity of pain had seized upon the ultimate, 
 which is the love that never dies. Drawn by misery
 
 THE YANKEE AND THE JEW 269 
 
 to the brink of the gulf, which separates Psyche 
 from Eros, she discovered the bridge of gossamer, 
 finer than a spider's web, which spanned the 
 depths of woe. 
 
 "Henceforth, Rhea," she said softly, " thy home 
 shall be above; thou hast wings like the bird; thou 
 shalt fly and rest on the mountain peak, like the 
 eagle; thine eye, thou shalt train to far sight; and 
 thine ear, to catch the echoes that come down the 
 ages or over the waste. Hereafter, thou shalt drink 
 from the spring of the river of life, and grow warm 
 at the eternal flame." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 THE YANKEE AND THE JEW. 
 
 " I/amou'r fait beaucoup, mais 1'argent fait tout;" 
 so spake Spino; but Regan failed to understand. 
 
 "Speak in English, please, he said, with a 
 drawl. 
 
 " I mean that you can't beat the Jew. Love is 
 mighty, but money is almighty. Your affection for 
 Aleppo, with your Yankee wits thrown in, will be 
 as nothing against Issachar, who works for gold." 
 
 " Has Issachar ever loved anybody? " asked 
 Regan, with considerable curiosity. 
 
 "He! " 
 
 "Why yes, he!"
 
 270 EL RESHID 
 
 " How on earth should I know?" she looked 
 very sly and peculiar. 
 
 "Why on earth should you not ! you're wise as 
 a serpent." 
 
 " And harmless as a dove," she continued with 
 a queer laugh. 
 
 " Apparently," said Regan; "anyhow, prove 
 your good will by putting Issachar in my way, or 
 me in his, I don't care which; you will get your 
 reward, Madame Spino, on earth as well as in 
 heaven." 
 
 " What do you mean by a reward ? " she asked, 
 shrewdly. 
 
 " Money, if you wish it." 
 
 ' ' We don't want money, we desire to be captured, 
 Cicily and I stolen kidnapped; we are waiting 
 for you and Sallus to run off with us." 
 
 Regan whistled a few pensive notes, then scruti 
 nized Spino from head to toe. " Is your husband 
 dead, Madame? " 
 
 " Yes," showing her one tooth in a silent laugh. 
 
 "I was thinking," went on Regan, " that if 
 Sallus takes Cicily, I shall have to run off with 
 you." 
 
 Spino 's laugh continued, even to the interior 
 depths of her cavernous throat. " Shouldn't like 
 that at all," she answered; "you're not after my 
 fancy, I prefer the young man." 
 
 " That settles it," said Regan, " Sallus will have 
 to elope with you and I'll take CiciLy."
 
 THE YANKEE AND THE JEW 271 
 
 Madame Spino was no fool; she took all this as 
 a huge joke, and treated Regan to the airs of an 
 arrant coquette. She had evidently learned from 
 Cicily, and appeared much as a monkey does when 
 aping a pretty mistress. 
 
 It was impossible not to admire Spino; she real 
 ized her absurd grotesqueness so perfectly and took 
 it so good-naturedly, transcending it in such a mas 
 terly fashion that she forced one to pay court to her 
 subtlety and power, whether he desired to do so or 
 not. She was, with all, so mysterious and hard to 
 translate, that she held others by an uncanny fasci 
 nation, not unlike that of a much abused witch. 
 
 "You wish me to bring about a meeting 
 between yourself and Issachar," she said, abruptly 
 changing her tactics. 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "When? Where?" 
 
 "Anytime. Anyplace." 
 
 "Night or day? " 
 
 "I'm like a restaurant that 's lighted up at all 
 hours. " 
 
 " Can you crawl through a two and a half foot 
 hole, more or less ? ' ' 
 
 " Yes, any size; why? " 
 
 " Because Issachar wiggles into his den that way, 
 and if you want an interview you'll have to stop 
 that hole up with yourself, there's no other means. 
 
 " Suppose I get stuck there, what then ? " 
 
 " You'll have to take your chances on that.
 
 272 EL RESHID 
 
 He's in Cairo again, and goes into his lair every 
 night." 
 
 " Where is it ? " 
 
 " It opens out of the shop where he vanishes; it 
 has a blue curtain hanging over it, with a big yel 
 low dragon picked out in the stuff." 
 
 "Will he be on hand to-night? " 
 
 " Most likely, after ten, so I think; but I tell you 
 its no use, you'll get nothing from him but smiles 
 he's the devil." 
 
 "So am I." 
 
 " Well, good-bye," with her corkscrew bow. 
 
 This all happened in Sallus' room a few minutes 
 after the other interview in the same place, and 
 Regan, fully determined to " beard the lion in his 
 den," secretly informed Sallus of his daring 
 scheme. 
 
 " Issachar has returned, and Spino has let me 
 into the secret of the shop, which seems to swal 
 low his body and soul every time he enters it; he 
 must be a veritable cat, to go in and out of a hole 
 after that fashion. The Madame says he is guarded 
 by a yellow dragon, picked out in blue silk." 
 
 "How do you know," said Sallus, to whom 
 Regan had given an accurate account of his inter 
 view with Spino, "but this is another trap set by 
 the old woman herself? " 
 
 " Can't tell ; I comprehend one thing, though, 
 loafing round and doing nothing is too much for 
 me; we haven't got ahead an inch. Catus played
 
 THE YANKEE AND THE JEW 273 
 
 me a pretty trick too; from what Spino says, I 
 imagine he's in with the Jew. He acted to me as 
 though ignorant as to the whereabouts of Aleppo, 
 while he knew well enough that the boy had been 
 at Issachar's very house. Csesar didn't get out of 
 Cairo any too soon. If you want anything done, 
 do it yourself; that's my maxim from now on." 
 
 " How are you going to manage ? " 
 
 I'll slip into the shop about ten o'clock to-night; 
 duck my head under the dragon, and squeeze 
 through the aperture, if I have to stretch out a yard 
 longer. It takes a Yankee to narrow himself and 
 elongate. If Issachar can make it, I guess I can." 
 
 ' ' When you get into whatever is behind that cat 
 hole, what then ? " 
 
 "I'll leave the rest to luck and chance. " said 
 Regan. " I would take you along, but 'twouldn't 
 do, you'd be one too many." 
 
 " Sure," said Sallus, "I'll be on hand, though, 
 within call. I know your signal understand." 
 
 The two men parted, and promptly at ten o'clock 
 Regan walked into the little shop; he made a few 
 purchases of the ever present dealer and politely 
 requested him to step to the entrance, where a 
 gentleman desired him to make some inquiries. 
 The merchant, apparently with great innocence, 
 turned his back on Regan, and began a confab with 
 Sallus, who stood outside. It was the Yankee's 
 chance; more quickly than it takes to tell it, he 
 ducked under the dragon and confronted a little
 
 274 EL RESHID 
 
 door about four feet square and two from the floor; it 
 was a thin, paralleled arrangement, swung on light 
 hinges, and unfastened. Opening it without hesi 
 tation, and making a hump of his back, he got 
 through somehow, to find himself in utter darkness. 
 Extending his hands, he felt a wall on either side 
 of him, and presumed, from this, that he was in a 
 narrow passage leading to Issachar's room. He 
 stepped cautiously, and kept going farther and 
 farther away from the entrance. 
 
 "Wonder if this blamed rat hole will ever end," 
 he muttered, between his teeth; he had no more 
 than said it, when he came against a second swing 
 ing door, which flew back, and sent him sprawling 
 into the den of the Jew. 
 
 The lion had evidently departed, for the room, 
 though lighted, was vacant. It was a low apart 
 ment, about ten feet square, and so stuffed with 
 odds and ends of great beauty that there was 
 scarcely space in it to turn around. 
 
 He scrambled to his feet, and found a pile of 
 cushions, upon which he sank like a wily Turk. A 
 dim candle, scarcely sufficient to see by, was but a 
 poor aid to his eyes, but he succeeded in making 
 the place out, after a fashion, and found it typical 
 of the Master, who came and went in such a mys 
 terious way. The stuffs about him were of the 
 richest; while gold and silver bronzes and Damas- 
 can blades, to say nothing of manuscripts and 
 ancient books, gave the spot an ultra appearance,
 
 THE YANKEE AND THE JEW 275 
 
 even in Cairo. The diabolism of most of the 
 bronze specimens constituted their art. There 
 were grinning and frowning faces monstrosities 
 more enigmatical than the Libyan sphinx, half 
 animal, half man; serpents and dragons, crouched 
 hyenas, and a startling array of cats, in every shape 
 and posture; all in a small room, whose ceiling was 
 scarcely seven feet high. Much of the brass was 
 green, having a slimy and slippery look, which, 
 as it threw off the dim light of the dripping candle, 
 took on the appearance of motion and life. A 
 scaly dragon seemed to undulate and crawl, while 
 a filthy frog puffed and breathed in hideous fashion. 
 The eyes of a coiled serpent glittered malignantly, 
 and a long-legged stork opened and closed its beak. 
 The place allowed of but little ventilation and the 
 air was heavy with carbon and dust. 
 
 Regan sat in the midst of this squalid wealth, 
 chewing his mental quid, and shivering percep 
 tibly, although as a rule, not given to "nerves." 
 
 There was but one way to get out, and that was 
 by the door through which he had entered. The 
 creatures about him had become so animated and 
 repulsive, that he half made up his mind to crawl 
 away from the accursed spot on the instant; this 
 feeling was momentary, however, and summoning 
 his Yankee grit he dove down into his pockets, gain 
 ing courage from the cold touch of a Colt's revolver, 
 concealed inside. He remembered Sallus as a far- 
 off reality, that it would be difficult to reach in a
 
 276 Ely RESHID 
 
 hurry; so slapping an intrusive cat in the face, and 
 kicking over a brass crane, he stretched his long 
 legs and stood up. It was none too soon; the door 
 opened softly, and Issachar, looming nearly to the 
 ceiling, confronted him with his eternal smile. 
 
 " Ah ! How honored am I ! " 
 
 " Indeed you are," said Regan, his hand on his 
 pocket, where the cold steel nestled, " don't get a 
 visitor like me every day, I suspect. ' ' 
 
 The composure of Issachar was beyond describ 
 ing. He snuffed the candle, and arranged the pile 
 of cushions, from which Regan had just risen, and 
 said with great dignity, " My humble room is at 
 your service; what will you have ? ' ' 
 
 In spite of his good cause, Regan felt somewhat 
 ashamed; he had forced himself upon the Jew, who 
 had received him very graciously with no show of 
 fear or anger. Regan had desired a stormy inter 
 view, something to rouse his blood, but the Jew 
 was as calm as a Cairo sky. The Yankee stam 
 mered a little and took his hand from his hip, 
 for his host was unarmed, and, marshalling his 
 thoughts, and seducing himself into the idea that 
 he had a good quid in his mouth, he began 
 
 " I am led to believe that you know something 
 of the whereabouts of the young man, Aleppo 
 Bracciolini, upon whom you called in Venice 
 hem ! " 
 
 " And so thou earnest here to inqure," said the 
 Jew, politely. I am not accustomed to receive
 
 THE YANKEE AND THE JEW 277 
 
 guests in this apartment, I beg thee to excuse its 
 appearance and my lack of power to entertain; if 
 thou wilt kindly walk up-stairs, I will introduce 
 thee to my housekeeper and niece and make thee 
 more comfortable." 
 
 Regan forgot himself and spat at the bronze 
 turtle on the floor near by; he was upset by the 
 suavity of Issachar, which was something he had 
 not bargained for. 
 
 "No, thank you, this place is good enough for 
 me; besides I can't stay long; just answer a few 
 questions, will you? " 
 
 " Please put them," said Issachar. 
 
 4 ' In the first place, do you know anything about 
 Aleppo Bracciolini ? ' ' 
 
 " I have sought long for one Romanes, but found 
 him not." 
 
 "So you took Bracciolini in his place," said 
 Regan. I may as well speak to the point. If it's 
 money you're after, I'm as good a bank as any, 
 unless it be a Rothchild or a Rockefeller; what 
 will you take for him ? ' ' 
 
 4 ( Who ? ' ' The eyes of the Jew glittered in the 
 dim light like gold coins. 
 
 ' ' The young man that you kidnapped at the 
 temple of Ammon." 
 
 "I fail to understand; I have kidnapped no 
 young man." 
 
 14 Then appearances are deceptive; one Caesar
 
 278 EL, RESHID 
 
 Catus came to your house to inquire after him, 
 when you had him concealed up-stairs." 
 
 ' ' Ah ! Csesar Catus ! how knowest thou that ? ' ' 
 
 "Watching around of course; I'm hunting 
 Aleppo, and I've traced him to you; there's no use 
 in evading any longer. I could have you arrested, 
 but there's too much red tape about it. I prefer to 
 turn criminal myself and buy you oft; how much ? " 
 
 The Jew looked keenly at Regan, then, with 
 superb dignity, brushing a speck from his immacu 
 late robe, said, " I understand thee not at all. I own 
 a shop, wouldst thou buy something, go there." 
 
 "So you prefer to deal with those who are in the 
 web the spider doesn't dive after worms like a 
 bird." 
 
 ' ' Thou hast the Yankee metaphor, ' ' said Issa- 
 char showing all his teeth, ' ' the American Indian 
 speaks the same ; is there anything more ? ' ' 
 
 ' ' Have you Aleppo Bracciolini ? ' ' 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Do you know where he is? " 
 
 "No"' 
 
 Regan refrained from referring to the women up 
 stairs, but Issachar remarked in measured accent 
 
 ' ' Thou hast heard the gabble of my ancient 
 housekeeper, whose talk is well known in Cairo. 
 People listen for the sake of hearing, when Spino 
 speaks; she tells fables and fairy tales. Ah! she is 
 an eloquent one! " 
 
 "Well? "
 
 THE YANKEE AND THE JEW 279 
 
 ''And my beautiful niece speaks as the madame 
 dictates; they gossip both." He smiled again. 
 
 1 ' What could Regan say; he, himself had sus 
 pected them. Was he, after all, accusing an inno 
 cent man ? He had no particle of proof that could 
 implicate Issachar, save the gossip of these two 
 women, who might, for aught he knew, be amus 
 ing themselves. He could get no hold on the Jew; 
 a bribe had no more effect than a threat. Was he 
 on the wrong track, and were these foolish women 
 up-stairs making a greater fool of himself. 
 
 Issachar had not even a vulnerable heel, he was 
 a dignified host and slow to anger; nor could he be 
 seduced by the jingle of coin, so thought Regan, 
 who forgot not the experience of Sallus, when the 
 Jew seemed to be playing the spy. Was it but 
 seeming after all ? Sallus had been unmerciful in 
 his judgment, but did that prove anything? The 
 Yankee was undone. In an open game he was a 
 match for the devil, but under cover, an angel 
 could master him at once. 
 
 " I'm sorry, " said Regan, in a half-shamed voice, 
 "that you can tell me nothing. I would give a 
 good deal to find my young friend. " 
 
 " Didst thou ever consider," said Issachar, in an 
 impressive voice, "that probably the young man is 
 dead?" 
 
 Regan looked with startled eyes at the Jew, but 
 said nothing. 
 
 " He disappeared at Karnac, murdered, undoubt-
 
 280 EL RESHID 
 
 edly, for a sum of money, by an Arab, who after 
 wards concealed him under-ground." The Jew's 
 glittering eyes were on him. "Dead," said Issa- 
 char, "dead." 
 
 " Don't believe it," answered Regan, though he 
 shivered from head to foot, while the bronze Satan, 
 in front of him, grinned maliciously, and the 
 crouching dwarf rolled up his eyes. " Don't 
 believe it, but excuse me, Mr. Issachar, and I will 
 bid you good-night; you have a queer way of get 
 ting in and out of this place." 
 
 " It is my private apartment," said Issachar, in 
 a stately way, that abashed the intruder. 
 
 He opened the door, and held the candle at the 
 end of the passage, till Regan made his exit, crawl 
 ing under the yellow dragon, into the shop, as 
 thoroughly beat a Yankee as ever misunderstood a 
 mysterious Jew. 
 
 Sallus was on guard outside, and looked greatly 
 relieved when Regan appeared. 
 
 "How did it turn out?" 
 
 "I'll be switched if I know. They're the 
 deucedest puzzle that ever I've struck the whole 
 lot of them. Issachar played the role of a white 
 Mahatma, top notch. Compared with the dragons, 
 and snakes, and imps, and frogs and cats, inside, he 
 looked like the driven snow, more sinned against 
 than sinning." 
 
 " There's no use in facing him, that's certain,"
 
 QUICK ACTION 281 
 
 answered Sallus; " hereafter we'll work behind his 
 back." 
 
 ' ' We wont gain a thing by that either, not a 
 thing. I believe, now, that he knew I was coming; 
 did you notice how innocent that shop-keeper 
 appeared too all fired innocent! Do you suppose 
 Spino played a dirty trick on us after all ? " 
 
 " I don't suppose anything any more, except that 
 we've got into a web of mystery that's two sticky 
 to get out of. ' ' 
 
 " It takes a Master to fight a Master. I'm no 
 match for that Jew; good or bad. Good night, Sal; 
 sleep if you can, I can't." 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 QUICK ACTION. 
 
 Caesar Catus left Henrique Romanes at Genoa 
 and made his headquarters at Venice; here he 
 wrote and got letters by the hundred, to say 
 nothing of innumerable telegrams received and 
 sent. His manner of living in the city of the 
 Doges was entirely different from that of Cairo. 
 His room, atone of the chief hotels, was a barren 
 apartment, having more the appearance of a busi 
 ness office than anything else. He sefemed to put 
 off one nature and take on another as he did his 
 clothes. He scarcely touched a cigar, and was pain 
 fully abstemious as to coffee and rich food; dis-
 
 282 EL RESHID 
 
 patching business with marvelous rapidity, and, 
 from the amount of work accomplished, might well 
 have been a dozen men in one. 
 
 He arose one morning, about a month after his 
 exit from Genoa, and looked at his watch ; it was 
 half past five. After a cold plunge and a rapid 
 toilet he rang for his breakfast, which was served 
 in his room. It was a simple affair some crusts 
 of French bread and a tiny cup of coffee, taken 
 straight. Then going directly to his big table, 
 which was loaded down with papers, letters and 
 dispatches, he tore them open and read rapidly, one 
 after another; mastering a page at a glance. After 
 perusing, he sifted the letters, filing some, putting 
 a peculiar mark on others, and throwing a large 
 proportion into the waste basket. Three out of as 
 many dozen, received his special attention; the first 
 was from Genoa, signed " Nita." Catus read it 
 twice. 
 
 ' ' Dear Mr. Jackson : 
 
 1 ' I got your letter this morning in answer to my 
 last. If you hadn't sent it, I should have put on 
 my paint and powder again. I hate to look in the 
 glass; a woman who makes up appears like a scare 
 crow natural. It's easy living now, while your 
 money lasts', though it's going fast. I couldn't help 
 it, but I got another girl just like me to lay off and 
 be good, so we go shares. I couldn't have staid 
 here alone for anybody, not even you. Yesterday
 
 QUICK ACTION 283 
 
 for a half-hour I was actually happy, at least I 
 think I was, for I felt as I did once when a child. 
 The other girl and I went out into the country; we 
 slept well, and had a good breakfast, and promised 
 each other not to speak of anything bad, so we went 
 back to the time when we were good. I listened to 
 .the birds, I don't know when I've heard them 
 before; and I read her your first letter; she cried 
 and I cried; we were both very happy. 
 
 " Perhaps you think reforming is easy, but it isn't. 
 
 "Please write soon. 
 
 NIT A." 
 
 Caesar laid this letter aside carefully and his eye 
 glittered; whether it were a steely glance, or a tear, 
 it would have been hard to tell. 
 
 The next in the pile of latest arrivals was 
 addressed in a strange hand, which he failed to 
 recognize, and, turning the letter over, he held it 
 to the light. The inscription was bold and strong 
 " Caesar Catus, Cairo." It had been forwarded, 
 and evidently the writer had no knowledge of his 
 present address. He tried to get an impression 
 from it before opening and succeeding somewhat 
 he tore off the seal and read: 
 
 ' ' Dear Mr. Catus: 
 
 ' ' Have you forgotten Rhea Nellino ? I met you 
 
 once in Cairo, and have thought often of you since. 
 
 It may seem absurd, my writing this letter; I act 
 
 on intuition absolutely, and though I try my best 
 
 'to reason myself out of it, I feel certain that you
 
 284 El/ RESHID 
 
 know something of Aleppo Bracciolini, and per 
 haps out of sympathy for my sorrow, will answer 
 frankly that which I ask. In the first place I am 
 very unhappy and will tell you a secret which I 
 have breathed to no other. Why I am so bold 
 with a stranger I do not know. That I defy all 
 conventionality I am well aware; that I act against 
 the sound judgment of my two true friends, Mr. 
 Patrick Regan and Mr. Sallus Smith, I am also 
 certain, but I can bear this pain no longer, and in 
 my extremity I appeal to you whom I know, 
 somehow, can help me. 
 
 " I give you my sacred confidence; I love Aleppo 
 Bracciolini even unto death, and my heart will 
 break if I may not be permitted to speak with him 
 once more. I ask but to see him again, once, 
 only once, then, forever after, till life on earth is 
 done, I will abide alone. Though I feel that I 
 know and understand, yet would I verify and make 
 sure. Oh, Mr. Catus, if you have ever loved, be 
 kind to me. I realize that you are a man of great 
 powers and a thousand resources; help me ! I have 
 nowhere else to turn; am shut up in myself alone. 
 
 RHEA NELLINO." 
 
 While reading this appeal, Catus turned very 
 white; he was a fair visaged person as a rule, but 
 he grew fairer, till the healthy glow of his face 
 became a deathly pallor. He read it again, and 
 again; the same ghastly expression on his face; 
 then, rising abruptly left the room. After an
 
 QUICK ACTION 285 
 
 absence of two hours, he returned and resumed the 
 pile of letters so suddenly abandoned, still hav 
 ing the pallid look, but otherwise quite himself . 
 The third epistle bore the peculiar stamp, which 
 Catus instantly understood. The contents were 
 emphatic: 
 
 "Meet Bedouin at Cairo; lose no time. New 
 move about to be made. Act quickly; a day's delay 
 fatal." 
 
 Catus closed his eyes and began to reckon. This 
 letter had come from Brindisi; it would take him 
 some time to get back to Cairo; he knew, however, 
 that all had been considered, and that if he started 
 forthwith there would be no mistake. 
 
 So, bringing out a strong box from the closet, he 
 swept the table's whole burden into it, save the last 
 three letters; then, turning the key, he restored 
 the safe to its place and began to write. To Nita 
 he addressed a full sheet, enclosing a draft; to Rhea 
 the following : 
 
 "Dear Miss N el lino ; 
 
 " Take heart; your instinct is correct; your intui 
 tion true. Rest on this for the present, and await 
 word from me. Yours, 
 
 CATUS." 
 
 To the third correspondent, after the date, was 
 simply this : 
 
 "Will start to-day. C. C."
 
 286 EL RESHID 
 
 As rapidly as steam could take him, Catus trav 
 elled to Cairo and proceeded immediately to the 
 great pyramid of Khufu. It was already night, 
 and the monster tomb shut off everything, even 
 the sky. It seemed to encompass him, though he 
 stood outside, and crush him with its mass of stone 
 and weight of years. If Catus had a tendency to 
 brood, he put a check upon it at once, and allowed 
 no awe-inspiring pile of matter to turn him an 
 iota from the object upon which he was bent. 
 
 This power to annihilate one environment and 
 substitute another, is the gift of a great soul. To 
 turn grandeur into the commonplace, or the small 
 to the sublime, is a hard task, but Caesar pulled on 
 the reins with which he guided himself, and jerked 
 the fiery steed of his imagination till he had it in 
 hand; then scrutinizing along the shadow at the 
 pyramid's base, he skulked, silently like a thief, 
 till at the sharp turn of one of the angles he met 
 a tall, draped Bedouin, who addressed him in a 
 whisper, speaking but one word, but it transfixed 
 Catus where he stood. For a moment there was 
 an ominous silence, broken later by Catus, who 
 gave the man near him a sign, for their hands 
 touched and parted ; then they walked out from the 
 shadow into the open, where the majesty and 
 silence of the desert could be felt. 
 
 " I must go with you to-night ? " said Catus. 
 
 " Immediately; the camels are ready; the Arabs 
 waiting; thou shalt eat and sleep to-morrow."
 
 QUICK ACTION 287 
 
 " Are you sure you are prepared armed, ammu 
 nition, food and water ? " 
 
 "All," said the Bedouin. 
 
 ' ' And the young Master ? ' ' said Catus, his 
 voice trembling. 
 
 " Great," came back the solemn voice of the Bed 
 ouin, who marched straight ahead, with long 
 strides, his figure erect, while his flowing robes 
 gave majesty to a stature far above that of the 
 ordinary man. 
 
 " How know you this what sign? " 
 
 " The test, too hard for thee, was naught to him. 
 Thou hast had the training of a few short years; 
 the great planet Saturn has scarce past its peri 
 helion and returned to its distant companions in 
 space since thou began. 
 
 "And he?" said Catus anxiously. 
 
 " Ah! " said the Bedouin, "seest thou that sun ? 
 Already he understands El Reshid, but in time, El 
 Reshid will gaze upward at him, as thou dost at 
 yon dog star. 
 
 " How comes it that one so young has attained 
 so great a height; he must indeed be immature and 
 without experience," urged Catus. 
 
 " He matured long since; he experienced much 
 in another life." 
 
 A silence fell between the two; the Bedouin 
 marching on guided by instinct, without compass, 
 track or chart, while Catus walked in his wake in a 
 dream.
 
 288 EL RESHID 
 
 "And Issachar?" said Catus after a pause of 
 some minutes." 
 
 " Issachar is naught to me." 
 
 " It is not so easy to count him out; El Reshid 
 himself, knows this." Catus manifested his first 
 impatience since leaving Venice, but the Bedouin 
 deigned no answer and strode ahead. 
 
 In less than an hour they reached an Arab camp 
 where camels were in readiness for immediate 
 departure. Catus was hungry and very tired, 
 besides this there was a worm gnawing at his heart. 
 He felt himself abused, wronged; he had worked 
 hard and done much and that which he most desired 
 went easily to another who seemed to do nothing at 
 all. But below all this surface of fretfulness and 
 fume was the fixed purpose from which he never 
 swerved. Reward, punishment, joy, sorrow were 
 out of consideration in the final analysis. So 
 mounting his camel, on which he sat familiarly, he 
 fell into file and wended his way under the stars 
 toward the spot where Aleppo Romanes watched for 
 his coming with longing eyes. 
 
 It was late the next day ere they halted before a 
 group of skin tents pitched on the waste of L,ibya. 
 
 Catus alighted from his camel and uncovering his 
 head approached the largest of these ; looking 
 keenly from under his brows for some sign of 
 Aleppo whom he had known as a Bohemian youth 
 in the art studio in Italy. He remembered well his 
 ideal face, dark hair, and innocence of expression,
 
 QUICK ACTION 289 
 
 the like of which is seldom beheld in a man. As 
 he drew near the door of the tent, he felt that there 
 would be a difference, and was conscious of Aleppo 
 even before he appeared, as if the very sands could 
 speak. 
 
 The Bedouin had passed on and only Caesar 
 remained to greet his friend. He waited but a 
 moment when the young man appeared, slighter 
 and less robust than in the days of blessed memory, 
 yet more powerful than Catus could have deemed 
 possible. He stood before him erect and thrilling, 
 his eyes beaming into those of Catus, brilliant with 
 pure love, though, save the look, he made no 
 demonstration, except to touch his head and his 
 heart. The two went into the tent and what was 
 said there, none but themselves will ever know. 
 In an hour's time Catus came forth and went straight 
 to the quarters of the Bedouin. 
 
 " At what time do we start to night ? " 
 
 " At two o'clock." . 
 
 " Give me food," said Catus. 
 
 An Arab appeared immediately with a substan 
 tial meal, which Catus devoured as though famished; 
 then turning to the Bedouin again, " I must rest. " 
 
 A skin tent was spread on the ground upon 
 which Catus threw himself, to fall immediately to 
 sleep. 
 
 The Bedouin faced the Arab "Be ready," he 
 said; " forget nothing. " Wake this man on the 
 minute; have the camels at hand; put thy brother
 
 290 El* RESHID 
 
 on guard; walk like a cat. The servants of Issachar 
 suspect nothing; ^ travel due east; halt at the tomb 
 of the sacred bulls, and Allah reward thee." 
 
 The Arab threw a quick glance at the Bedouin 
 when he uttered the last sentence, never before 
 having heard him refer to Allah; but he said nothing, 
 and silently performed the task assigned him with 
 the agility of a monkey and the suppleness of a cat- 
 At the time designated, to the minute, he touched 
 the sleeper softly with his velvety hand; Catus 
 arose, left his tent, mounted his camel without 
 noise, and immediately joined the rest of the party 
 who were waiting near by. Upon another animal 
 sat Aleppo Romanes, equipped for a long ride. 
 When everything was in readiness the ghostly 
 caravan wended its way into the dark of night 
 headed due east. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 ON THE CAMEL'S BACK. 
 
 Catus and Aleppo rode side by side, or as nearly 
 so as' the camels allowed, exchanging now and then 
 a word, or keeping silent as circumstances necessi 
 tated. They had before them but a twenty hour's 
 journey to Cairo, as the tents of Issachar had lately 
 been pitched nearer civilization. 
 
 As soon as the gray light of dawn stole softly 
 over Lfibya, Catus came close to Aleppo and placed
 
 ON THE CAMEL'S BACK 291 
 
 in his hands a letter. The young man's eyes were 
 strong and he picked out the writing, Catus watch 
 ing the expression on his face while he read: 
 
 ILLUSION. 
 
 We see men hurrying to and fro like gnats in the 
 sunshine, and pronounce judgment with cool in 
 difference. They are six feet tall, more or less, and 
 from two to three feet broad, going and coming as 
 though each were dispatched by the Absolute; a 
 walking mass of skin and bone and sinew and 
 blood; in so-called civilized lands subject to his 
 tyrant the tailor; in Barbaria, to his tyrant the 
 sun. 
 
 And we call this six-foot medley of flesh and 
 garment an entity; this stiff, sharp sliver from the 
 "tree of life," a universe; this conglomerate of 
 molecules, darting here and there in the sunshine, 
 an immortal. 
 
 We see him falling to pieces before our eyes ; we 
 watch the elongated hole, as the sexton plunges his 
 spade into earth; we behold the weeds and flowers 
 upspringing from the soil of his vitals; and in face 
 of this, we pronounce him eternal. Whence he 
 came, we know not; whither he goeth, we wonder. 
 
 He crushes the little beneath his feet, while the 
 great tramples him to earth. He steals from the uni 
 verse and condenses into himself, to give back with 
 absolute exactness that which he purloined. A 
 shifting phenomenon, he impresses us with a sense
 
 292 
 
 of stability, till we take him for a fact, in spite of 
 the sexton and the spade. 
 
 We read his age on the tomb-stone, and scorn 
 fully glance at the angel above his grave, whose 
 spread wings are of marble which the ethers 
 repudiate. Yet while he is rotting, and the worms 
 are feasting, we hear his voice in our ears, and feel 
 his touch on our cheeks. 
 
 When he is turned into ashes, we gather the 
 handful of dust, WHICH NO FIRE CAN DES 
 TROY, and store it away. And what of this hand 
 ful of dust listen ! the six feet of flesh an 
 illusion; the handful of dust the eternal. 
 
 By the Unit of Force stands its opposite the 
 finality of matter the ashes that fire cannot burn, 
 nor effort destroy. 
 
 Within this handful of dust, energy wakes like a 
 whirlwind. A spiral, it fleeth and ga there th, till it 
 grows from a mite to a mountain of sinew and 
 organs and bone six feet of illusion, packed and 
 bedded around the immortal the ashes the hand 
 ful of fact, that no fire can destroy. 
 
 But man, with the blear on his eyes, sees naught 
 but the fiction; he builds it an altar, and sits at its 
 feet, and prays at its tomb, while the real is con 
 cealed out of sight, like the scent of the flower. 
 It evades, it is subtle, and scorneth the fire. 
 
 We worship the fiction the flesh and the blood; 
 we build it a temple, a mosque; we paint it with 
 colors, and stud it with gems; we pour our wine on
 
 ON THE CAMEX'S BACK 293 
 
 the ground at its feet; with ointment and spikenard 
 we deluge its head. The illusion is set on a throne, 
 while fact the eternal, is hid in the urn. 
 
 But listen ! Even change, which shifts like the 
 beams of the moon on the lake, even change is 
 reality masked, a chimera of law, a fiction of truth, 
 an enigma of unity, budding to flower; the corolla 
 and scent of the root underground. 
 
 Even change, translated by one who is wise, is a 
 verity, stripped of the false, and glittering with 
 gems. 'Tis Isis in color the plumes of the 
 peacock, the opal, the pearl, the gem of all gems, 
 the Sirius in heaven the magnet of stars. 
 
 ******* 
 
 But man, who beholds through the lashes of his 
 eyes, lives and dies in a fatal dream; he sacrifices to 
 the down of the peach, forgetting the bitter power 
 of the stone; he worships the flower, unaware of 
 the root; he discovers but half of the one, and 
 makes of the whole a delusion. 
 
 He chisels his wings out of marble, and 
 hammers his plumes out of bronze; he imprisons the 
 ethereal in the vault of the base, and traps his 
 ideal in a pit. 
 
 To the wise, the illusion lies in the crescent, when 
 the bulk of the moon is concealed. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Having studied the paper carefully, Aleppo stored 
 
 it away in a secret pocket of his garment, and
 
 294 EL RESHID 
 
 giving Catus a confidential glance, faced the rising 
 sun which appeared suddenly and defied his steady 
 eyes that dared to look straight at its heart. 
 
 " And his name is El Reshid, " said Aleppo. 
 
 " Yes," answered Catus, "it signifies the pasha 
 the ruler the Master; it stands for power over 
 self and others; the first, as you know, implies the 
 last; the master of one's self has to a degree the 
 control of others." 
 
 " If all individuals were self-mastered there 
 would be no controlling of anybody,' ' said Aleppo. 
 
 " True, but the mass of people have approxi 
 mately no self control, and those who have, rule 
 others." 
 
 "What do you mean by self-mastery ?" asked 
 Aleppo. 
 
 "Having one's self in hand, controlling one's 
 self." 
 
 " Ah no," said Aleppo; " use no more the word 
 control, but substitute the word guide; the Master 
 guides himself. Is there a man on earth that can 
 hold a fiery steed, if the creature determines to run ? 
 Tug at the bit, bring your whole power of muscle 
 and will to bear, it is nothing to the mad brute that 
 spurns the earth and drags you after him. So with 
 yourself, in reality you admit no Master; even self 
 revolts against self and takes the bit in its teeth 
 and runs runs; but " tossing his hair and smiling 
 in boyish confidence, "guide, that is all, and let self 
 realize its full speed, no matter how fast it goes,
 
 ON THE CAMEL'S BACK 295 
 
 nor with how much vim and rush it tears along the 
 avenues of life, if it keeps out of the ditches and 
 ruts; guide guide. 
 
 " How queerly so much learning sets on your 
 young head; already you wear a professor's cap." 
 
 "Learning is not after my fancy," said Aleppo. 
 " To learn is to accumulate. I would rather have 
 a vacant room, than one too crowded. There is an 
 art of unknowing, as well as of knowing; of getting 
 rid of, as well as of acquiring. Learning is a rubbish 
 unless it be a means to an end. The learned man 
 is seldom wise; he is pedantic, narrow, bigoted. 
 A wise man on the contrary understands people 
 and things, more, even life itself and its meaning." 
 
 "I suppose," said Catus, "that he has the 
 Shakespearean quality, and reads human nature like 
 an open book." 
 
 ' ' True ; he is one with his environment and 
 enters to the heart, the motive, the purpose of 
 things; he lives the life of each, of all; he grasps 
 it specially and generally; he is everything he is 
 it." 
 
 "Will you tell me" said Catus, rather rever 
 ently for him, "how you grew suddenly to under 
 stand so well; I can't remember that in Italy you 
 were overburdened with wisdom. " 
 
 " Do you not realize," answered Aleppo, " that 
 
 when you are thrown back upon pure reason that 
 
 ^you get a revelation, not from reasons nor reasoning, 
 
 but the Reason. Sometimes one may be stripped
 
 296 EL RESHID 
 
 so naked that he beholds his very vitals his hear "J~ 
 palpitates before his eyes, his skeleton, sinews, 
 muscles, all are revealed. He has no garment to 
 cover him, nor even a soft padding of flesh, he is 
 thin, transparent, the interior mechanism, with the 
 reason thereof stares him in the face. 
 
 " Catus, dear old teacher of Italy, I began with 
 out parents, country, or name, and, as though that 
 were not poverty enough, whatever of love and 
 friendship were mine, were taken also*. At last I 
 stood outside of the great temple of Ammon, 
 stripped of all, and then there flashed over me a 
 light, as dazzling as that which struck St. Paul on 
 the way to Damascus; in the glare of it I saw the 
 Reason, the meaning of myself. Since then I have 
 thought little of learning, and sought wisdom, 
 which is the principal thing." 
 
 ' ' I would that I might have such an experience, " 
 said Catus, looking aggrieved and anxious. 
 
 " The causes in your case are different. To find 
 one limit you must be driven to another; an 
 extreme implies its opposite. You have never been 
 cold enough to worship fire, nor hungry enough to 
 gnaw your own flesh; you have never been so alone 
 that you made two of yourself, nor so frightened 
 that courage was your last resort. I went to the 
 very verge of fancy, to rebound to the ultimate 
 Fact. I soared so high in my dream-balloon, that 
 when it burst, I plunged like a falling star, clear 
 into the bed-rock of earth. I had become such a
 
 11 
 
 ON THE CAMELS BACK 297 
 
 fool that wisdom had me in its very grip the youth 
 and the sage are one. The Master of Syria taught 
 the self-asserting Jew that he must become as a 
 little child. In truth, Catus, I've been stripped of 
 my self-conceit, that is all." 
 
 "And I have not?" 
 
 "No, you have not," answered Aleppo, gazing 
 with great love on his friend, " but you have vast 
 powers." 
 
 " So had Romanes," said Catus. 
 
 " Who was Romanes ? " asked Aleppo, with a 
 start, looking keenly from under his broad hat at 
 Catus. 
 
 "Your father." 
 
 Aleppo turned very white. " I am unworthy of 
 my father and mother. I repudiated them both. 
 Until that time comes that I deserve, I fear to know 
 them." 
 
 " I fail to understand you," said Catus. 
 
 " I have inwardly hated and cursed them," said 
 Aleppo; "first, for thrusting a life of isolation 
 upon me, and second, for casting me adrift." 
 
 " Are you still in the same mood? " 
 
 " No, Catus, in my present consciousness of life, 
 things and ideas conventional mean but little. I 
 realize that at the very source^of my^stream of 
 existence there was a pure and sparkling spring, 
 stronger, more crystal because -it was nature's 
 own than the muddy fountain of most individual 
 " existences doomed to live and die on earth. I have
 
 298 KL, RESHID 
 
 lately learned to love my mother, my beautiful, 
 beautiful mother." Aleppo looked earnestly at 
 Catus, with tears in his eyes. ' ; Do you know, my 
 friend, I believe she is dead I feel her presence at 
 times, as though she touched me. She used to 
 hate me, I am sure, but she loves me now, persis 
 tently, entirely. I believe she is dead. " 
 
 '' She is," said Catus. 
 
 " How know you that ? " he turned quickly. 
 
 "So said Romanes." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 For a full half-hour they rode silently; no word 
 was spoken. 
 
 "Caesar," said Aleppo, at last, "my father 
 shall I yet see my father ? ' ' 
 
 " If we escape this accursed Jew." 
 
 " I fail to understand you," said Aleppo. 
 
 " Of course you understand that you were kid 
 napped at Karnak." 
 
 " No, you mistake; I went with Issachar of my 
 own free will. I was taken ill and he brought me 
 down the Nile to Cairo. He may have drugged me, 
 I presume that he did, but I bad agreed to go with 
 him to my parents. Afterward, I decided to do 
 differently, to visit Damascus, and he objected, 
 holding'me to my original proposition, and I am 
 simply running away. I had a horror of Issachar, 
 but it has gone; he has been kind and just with 
 me, and though I realise that the love of power is
 
 ON THE CAMEL'S BACK 299 
 
 the prime motive 'in ^his case, yet will I not con 
 demn him unfairly." 
 
 " May it not be money? " said Catus. 
 
 " In that you mistake him again," said Aleppo; 
 " money with him is a means to an end; nor is he 
 a miser. Power over circumstances and men, is 
 his aim and revenge, perhaps, his object." 
 
 "I take issue with you. Issachar is a black 
 magician." 
 
 " Nevertheless," answered Aleppo, " if power is 
 at the base of white magic, it must be at the bot 
 tom of black also. Even the word magic is a mis 
 nomer to all save the ignorant." 
 
 They halted for breakfast. It was quickly 
 over; there was no time to lose. Once mounted 
 and moving again, they renewed their conversation. 
 
 " If we succeed in getting to Damascus you will 
 sit at the feet of El Reshid," said Catus. 
 
 " Caesar, you have had a good teacher," Aleppo 
 beamed on him with one of his fascinating smiles 
 '' but, after all, one can help another but little. 
 Experience is the schoolmaster and nature is the 
 mother Mahatma in whose lap we sit." 
 
 " That is all very well, Aleppo, but everybody 
 is experiencing everybody, not a soul escapes ; if 
 not in one way, he gets his training in another ; 
 yet, there are but few Masters." 
 
 " In that you are right. The teacher gives you 
 the first few rules in arithmetic, and you work out 
 the problems for yourself. A master knows the for-
 
 300 EL RESHID 
 
 mulas, which are the result of empiricism ; the 
 novice practices by them, and possibly discovers 
 another receipt for himself. The teacher is neces 
 sary, but in time he goes his way; experimental 
 knowledge, however, is yours while life lasts." 
 
 " Still you will go to El Reshid." 
 
 " Still will I go to El Reshid. I am young but 
 a boy; my experience has been but slight, and in 
 much, negative; in all save determination and a 
 consciousness of my true self, T am as ignorant as 
 a child just learning to walk. Ah! when first I 
 catch sight of the domes and minarets of Damas 
 cus; when I scent the flower-breath of Syria, and 
 walk by the side of El Reshid, I shall feel the joy 
 of one who talks with a Master and holds council 
 with a god." 
 
 ' ' How do you know all this ; no one has told 
 you? " 
 
 "From the touch of his letters, from the impulse, 
 the power. Have you ever beheld El Reshid ? " 
 
 "Yes, once, but you will be disappointed ; he is 
 but a simple man, even smaller in stature than 
 yourself. You doubtless expect to meet an aged, 
 long-bearded doctor of theology, or psychology, 
 or religion. El Reshid is nothing of the sort; he 
 is a person of affairs a man among men; he dis 
 dains the robe of a priest and dons that of a civil 
 ian ; nor does he drip sanctity from his finger-tips, 
 nor is he unctuous, nor sophomorically religious, 
 nor professional. Altogether, I presume you have
 
 ON THE CAMEL'S BACK: 301 
 
 built a man of straw, that will tumble when you 
 look at him." 
 
 At this, Aleppo laughed they both laughed. 
 " Hast thou known me so long, to treat me thus? " 
 said Aleppo, with a grandiloquent air. "Surely, 
 thou dreamest not that I seek a Parsee priest, or a 
 Dominican monk. After that which I have said to 
 thee to-day, thou must be mad but look! " 
 
 Both men stared eastward, over the desert. 
 
 " Is it a caravan ? " said Catus. 
 
 " I think not," Aleppo answered; " there seem 
 to be many horses; they travel faster than our 
 camels." 
 
 " Halt! " shouted Catus, bringing the five Arabs 
 of their party, with their animals, to a sudden 
 standstill . "To arms ! ' ' 
 
 Each man of them scrutinized his revolver, and 
 glanced along the edge of his knife. 
 
 " I would that the Bedouin were with us," said 
 Catus. 
 
 "And I." 
 
 " I am ignorant in this business; are you sure 
 that these Arabs are faithful ? " 
 
 "Hardly," said Aleppo, "the Bedouin was an 
 enemy in Issachar's camp, but it is hard to fix an 
 Arab Ah!" 
 
 ' ' Do you not see the stately form of Issachar ? With 
 what dignity he sits astride his horse ! though I fail 
 as yet to discern his features, about that figure I 
 have no doubt. ' '
 
 302 EL RESHID 
 
 " The devil's to pay ! " said Catus between his 
 teeth, taking a cigar from his pocket and viciously 
 biting off its end. 
 
 " Even if these five Arabs are loyal and true they 
 will be as nothing against twenty mounted men," 
 said Aleppo. " Issachar will take me by force, but 
 have no fear, Catus, for sometimes the weak get the 
 better of the strong." 
 
 They were coming nearer. The five Arabs grew 
 restless and exchanged glances, showing a woeful 
 lack of courage and determination. In a short time 
 the mounted men with the Jew leading rode along 
 beside the small caravan that made no resistance 
 whatever. "The faithful " had given the lie to the 
 appellation and neither used their revolvers nor 
 knives. 
 
 " Shall I shoot him down ? ' ' said Catus to Aleppo 
 as Issachar rode toward them. 
 
 " For the love of El Reshid, no! what could you 
 gain ? Those Arabs would tear us to pieces; our 
 camels are but slow beasts." 
 
 Never had Issachar appeared so superb. On a 
 magnificerit Arabian horse which he completely 
 held in check, his outer robe abandoned, and his 
 closely fitting undergarments exposing his match 
 less physique, his eyes glittering with mockery, his 
 teeth all displayed, he glanced over the pitiful array 
 of humpy camels and shriveled Arabs, with the 
 imperial gaze of a conquerer, who designs no ex 
 planation and offers no excuse.
 
 ON THE CAMEL'S BACK 303 
 
 " Well " said Catus sneeringly. 
 
 ' ' Well, ' ' came the reply with that ineffable smile. 
 
 ' ' What would you have ? ' ' 
 
 "Aleppo Romanes." 
 
 1 ' How did you track us, ' ' said Catus bitter with 
 impatience, at the same time throwing away his 
 cigar and cocking his revolver. 
 
 " Trust Issachar for that; the bird needs no chart 
 nor compass to cross the ocean; the bee can find its 
 hive." 
 
 " Let me deal with him, "said Aleppo dismount 
 ing; " So you would take me again." 
 
 "I would," said the Jew; "did I not bargain to 
 deliver thee to thy father ? Issachar never breaks 
 his word." 
 
 "And did I not inform you," answered Aleppo 
 looking him full in the eyes, " that I desired first 
 to go to Damascus; am I not a man of age ? " 
 
 " Thy birthday is of little account to me 
 mount ! ' ' 
 
 " A revolver was fired into the air as a signal, 
 and Catus seized from behind and disarmed; then 
 Aleppo was lifted into the saddle of a pawing, 
 foaming-mouthed Arabian horse and lashed to its 
 back; his arms being taken from him and his hands 
 tied. The five Arabs in the meantime had yielded 
 their pistols and knives with a willingness too sug 
 gestive to be misunderstood. Then the Jew turned 
 to Caesar Catus, who had lost his temper and was 
 white with rage.
 
 304 BI< RESHID 
 
 "I have no need of thee; proceed to Cairo; these 
 Arabs are safe guides. Report to the authorities, 
 set the hounds of Egypt on my track, yet Issachar 
 thou wilt not find. March on ! " 
 
 But Catus shouted over his shoulder as they rode 
 away "A hound there is that will be one too 
 many for you; even Satan fears El Reshid." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 A GRIP ON SELF. 
 
 O moon ! if but my heart were cold like thine, 
 If all my glow were but reflected light, 
 If icy heights were only mine, ah mine ! 
 How calmly would I gaze on thee to-night. 
 
 Rhea watched the full orb ascend the wondrous 
 blue of an Egyptian sky, and longed for the cold, 
 the death, the calm of the moon, when desire 
 should turn to ashes and the hot passion of the soul 
 to ice. She strove to forget Aleppo, but found it 
 as impossible as to annihilate self; he was the 
 Response of which she had always been conscious 
 even when she knew him by no name nor person. 
 Alas, it was still the same she felt him, she 
 realized, yet with a difference. He had gone away 
 out of the path in which she traveled to another 
 where she longed to follow, but in vain. 
 
 They had left the great hotel and taken a little 
 house where Mrs. Hancock was more content.
 
 A GRIP ON SKIvF 305 
 
 Rhea had come out to the veranda on this wonder 
 ful night, and, like a rare, cold wraith with folded 
 hands, she sat under the flood of lunar glory, all 
 her anguish condensed and glowing in her eyes. 
 
 A young man came rapidly toward her up the 
 path of the yard, and removed his hat. In the 
 vague light she failed at first to recognize him, 
 then with a quick throb of the blood, knew it to be 
 Caesar Catus. She gave him both hands, then 
 offered him a chair by her side, and waited, breath 
 less. 
 
 If Rhea had been beautiful as a "giddy girl," 
 she was more tantalizing and distracting now. 
 
 A woman thrilled by a grand passion, touched 
 by the finger of destiny, doomed to tragedy, is 
 bound by the very nature of herself to intoxicate 
 and enthral others She is a consuming fire and 
 the sparks fly; she is a still frenzy that sends its 
 vibration to the depths of man's soul. 
 
 At the touch of her hand Caesar temporarily for 
 got his errand, was false to Aleppo, and repudiated 
 the Order. As their eyes met he seemed to see the 
 river Lethe flowing, winding, coiling, in that calm 
 shadowy elysium where death claims its phantom 
 bride. She was consuming herself and he longed 
 to plunge into the flame. 
 
 The dangerous charm of such women as Rhea is 
 more often felt than acknowledged. It is subtle, 
 beyond analysis; and has its bases in the pure 
 passion of soul which knows no outlet through the
 
 306 EL RESHID 
 
 channel of the gross; it is the fiery heat of the 
 heart's center thrown off through the glance and 
 touch; it is the extreme of feeling that in its re 
 action has power to harden to ice. 
 
 Catus should never have seen nor approached 
 her, for to him she was dangerous. With the demi 
 monde he associated freely, striving to help and 
 reform; and came and went among them as un 
 sullied as a Christ. But this living poem, Rhea, 
 chaste as snow, yet paradox of paradox, burning 
 with the inextinguishable fire of Vesta, was over 
 whelming to the heart of Catus. When first he saw 
 her, he fell in love, and since, for months he dreamed 
 and hoped, till that bitter day in Venice, when she 
 told him by letter the little secret that well nigh 
 broke his heart. But Catus was a man of many 
 sides a diamond that flashed in all tints; he lived 
 numerous lives, and traversed star after star where 
 Eve was not. 
 
 The two, Caesar and Aleppo, had never men 
 tioned Rhea to each other. It is the habit of men 
 of fine feeling to keep silence on such subjects, 
 deeming them sacred. 
 
 Catus had come to Rhea to tell her of her lover, 
 to answer her letter in person, to put himself to the 
 test, and here he was by her side in the glamour of 
 the moon, beneath the trellis of roses, gazing into 
 her fathomless eyes. For the time being, she was 
 his; Aleppo was lost, perhaps dead, why not tell 
 her so, and catch the bird with broken wings as it
 
 A GRIP ON SELF 307 
 
 fell ; for comfort she would lean on him his breast ; 
 O bliss ! To gaze and gaze into her eyes, to read 
 and feel her soul day after day away philosophy; 
 farewell reason ! adieu sweet dream of Damascus, 
 and the white peak of Olympus ! A frenzy of 
 passion, a burning look, a kiss, outweighs them all ! 
 
 But above this seething volcano of his heart sat 
 loyalty enthroned. He had a friend, Aleppo 
 Romanes, a friend ; he had stood once in the 
 presence of El Reshid, and more, he had sworn 
 fealty to truth. He turned his eyes from Rhea to 
 the cold moon a man sometimes does in a moment 
 the work of years; he fixed his gaze in despera 
 tion on the lunar peaks, lofty, frozen, rigid, and 
 became like unto them. Rhea felt the chill and drew 
 herself away; half frightened she turned her glance 
 from Catus and fixed it on a withered rose. 
 
 "Miss Neiliuo, I have lately seen Aleppo 
 Romanes." 
 
 She trembled, but said nothing. 
 
 "He was taken by Jacob Issachar, a Jew, and 
 concealed on the desert; rescued, a few days ago, 
 by a Bedouin and myself, to be captured again 
 some miles out from Cairo." 
 
 He related, in a cold business voice, what 
 he knew of the lover of Rhea up to the day 
 that Issachar had retaken him. And all the 
 time that he talked he kept his eyes fixed on 
 the lunar peaks, knowing that this rebound in 
 himself was only temporary, and that, later, he
 
 308 EL RESHID 
 
 would have a battle to fight. To Rhea he seemed 
 unsympathetic, unkind; in a sense she was indig 
 nant. Strange, too, the history of Aleppo in no way 
 surprised her; it was as she had supposed, even to 
 his desire to go to Damascus, and was but a con 
 firmation of the profound intuition, from which her 
 sorrow had sprung. 
 
 Caesar wondered if, after all, her love for Aleppo 
 was but shallow, she seemed so little impressed by 
 the tale he had told. 
 
 " Mr. Catus," she was rigid, like a statue 
 "does Mr. Bracciolini propose to join some mystic 
 order and devote his life and energy to the same ? ' ' 
 
 " He has never so stated to me. " 
 
 " Why, then, does he seek the instructions of 
 one whom you call El Reshid, and fly from his 
 friends and me ? ' ' 
 
 " I suppose, said Catus, " he feels that the reve 
 lation made to him by Issachar, at Karnak, has cut 
 him off irotn the world of conventional love and 
 friendship, and forced him to philosophy." 
 
 ' ' Issachar did not abduct him ? ' ' 
 
 " So Aleppo stated; but there is no doubt about 
 the second taking off, it was a capture." 
 
 ' ' When he was here, Mr. Catus, at the house of 
 the Jew, why did you not call the authorities and 
 release Aleppo ?" said Rhea, severely. 
 
 ' ' I was uncertain whether he were here or not ; 
 I had a suspicion that he might be, from some facts 
 that I had gathered, so I called at Issachar 's shop
 
 A GRIP ON SELF 309 
 
 and met Spino. The old housekeeper informed 
 me that a young man was above stairs. From her 
 description of him I felt quite certain that it was 
 he; then I went off, to return later, with a detec 
 tive and officers in wake, but the woman announced 
 that Issachar and his prisoner had departed. I 
 instituted a private search in my own way, and 
 later, through the help of others, with whom I 
 associated, discovered his whereabouts. The Bed 
 ouin in charge of Issachar 's tents is a spy in his 
 camp and a friend of my own; whether Issachar 
 knows this or not no one can tell ; Issachar 's inner 
 most thoughts are a sealed book, and his character 
 also, for that matter." There was a long pause; 
 Rhea said nothing and Catus looked at the moon, 
 finally Rhea broke the silence with this startling 
 question 
 
 " When can I see Aleppo ? ' ' 
 
 " That is hard to answer, Miss Nellino. I have 
 no idea where the Jew has concealed him, nor 
 whether we are more than a match for Issachar. I 
 shall let you know everything, however." 
 
 Catus has kept a good grip on himself thus far, 
 but the strain was telling. To stand by this beau 
 tiful sufferer and freeze her, because he dare not do 
 otherwise for fear of himself, was a cruelty too 
 refined, even for a man of his nerve. He could 
 bear his own pain, but to witness hers also, con 
 scious that she misunderstood and accused him, was 
 a test that he felt he had better dispense with. He
 
 310 EL RESHID 
 
 knew himself well; should he condole with her. 
 love would speak from his eyes, his whole being 
 would betray it; he rose quickly 
 
 " Miss Nellino, everything will be done to rescue 
 Aleppo, by those most interested. Issachar is pow 
 erful, yet I believe there are others more so. Be 
 assured that I shall send you whatever encourag 
 ing news we get, good-night." 
 
 He had gone. Rhea's misery lay, not so much 
 in the personal absence of her lover, as in her 
 struggle with herself; she suffered also from the 
 apparent indifference of Catus. The souls of most 
 men she read quickly, but here was a sphinx. That 
 he loved her, she never dreamed; that he was cold 
 and unkind there was no denying; the origin of 
 this apparent iciness puzzled her also. Was it but 
 seeming did he wear a mask ? 
 
 In her generally confused state she stood dazed, 
 before the great problem of love and life, power 
 less to summon her reason or subdue her passion, 
 yet, in all this medley and incoherence, she was con 
 scious that she and Aleppo loved eternally, and 
 were parted fatally. 
 
 "If I were to die," she said to herself, " it is 
 possible that we might meet but this living 
 living! " The thought stiuck her fancy " if I 
 were to die even though I prayed to Aleppo, even 
 though I forced him to remain near, he would be 
 wretched for my sake; though I cared not a whit 
 for family or name, he would care. I am not good,
 
 311 
 
 like Aleppo; the spritual heights are too far. No 
 power can keep me from him in thought, memory, 
 love but oh , to touch his hand ! For your whole 
 life, Rhea Nellino, you are widowed your hus 
 band is in heaven and you wear black. The years 
 are so many. Oh, God! is it wrong to take one's 
 life ? " 
 
 " Yes, said a strange voice, apparently at her 
 side. She turned quickly, there was no one near ; 
 the veranda was empty, save the chairs. 
 
 " Who was that ? " she asked, in a whisper; but 
 there came no answer, and everywhere was still 
 ness, like the grave. She was shocked to the center 
 of herself, and clung to the rail for support; her 
 face white as the dead, her tragic, frightened eyes 
 glowing like twin stars; then a strange thing 
 happened; clairvoyantly, like a memory, there 
 appeared on her mental horizon the form of a man; 
 it was an interior picture, and to get it better, she 
 covered her face with her hands; his intense eyes 
 weie fixed on her, as though to hold, in their fires, 
 her very soul, and under their persistent gaze she 
 grew serene, as if she had become himself, and 
 viewed all things with his far-seeing glance. A 
 smile stole over her lips as she thought of the 
 coming years " so few" he seemed to say, "so 
 few!" What he thought, she thought; what he 
 felt, she felt; and then, in the depths of her con 
 sciousness she realized El Reshid, who had com 
 manded the surging flow of her soul to subside;
 
 312 EL, RESHID 
 
 who had transformed the muse of tragedy to a 
 patron saint of song; who had brought harmony 
 out of chaos, and life out of death. 
 
 She neither reasoned nor questioned; the heathen 
 had found her idol, the Pagan her sacred shrine. 
 
 How he had impressed her, how he had reached 
 her, she had no idea; whether by mind's subtlety, 
 which, being the opposite of matter, works by 
 reverse laws, whether by pure will, or inexplicable 
 sympathy she knew not. He had come the sun 
 had flashed on the night and lo, the day ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 
 
 " I believe in the tower of Babel," said Regan. 
 
 " Why? " asked Sallus who had settled himself 
 for a comfortable evening in his den. 
 
 " Because the confusion of tongues must have 
 started somewhere, and Babel was as good a place 
 as any." 
 
 They were living together in Sallus' room 
 opposite to the house of Issachar; had spent a 
 whole day in fixing it up, and it was literally loaded 
 with bazaar wares picked out in a hurry. The 
 place was an improvisation a sort of four-handed 
 duet in which Sallus and Regan took part. 
 
 The flies had been driven out, screens placed in
 
 THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES 313 
 
 the windows, and the floor covered with oriental 
 -rugs, while a couple of divans were so arranged 
 that they answered both for night and day. They 
 had a coffee pot, an alcohol lamp, Turkish candies 
 and bon bons; altogether between the two they 
 made a cozy place of it, and chumming as they did, 
 were devoted to each other. Sallus continued to 
 look upon Regan as the greatest of philosophers 
 and drew him out on all occasions. 
 
 "No matter what kind of a study you take up," 
 went on Regan, " you are pestered to death with 
 long names; if it's botany your memory is punished 
 with L,eontodon, Taraxacum, Sarothamnus, Scopa- 
 rarius, Janipha, Manihot, etc., as though corolla 
 and pistils and stamen were not slanderous enough 
 without blaspheming flowers and plants in that 
 way. If you tackle biology you make your evolu 
 tion even uglier than it ought to be by disgracing 
 the process with kinetogenesis, Brachiopoda, Cin- 
 cinulus, and lots more. The heavens have to suffer 
 too; astronomy gets in its S-Z-N-3 S-3-P-N-Z. 
 But psychology gives us the biggest dose, especially 
 when it goes around in guise of mental science, 
 magnetic healing and oriental occidentalism ; 
 under that latter we have Sanskrit words that make 
 our jaws ache regular mouthfuls. I tell you Sal 
 the tower of Babel was no joke. For my part I 
 can't imagine what sort of a teacher 'twould be who 
 would come out and talk plain English, just speak 
 like other people without a sprinkling of scientific
 
 314 EL RESHID 
 
 terms, or Hindu provincialism, or Arabian dialect, to 
 say nothing of Pali. Wisdom looks mighty absurd 
 spouting such ear-splitting syllables; in fact I some 
 times doubt if it is wisdom at all that does it. 
 Besides there's the ranting, as if a man was obliged 
 to lengthen his face an inch or more, and assume a 
 punctilious drawl whenever he talks on religion, or 
 life after death; the air doesn't need sawing as I 
 know of, when salvation's talked about, or hell. 
 What on earth a man rises on his toes for, to sink 
 on his heels, when he speaks in the vernacular of 
 the saints, is beyond me. Sanctimoniousness goes 
 along with preachers as smiles do with pretty 
 women, they study for it I tell you my boy, both of 
 them; they train their voices to oiliness and unc- 
 tuousness just as women teach themselves to 
 laugh." 
 
 " That's the gospel truth," said Sallus. 
 
 " Sure," went on Regan, " once in a while there's 
 an exception though, and to that blessed exception 
 I take off my hat always; he's as refreshing as a 
 thunder shower that means business. When a man 
 speaks plain English or French or anything, I don't 
 care whether he's biologist, psychologist, archaeolo 
 gist, physiologist, to say nothing of religionist, I 
 believe in that fellow and feel pretty certain that he's 
 in dead earnest. Words ought to be fired at you like 
 bullets; 'twould be a mighty smart man though, that 
 could shoot one of those Sanskrit jaw breakers so 
 'twould hit anywhere. Science makes a fool of itself,
 
 THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES 315 
 
 too; when a man gets stuck on a problem and don't 
 know where he's at, whether it's the germ theory 
 or some other, he just fills his mouth up with big 
 words and spews them at you; when they are so 
 almighty large that they can't find entrance, he just 
 crawls into them, and when he's hard put, they're 
 a regular place of refuge. I tell you that sort of a 
 person thinks he's smart, and hfe is too, after a 
 fashion; he deludes nine people out of ten every - 
 time, impressing them so that they hold their 
 breath and inwardly curse themselves for ignor 
 amuses. Talk about swearing, it is nothing, my 
 boy, nothing to this sort of blasphemy." 
 
 " What are you going to do about it," said 
 Sallus. 
 
 "That's the fix I'm in, I don't know; if ever I 
 find a fellow though, that can cut off a word in 
 regular staccato, I'll build a big hall and set him 
 going. Come in ! " 
 
 The door opened, and Caesar Catus entered. 
 Both Sallus and Regan received him very coldly, 
 neither bidding him welcome nor offering him a 
 chair. Caesar paid no attention to the breach of 
 courtesy, but to the inward admiration of Regan, 
 used but few words and went straight to the point. 
 
 " I've come to rid your mind of suspicion, and to 
 set myself in the right light before you, for I need 
 your help." 
 
 "Well?" said Regan, tersely. 
 
 ' ' You have been led to believe that I am hand
 
 316 BI, RESHID 
 
 and glove with the Jew Jacob Issachar; you are 
 mistaken. I discovered and rescued Bracciolini, 
 to lose him again near Cairo." 
 
 There !" said Regan, turning triumphantly to 
 Sallus, "I told you so!" Then both men rushed 
 at Catus, each grabbing a hand; he was not in an 
 effusive humor, however, nor would he sit down, 
 but stood near the door, as though ready to depart. 
 
 "There's no use in your staying here to watch 
 for Issachat; he will not return, at least, while we 
 three are in Cairo. He'll get to Constantinople, 
 if I'm not mistaken, and hide young Romanes in 
 the canine capital. You know Stamboul, go back 
 there and hound him down." 
 
 ' ' Done ! ' ' said Regan. 
 
 " Get off as soon as possible; ten to one he'll 
 beat us again. I confess I'm no match for him." 
 
 "Will you go with us, Mr. Catus?" asked 
 Salius." 
 
 "No; I have other work, but it bears on the 
 same thing. Start to-morrow or next day; simply 
 follow your own instincts. You know as much as I 
 do, except that I am confident that he is on the way 
 to the Bosporus." He took out a cigar and 
 lighted it at Regan's lamp, then, refusing their 
 pressing invitation to stay longer, after telling them 
 a few of the particulars about Aleppo's life on the 
 desert, hurried off, saying that time was precious 
 and he had much to do. 
 
 "Biz at last," said Regan,
 
 THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES 317 
 
 " I should smile," answered Sallus. Both men 
 were excited aud delighted. Suddenly, Sallus, 
 who was pacing the floor, brought up with a 
 round turn. "How about Spino and Cicily? " 
 
 "Great Scott! said Regan, under his breath, 
 " have I come to that ? ' ' 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Eloping with Spino." 
 
 "Not necessarily," Sallus looked uneasy and 
 worried. " I'm not quite sure of either of them, 
 but I'll give that girl a fair trial if I know myself." 
 
 "If we spirit them away," answered Regan, 
 " Issachar will find it out and take his revenge on 
 Aleppo; " 'twont do; hands off those women till 
 that boy of ours is found." 
 
 ' ' Shake, ' ' said Sallus, loyal unto death, though it 
 cost him a pretty hard spasm of the heart; secretly 
 he loved Cicily, good or bad, he loved her, but 
 friendship first and love afterwards, though it 
 hurt. 
 
 " Tell you what we'll do," said Regan, who felt 
 the boy's pain, "we'll keep up a secret corre 
 spondence with them, and leave somebody here 
 on guard, and later we'll come back and capture 
 them both, bag and baggage; that is, if they turn 
 out all right." 
 
 At this Sallus brightened and looked at his 
 watch. " Guess I'll run over there and explain the 
 whole business; I suppose we'll leave this room 
 just as it is ? "
 
 318 EL RESHID 
 
 " Sure, why not; I'll rent it indefinitely, and it'll 
 be here when we come back, and we can turn in 
 just as usual. A little run over to Stamboul is 
 nothing. " This settled, Sallus went over to Cicily. 
 
 " Now, about Rhea ? " said Regan to himself, 
 ' ' what am I going to do about Rhea ? Why, tell 
 her of course; I might as well get over with it first 
 as last I'll go now." ' 
 
 A half hour later, he was settled in Rhea's little 
 parlor, relating to that young lady his plans. 
 
 " You see, Miss Nellino, we'll get back to Con 
 stantinople in a jiffy, and dig up the foundations of 
 the whole city, if it comes to that. I'm fond of 
 Aleppo, and I don't take kindly to losing him, but 
 beinrr i,, _, by a Jew is worse yet. I have found 
 r.'j vocation it is just this setting Jews and 
 Yankees on to each other; it suits me exactly, I'm 
 mighty grateful to Aleppo for giving me this 
 chance." 
 
 ' ' Rhea was quite herself again and beamed on 
 Regan as she had done in days of old. 
 
 " Can you tell me Mr. Regan anything about the 
 girl Cicily, whom Sallus has taken such a liking 
 to? " 
 
 "Not exactly, except that she's pretty and she 
 knows it." 
 
 " She would be a strange woman if she didn't," 
 answered Rhea laughing. 
 
 'Spino's the daisy though," said Regan; " you 
 had better go to see them Miss Nellino; one doesn't
 
 THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES 319 
 
 meet more than one such couple in a lifetime. Tell 
 you, if you want to find odds and ends, stay in Cairo; 
 Cicily and Spino make the Alpha and Omega the 
 first and the last the best and the worst as to 
 looks. By the way Miss Nellino, .you've grown 
 thinner." 
 
 " Have I ? "coloring, " I expect you are men 
 tally drawing a contrast between me and Miss 
 Cicily; please don't." 
 
 " Can't help it Miss Rhea, though it's quite in 
 your favor. Will you leave Cairo? " 
 
 " Perhaps." 
 
 " And where next ? " 
 
 " I don't know," looking at him pathetically 
 with tears gathering in her eyes. 
 
 Regan was like all tender hearted men, and 
 woman's tears overcame him. He dared not console 
 her, so he rose abruptly and decided that he must 
 
 go- 
 
 " Now look here Miss Nellino" he had her 
 hand in his ' ' women as a rule have mighty little 
 effect on me, but you've broke me of the tobacco 
 habit, and anybody that stops another from chew 
 ing, is pretty powerful, if I do say it. I don't want 
 to be a fool nor seem soft, but before we part, which 
 may be forever, I've got to thank you for all you've 
 done for me. To know a woman like you Miss 
 Rhea, is to be converted; and the best of it is that 
 you never try to do anything at all; you're just you; 
 that's about the size of it; and a man like me has
 
 320 EL RES HID 
 
 got to duck his head when he comes your way, he 
 can't help it. There's one thing more I want to 
 say to you before I make my run for the Bosporus" 
 all the time holding her hand in a firm grip 
 "that young man, Bracciolini, or Aleppo or 
 Romanes or whoever he may be, is all right; he's 
 sound as a nut and as true as gold ; he rings like 
 the genuine coin; I've tried him. Now don't you 
 worry and grow thin and all that; we'll dig him up 
 yet, Sallus and I; so you just go in for having a 
 good time, and sleeping nights and eating and sing 
 ing and dancing and we'll do the rest. L,ots of love 
 to you Miss Nellino, good bye. " 
 
 Rhea was dumb for a moment, but held on to 
 him with tight grip, so much did she hate to see 
 him go a genuine comforter, every word that he 
 said went straight to her heart and remained there 
 forever. 
 
 "Mr. Regan, I love you devotedly; you're my 
 friend, my brother, you make one bright spot in my 
 life, without any shadow good-bye." 
 
 She followed him to the door, and threw a kiss 
 after him, as he went down the garden path. It 
 was the last time that he ever saw Rhea Nellino.
 
 THE FIGHT IS ON 321 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 THE FIGHT IS ON. 
 
 Romanes was patient, and for the first time in 
 his existence, allowed himself to float with the tide. 
 His one desire was to meet and talk with his son 
 Aleppo, yet even that he curbed, trusting to the 
 mighty hand of El Reshid to bring about the event. 
 He lived at his hotel in Genoa, receiving frequent 
 letters from Caesar Catus, but otherwise quite isolate, 
 though surrounded by a crowd. His rooms were 
 simple hotel apartments, bare of the books and 
 works of art to which he had been accustomed, nor 
 did he seem to miss them, nor all the little atten 
 tions formerly paid him by his servants at his own 
 house. He waited upon himself, and spent a great 
 portion of his time in introspection and deep thought. 
 If his eyes had been less restless he would have 
 seemed to have reached a condition of serenity, but 
 his intense, shifting glance showed his anxiety and 
 betrayed the secret of a fiery, oriental nature held 
 in check but not subdued. 
 
 Though he knew that El Reshid was behind 
 Aleppo, as for himself, he felt no influence from 
 that quarter, nor did Catus keep him informed as
 
 322 EL RESHID 
 
 to the efforts made in regard to his son. Catus' 
 letters were simply philosophic and friendly, advis 
 ing him to cultivate patience and endurance. At 
 times Romanes felt bitter over this; he was by 
 nature a commander, and obedience, to him was a 
 new role, but" he understood ; he had been drilled 
 in the formulas, and had drank at the fountain of 
 wisdom ; so he continued at Genoa, passive with 
 out, fiery within. 
 
 One evening, weeks after Catus had left him, the 
 servant handed him a card. The name inscribed 
 caused him a flutter of the heart, but outwardly he 
 showed great indifference and ordered his caller to 
 be admitted at once. A moment later, Jacob 
 Issachar entered the room and spreading both 
 hands, palms outward, bowed low. Romanes greeted 
 him with a slight inclination of the head, not even 
 rising as a cordial host would do. 
 
 " I suppose you have learned," said he, without 
 beating about the bush in the least, " that Helene 
 Cressey is dead and that whatever contract she may 
 have made with you in regard to our son, went out 
 with her ' ' 
 
 - Issachar showed all his teeth and looked Romanes 
 over from head to foot. 
 
 "Furthermore I repudiate you. Madame Cres 
 sey 's Vienna property belongs to Aleppo. You 
 know me of old Jacob Issachar; we crossed swords 
 once in the Order. " 
 
 Romanes was now upon his feet and stepping
 
 THE FIGHT IS ON 323 
 
 close to Issachar, challenged him with a look from 
 which another would have shrunk; not so the Jew. 
 With equal coolness he arranged the folds of his 
 robe and growing slightly taller, said in a melodious 
 voice, "Very well do I remember I forget nothing.' 
 
 " Traitor !" said Romanes under his breath, 
 "false to El Reshid and the brothers, false to 
 Helene Cressey and my son, how dare you, know 
 ing me as you do, come here like a bargaining Jew, 
 to barter for the freedom of Aleppo Romanes ! ' ' 
 
 "And thou," answed Issachar in slightly acceler 
 ated speech, " thou, I presume, hast never failed 
 the Order, nor broken a sacred vow. Thou who 
 knowest something of the Rosy Cross and the 
 moon-struck lotus, thou who realizest the completed 
 square and the symbolic cone, thou, I presume " 
 drawing his thin lips taut over his glittering teeth 
 "thou, of all others, hast the supreme right to 
 call me a traitor, and thyself, a god." 
 
 For an instant Romanes bowed his head, then 
 rose to his full height, and, as if by magic, there 
 came to his face and figure the virile look of youth. 
 Slowly, each syllable vibrating with the resonance 
 of supreme contempt, he spat at the Jew, these 
 words. 
 
 ' ' Canst thou face El Reshid ? ' ' 
 
 Issachar 's swarthy countenance, for an instant, 
 took on the hue of death, but bracing himself with 
 a supreme effort of will, he stooped, till his eyes 
 were on level with -those of the man by his side,
 
 324 BL 
 
 and thrusting his head forward like a reptile about 
 to sting, hissed these venomous words in the ear of 
 Romanes 
 
 " I have thy son, cursed traitor to the Order ! do 
 thou my bidding, or I tighten the coils. " 
 
 The two men glared glared. 
 
 " Seest thou this knife? " drawing the slim steel 
 from his sleeve. "I swear to thee it shall pierce 
 the heart of Aleppo Romanes, if thou darest to 
 defy me; I am Issachar, the Jew ! " 
 
 For an instant the color left Romanes' face; a 
 startled look came into his eyes; he clutched at .the 
 chair, threw a flash at the door, then the old fire 
 of the autocrat blazed. 
 
 ' ' I am without arms, or I would shoot you like a 
 dog; had I the strength, I would tear you limb 
 from limb. You seem my master, vile cur of Stam- 
 boul, but beware how you lay hands on Aleppo 
 Romanes. 
 
 "You, too, know something of the Rosy Cross, 
 and the moon-struck lotus; you, too, have realized 
 the completed square and deadly cone. Beware, 
 dog of a Jew! Are the powers dead that send the 
 lightning with the thunder; are the invisible wires 
 cut; has the Damascan blade lost its edge? Beware, 
 I tell you, or faster than the speed of thought will 
 come the avenger, to strike you in your tracks, and 
 toss your rotting carcass to the carrion fiends of 
 hell!" 
 
 " Art thou done? " said Issachar.
 
 THE FIGHT IS ON 325 
 
 " No! give me the dagger." 
 
 At this, the Jew bared his arm and drew the 
 sharp, gleaming steel quickly across his naked 
 flesh, making three long and ghastly lines in the 
 form of a strange symbol, from which the blood 
 fell. 
 
 "Thy son has this vile mark upon his back, 
 Henrique Romanes;" he held out his bleeding 
 arm "'tis the 'devil's own;' he is one of us; 
 wheresoever he goeth he is cursed, living or dead 
 he is mine; even in hell is the sign known and 
 Issachar feared. In face of this, I offer him release; 
 in face of this, I abjure my right and title a Jew 
 can keep his word. What manner of father art 
 thou, that for the sake of ' filthy coin ' thou canst 
 damn thy flesh and blood forever." 
 
 " And art thou done ? ' ' said Romanes. 
 
 "No," he wiped the blood from his arm and 
 sheathed his dagger " fulfill the contract of the 
 woman, Helene Cressey, and I renounce my right 
 and title to thy son." 
 
 They had been lunging with invisible swords in 
 deadly contest, thrusting like experts. Romanes 
 wiped the sweat from his dripping brow, and Issa 
 char swathed his wounded arm. 
 
 " If I refuse, you can but kill my son; and if I 
 yield, I grow yet blacker. Honor! To get it 
 back, I stake Aleppo." 
 "What! and thou take the chance? " 
 
 ' ' Hear me ! ' ' Romanes gripped the arm of Issa-
 
 326 KL RESHTI) 
 
 cher where the wound bled. "The fight is on, 
 tooth and nail! 'Tis a battle for life. Not so easily 
 can you subdue me. I will summon help at once. 
 Genoa shall shut its gates; in the sleeve of every 
 brother is a knife; in the glance of the faithful 
 lurketh death. I refuse you, Jacob Issachar, I 
 defy you; even mine own son shall paint me no 
 blacker. Go, you, and do your worst ! " 
 
 For the first time during the interview the Jew 
 concealed his teeth. The smile had vanished, and 
 with it the look of supreme self-confidence; some 
 thing of servility appeared, hid subtly beneath his 
 regal bearing; while a certain fawning motion of 
 the hand betrayed in him the velvet suavity of the 
 cat. 
 
 " And so thy powers are not yet blasted," he 
 said, casting a shifting glance upon Romanes; " I 
 remember well the day when thou didst summon a 
 legion to thy presence. Cheat not thyself, however, 
 into believing that thou art still the same. Even 
 El Reshid came at thy command, even he removed 
 his hat; then wert thou Master. I sank upon my 
 knee before thee in the dirt, I crawled upon my 
 belly, like a snake, and, grovelling, swore that thy 
 weak spot I would yet discover, and strike thee 
 there. Money! Ha! ha! on every coin I wrench 
 from thee is cut the word revenge. 
 
 " So thou dost bid me go and do the devil's work, 
 and thou will do thy worst thou! Ha! Genoa 
 hath no gates, nor are there brothers at thy elbow;
 
 THE PRISONER 327 
 
 even El Reshid stands aloof! Thy powers are not 
 yet blasted ! ha! ha!" 
 
 He watched his enemy as a dog who tries to 
 sneak away watches another; he dared not remove 
 his eyes. A change had taken place Romanes was 
 erect, autocratic, intense; the imperial look was on 
 his brow, the fire within his glance ; a veritable 
 commander, he cowed Issachar, and held him by 
 the undying thrill of memory, fast, glued, immov 
 able thus for a full minute; then, drawing a long, 
 barbaric sigh, that sounded like the breathing of a 
 dextrous tiger, Issachar grew smaller, more 
 evasive, and backed slowly, with a snake-like 
 motion, to the door, eye-to-eye with Romanes, 
 undulating, gliding, till, at last, reaching his hand 
 behind him, he twisted the latch and vanished in 
 the dark beyond. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 THE PRISONER. 
 
 Bunyau wrote his immortal work while in prison. 
 If the mind of man can stand the strain, if he have 
 power to think deeply and imagine sublimely, 
 though you put him behind the bars and turn the 
 key to his cell, yet in reality he escapes you, and 
 roams not only over earth but through the spaces 
 above. Though his floor be of stone, his bed of
 
 328 EL RESHID 
 
 straw and his bread a crust, yet will he dwell in a 
 palace and feast like a king. 
 
 Aleppo Romanes had been closely guarded from 
 the time of his capture on the Libyan desert till he 
 reached Stamboul. It is not necessary to explain 
 here the skill with which Issachar had concealed 
 him, nor the expedients used to enable him to 
 travel so long a distance undetected ; suffice it to 
 say that this was but child's play to the Jew, who 
 turned the lock finally on Aleppo in a house of his 
 own in that best of hiding places Constantinople. 
 The room in which young Romanes was imprisoned 
 was a gorgeous oriental apartment, more impress 
 ive with its subtle, evasive spices and scents than 
 would have been a common cell in an ordinary 
 jail. Every comfort was supplied him, and his 
 condition was quite different from his life in the 
 Arab tent on the desert. 
 
 In spite of his dainty dressing room and silk 
 oriental robes, in spite of the luxurious meals 
 served by black attendants, in spite of the books 
 scattered here and there, the harp, the mandolin 
 and the organ, he felt smothered and oppressed. 
 He had no outlook, save through the half-closed 
 shutters of a barred window, nor chance for exer 
 cise except on the thick pile of yielding rugs. He 
 was surfeited with luxury it was a positive horror. 
 The air, though pure from careful ventilation, was 
 loaded with a spicy incense which made its way 
 from the adjacent apartment through cracks in the
 
 12 
 
 THE FIGHT IS ON 329 
 
 doors, and kept Lis mental powers in a kind of 
 stupor that it took a supreme effort of the will to 
 throw off. The books, too, which were ever at 
 hand by his couch, on the window sill, under the 
 cushions of the divans, or concealed in the folds of 
 the curtains like so many evil spirits, intruded 
 their sensuous rottenness upon him at all times. 
 The worst selections of the greatest authors, while 
 never mediocre as to art, but devilish in intent, 
 were constantly appealing to his curiosity and forc 
 ing him to wander along paths where the flowers 
 were poison and the trees deadly. Nor could 
 Aleppo raise his eyes to the ceiling without resting 
 them on masterpieces that, having escaped the ac 
 cusation of being obscene, were yet so closely allied 
 to that which is vulgar, that to pronounce judgment 
 upon them was no easy task. In the great room 
 also, for the salon was very large, were tinted 
 statues entirely nude, of the hue of human flesh 
 and magical in their power of deluding the be 
 holder into the idea that they were truly alive 
 works of genius, every one, and so seductive 
 that he who would have destroyed them might be 
 termed either a brute, or a benefactor. In the im 
 mense window, where the thick iron bars were con 
 cealed with folds of exquisite lace, were potted 
 plants to which the black attended assiduously ; 
 all voluptuous, large-flowered, crossings from 
 hardier specimens that brazenly challenged his 
 eye like the wanton prostitutes of a brothel. Here
 
 330 UI< RESHID 
 
 Aleppo remained week after week, seeing none but 
 the black servants, who seemed to have lost their 
 tongues. 
 
 It must be remembered that Romanes was a 
 young man with the warm blood of the Orient in 
 his veins. Had he been incarcerated here a year 
 sooner he would most likely have fallen a temporary 
 prey to the hot novels which reached to him their 
 invisible hands like ghostly harlots. The busts and 
 statues must needs have excited unspeakable emo 
 tions, and the pictures have raised his pulse. The 
 rich food also, spiced and doctored with alcoholic 
 stimulants would have set him reeling, drunk with 
 luxury, for he was pampered with a questionable 
 cuisine. Even in his present a ndition of mind 
 and aspiration, hate as he might the refined lewd- 
 ness of the place, yet the artist in him revelled at 
 times in an almost insane pleasure which inevitably 
 transformed itself into pain. He sat for long hours 
 with his eyes closed, lest he see the pictures and 
 ceiling frescoes that transported him to a kind of 
 Bacchanalian Bohemia, where art ran riot, and love 
 degenerated into lust. He gleaned here and there 
 from the books, covering with a clean sheet of 
 paper those portions not fit for an aspiring soul, as 
 though by so concealing he had spread a swan's 
 white wing on a malaria-breeding pool. 
 
 Thus Aleppo kept himself unsullied though he 
 suffered as never before. He strove to combat the 
 enclosed environment with another which he con-
 
 THE FIGHT IS ON 331 
 
 jured constantly and saw, whenever he closed his 
 eyes. It was always the temple of Karnak, the 
 blue sky of Thebes, the sinuous Nile and Rhea. 
 This vision purified the very statues, repainted the 
 frescoes and extracted the poison from the books. 
 Test the soul with hardship, and if it be blessed 
 with the combativeness and resistance, it will grow 
 healthy and strong under the ordeal. The majority 
 of people improve with adversity, becoming wild, 
 hardy flowers with the breath of sweet violets. 
 But only the great can endure prosperity or grow 
 strong in the caressing arms of luxury. Imagine 
 this forced upon one to the extreme of cruelty and 
 you obtain some idea of the diabolism of Issachar 
 and the danger of Aleppo. 
 
 One day he was very tired, though never for a 
 moment had he lost the sense of the justice of all 
 things, and though he seemed to be a martyr, in a 
 certain aspect he was not, but only realizing the 
 effect of a far back cause for which he himself was 
 responsible, yet, nevertheless, he was very tired. 
 He had mentally petitioned El Reshid again and 
 again, but that great Master had apparently turned 
 his back. Catus, Regan and Sallus had somehow 
 missed him and Issachar alone was a mighty reality, 
 whom he had thus far failed to escape. The lan 
 guor of luxury had stolen into his blood and in a 
 measure paralyzed his wings. In truth it was but 
 temporary and seeming, his mental eye looked ever 
 eastward toward the rising sun, his shrine was as
 
 332 Ely RESHID 
 
 fixed as the Mecca of the Arab, yet on this particu 
 lar occasion he was wear}', sad. 
 
 It was time for the black to bring his evening 
 meal, he dreaded its arrival; the slimy, dumb brute, 
 that fawned about him, revolted his soul. The 
 door opened what ! a sweet smiling face looked in , 
 and a melodious voice said softly in Italian, "I'll 
 serve you to-night." 
 
 She was a seductive little Pagan, with long 
 narrow eyes, tinted finger nails, and naked arms, 
 over which draped the folds of a Greek gown to 
 cover them one moment and fall away the next, 
 displaying their ivory whiteness even to the 
 shoulders. She hovered about, touching him now 
 and then, but saying little and exciting his curiosity 
 by a thousand airs and graces which both charmed 
 and repelled; at least she was something new, a 
 relief from the sensuous monstrosity of the few last 
 weeks and a great improvement on the dumb black. 
 
 He was a little happier for the coming of the 
 woman for a time. The negroes had entirely 
 vanished, and she in their place waited upon Aleppo 
 as though she were the slave of a Sultan. He had 
 begun to like her in a grateful way, from the first 
 he had admired her for her grace and artistic 
 beauty, for she made a new picture of herself at 
 each turn of her head and was a hundred women 
 in one, in her postures and poses, kind as a sister, 
 watchful as a mother; Aleppo must indeed have
 
 THE FIGHT IS ON 333 
 
 been a brute had he not longed for her coming and 
 sighed at her departure. 
 
 This went on for days. One evening she brought 
 his supper, and as she placed the tray at his side 
 she threw her arms about his neck and declared 
 that she loved him. It was a critical moment in 
 which young Romanes, with more ease than one 
 would have supposed possible, gently put the girl 
 away, conscious at the same time that her so-called 
 love was not only a false passion but a part of the 
 game of Issachar. He urged her to fly from this 
 house of wickedness, ere she became an absolute 
 prisoner like himself. Then the fetid nature of the 
 vile woman displayed itself; she laughed in his face 
 and treated him to a volley of lingual obscenity the 
 like of which had never struck his ears before. In 
 all his young life he had heard nothing of this kind 
 nor had he dreamed that it could be. He ordered 
 the young girl from the apartment, and his eyes 
 flashing lightning, his face a thunder cloud; he 
 rushed to the windows and tore their mockery of 
 spider-web lace into shreds; then he tried the iron 
 bars, hunting for a piece of steel or some 
 thing that would take its place, but the room was 
 singularly free from anything of the kind. He had 
 never felt so strong before in his life. If physical 
 force failed him he would forge his brain into keys 
 and his nerves into files; if that too were in vain, 
 he would summon the invincible, the psychic power
 
 334 EL RESHID 
 
 itself, and bring from out the universal certain 
 means of relief. 
 
 The time for action had arrived, too long already 
 had he lain in the arms of others and sat upon their 
 laps; too long had he negatively received inspira 
 tion inhaled, and closed his lips. His youth had 
 fled ; he had seen the last touch of hell a harlot 
 out of the infernal fires; there was nothing of evil 
 hid, he was old old in his knowledge of sin. He 
 jerked the lascivious pictures from the wall and 
 hurled them to the floor; he threw down the parian 
 statues and shattered them to bits; he tore the vile 
 pages from the books of the great masters, and 
 upset the barbaric plants. His whole Unit of 
 Energy, till now but half roused, made his muscles 
 hard like steel and his nerves tense as the strings 
 of a bow. 
 
 " I have been learning," he said, shaking back 
 his hair, as would a young lion. He looked 
 strangely like his father the one invincible lock 
 fell on his brow, his eyes were quick, scintillating, 
 determined, and his pose erect. The imperial 
 stamp was on him, in spite of the devil's mark. 
 The black veil of his past had been rent, he had 
 faced the extreme of sorrow, and now he stood eye 
 to eye with the limit of sin. 
 
 The arras over the door was lifted softly, and 
 with a cat-like motion, Issachar entered the room. 
 
 " So my prisoner, to whom I showed nothing but 
 kindness, has rebelled," he glanced at the chaotic
 
 THE FIGHT IS ON 335 
 
 pile of statues and ictpures, and smiled " even the 
 beautiful woman was driven out. What next may 
 I expect from so erratic a guest ? " 
 
 " That he will vanish," answered Aleppo, scorn 
 fully. 
 
 " My guest will vanish, ha! ha! my guest will 
 vanish. I have just come from thy father, who is in 
 Genoa, to find my house demolished and my cour 
 tesy abused. Methinks I will try new methods 
 a dungeon and a chain. Your ransom moneys will 
 fail to pay me for this wholesale destruction of these 
 precious works of art; I must raise thy price. 
 Thine august father c? res so little for his bastard son 
 that he refuses me a modest recompense; mayhap, 
 however, when he discovers what a wild beast he 
 hath bred, he will change his stubborn mind. Get 
 rid of thy conceit henceforth; in truth thou boldest 
 thyself of far too much account. Thy faithful 
 friends still eat, and drink, and laugh. Miss 
 Nellino marries soon thy bosom friend of Italy, 
 one Caesar Catus, who stole thee from me on the 
 Libyan sands, in lieu of thee, takes to himself a 
 bride. Regan, the Yankee, and that pretty boy, 
 who dangles at his heels, are off to parts unknown, 
 and El Reshid, the invincible, who followed thee 
 with letters, and fired thy soul to deeds of spiritual 
 valor, forgets that thou dost live. Bastard! in all 
 the world thou hast but me; even the love, that 
 thou didst deem immortal, dost fail thee now, and 
 in the breach only the devil holds his ground. I
 
 336 EL RESHID 
 
 come to barter with thee, thou hast my admiration, 
 my esteem. I would adopt thee as my very own 
 my mark is on thy back on thee I would bestow 
 both power and wealth. Spurn thy allegiance to 
 the past, to fickle friends and shifting dreams; dis 
 own thy spurious sire and hopeless aim toward 
 spiritual power, forget El Reshid, who long since 
 deserted thee, and prince that thou most surely art, 
 be mine ! " 
 
 Aleppo folded his arms across his breast, and 
 said no word. 
 
 " As I am king, so shalt thou be. In Italy, 
 Egypt, Turkey, India, on the Sahara, even in 
 France and the islands of the sea, on the very 
 ground where walked the Nazarene, at the Mon 
 golian centers, aye, everywhere my subjects are 
 mine. Long have I sought for a son and heir one 
 strong, defiant, like myself, who dare to look me 
 in the eye, and cross his sword with mine. Aleppo 
 Romanes, that man thou art." 
 
 He waited, approaching nearer to the haughty 
 figure that stood with folded arms still as a statue, 
 in the center of a chaos which he, himself, had 
 made. 
 
 "What sayest thou?" 
 
 But there came no answer, save the whispers in 
 the room, which seemed to steal from every corner, 
 as though a legion of tempters lurked in the shadow 
 and urged Aleppo Romanes to submit. The heart 
 of the young man had turned to stone, through all
 
 FACE TO FACE WITH NAKED TRUTH 337 
 
 this speech of Issachar he heard naught, save the 
 word, Rhea Rhea Rhea false! Rhea! 
 
 " Speak now ! beneath this palace is a dungeon; 
 freedom as my son, or this black hole speak! " 
 
 "The dungeon," said Aleppo, and the Jew felt 
 that for once he had overshot the mark. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 FACE TO FACE WITH NAKED TRUTH. 
 
 Issachar had seized upon the prevalent idea that 
 the getting of money was the prime incentive of the 
 Jew, and under the guise of greed was striving to 
 accomplish the revenge for which he lived ; re 
 venge not only upon the individual, Henrique Ro 
 manes, but upon all mankind who especially as 
 pired to divine powers. For private reasons he 
 particularly hated Romanes and had been waiting 
 for years for the opportunity to strike. He had in 
 sinuated himself into the good graces of Helene 
 Cressey and, under the cloak of a powerful magic 
 ian, had stimulated her curiosity and in a certain 
 way gained her admiration. She knew nothing of 
 his former association with Romanes, nor aught of 
 his history save from some few hints which her 
 lover had thrown out not altogether favorable to 
 the Jew. When her child was about to be sent 
 adrift she conceived the idea of so marking him 
 with the symbol of the Order, that wherever he
 
 338 EL, RESHID 
 
 went he might find friends among the members 
 and, possibly, if the time arrived that she wished 
 to trace him, that by this means she might ac 
 complish her desire. So she summoned Issachar 
 and explained the matter clearly, giving him the 
 stamp upon which was the sacred seal, requesting 
 him to duplicate the same indelibly upon the body 
 of her child. On the contrary, as is well known, 
 Issachar substituted a symbol of his own and 
 marked him with a sign of diabolism which is too 
 vulgar to here describe. 
 
 From his birth, Issachar had never lost sight of 
 Aleppo, having some one in the boy's wake wher 
 ever he w^nt. Knowing well enough when he in 
 troduced himself at Venice that the young 
 Br?cciolini was the son of Henrique Romanes, he 
 had waited his time, feeling sure that the parental 
 anxiety would awaken sooner or later, when he 
 could strike an unerring blow. 
 
 In his stormy interview with his old commander 
 he had drawn the dagger and threatened to kill 
 Aleppo, but deep in his mind he had conceived a 
 subtler and far more cruel revenge which was none 
 other than to debauch the boy and win him to 
 himself; counting on the aroused paternal affection 
 in Romanes, he had drawn the steel and, upon dis 
 covering that the fire still burned in the oriental 
 nature of his former master, he felt that his 
 supreme opportunity had arrived. For once he 
 might inflict torture, the refined cruelty of which
 
 FACE, TO FACE WITH NAKED TRUTH 339 
 
 was sufficient to satisfy a nature like his own. So 
 he ordered Aleppo to the dungeon, as he called it, 
 though in reality it was an immense wine cellar, 
 kept under lock and bolt and lighted by barred 
 windows which threw a dim glow through 
 the place. There was the conventional bed of 
 straw and the usual paraphernalia, of a prison, but 
 otherwise it might have been far worse. It was the 
 policy of Issachar to keep a mental crack continu 
 ally open for Aleppo's escape into his arms, for he 
 had no desire to completely antagonize the young 
 man. Should Aleppo despair and commit suicide, 
 the aim of the Jew would be defeated, so this tant 
 alizing cellar, while really an exceedingly hard 
 place to get away from, at the same time seemed to 
 offer a thousand ways of escape. Issachar's main 
 hope of winning him, however, lay in the stress 
 which young Romanes must necessarily lay on the 
 desertion of his friends. If he could but once con 
 vince him that they were more or less false or in 
 different, a hatred would be aroused and a desire 
 for revenge with it, which would change his nature 
 from one of a god to that of a fiend. He had fabri 
 cated the lie of Rhea and Caesar out of a spy's story, 
 who had seen Catus departing from the young 
 lady's house ; nor did he understand the nature of 
 Aleppo sufficiently to realize what a terrible blow 
 he had struck. 
 
 When the young man was left in the dungeon 
 the reaction was upon him ; he had rebounded from
 
 310 BI, RESHID 
 
 a state of intense indignation to one of stupor 
 and lay upon his pallet of straw indifferent to life 
 itself. After a time he opened his eyes and watched 
 a spider as it patiently worked its web in the win 
 dow, and was conscious of no other interest on 
 earth than that the ingenious trap should be com 
 pleted, for he felt himself to be the harmless fly for 
 whose capture the web was spun. As he gazed, the 
 spider enlarged and changed till it grew to the 
 enormous size of Issachar and then for a long time 
 Aleppo knew no more. When he awoke from his 
 sleep of exhaustion it was nearly dawn ; a faint 
 gray light was visible at the windows but most of 
 the objects about him were shrouded in darkness ; 
 his mind was clear and refreshed, however, his 
 mind, I say, for his heart was apparently dead 
 emotion, passion, charm, imagination had all van 
 ished and reason sat on the throne. For the first 
 time in his life he determined to look cold facts in 
 the face. He had brought up against a skeleton 
 bereft of bounding blood and luxurious flesh ; he 
 felt its bones rattle and saw its eyeless sockets and 
 terrible teeth. Arising quickly, he found a broken 
 pitcher partly filled with water and with this 
 and a rough towel he managed to refresh himself. 
 Later, he discovered on the stone table as the light 
 grew clearer, a crust of bread and a glass of milk. 
 Having finished this simple breakfast, which must 
 have been placed at his side the night before, he 
 sat down upon the straw and buried his face in his
 
 FACE TO FACE WITH NAKED TRUTH 341 
 
 hands ; not to weep, oh no ! nor was he the victim 
 of despair, on the contrary, he was striving to 
 bring his whole mental force to bear on 
 the situation, in other words he strove to 
 concentrate. He had no desire to investigate the 
 premises nor to effect an escape ; preferring 
 the dungeon as he then felt, to any place on earth. 
 What had he outside ? A father who abhorred him , 
 friends who had forgotten, and Love who had 
 proved herself unfaithful. All that Aleppo asked 
 was that he might be left alone to think think. 
 El Reshid ! even he had failed to cast his spell ove r 
 him ; the name brought no thrill to his heart, nor 
 cared he for Damascus or Paradise. The problem 
 had attacked his brain ; he was bound to solve it 
 once and for all. He would wrestle with this 
 giant enigma of circumstances, this combination of 
 strange events, and know the truth; staking his 
 love, his pretty dream of immortality, his Utopian 
 hope of eternal felicity, his trust in human nature, 
 his confidence in a friend's loyalty, on logic, law 
 and fact. He would attack the puzzle inductively 
 and deductively, from effects to causes, from 
 causes to effects ; he would weigh, measure, com 
 pare, reason. In this investigation, intuition, im 
 agination, guess work, desire, prejudice, hope and 
 fear should cut no figure, he was after facts facts. 
 Through his whole life thus far he had been im 
 pressionable, superstitious, credulous, imaginative ; 
 he had lived in a land of dreams, 'where phantom
 
 342 EL RESHID 
 
 trees sang with zephyr voices, and visionary 
 streams went laughing by ; he had built in this 
 fair country an ideal castle and put therein a bride 
 who knew no shadow of turning, but was loyalty 
 incarnate ; more, he had conjured from the plains 
 of Syria a subtle Master, basing his existence upon 
 the statements of others and a few scraps of paper 
 written over with the well known conclusions of 
 the great. What of it ? Wise sayings are not so 
 difficult to gather, if one but set about it. Why 
 believe that El Reshid was far different from other 
 mortals who have their little day of effort and good 
 ness as they also have their time of evil. Aleppo 
 was far from scanning this phantasmal bank, 
 stocked with illusions, with the eyes of a cynic ; 
 on the contrary, he was overlooking it with the 
 glance of pure reason ; sorting the possibilities 
 from the probabilities, the fancies from the facts, 
 the theories and hypotheses from well known laws, 
 in order to get the whole bearing of the situation, 
 which means nothing other than the Reason of the 
 reasons. He began with the Jew. Issachar was a 
 mighty reality, six feet and a half in height, with 
 superb muscles, subtle brain and powerful will. He 
 had been at the heels of Aleppo from the time of 
 his birth wherefore? Plainly for a reward. What 
 this reward was to be cut no figure, whether 
 money, love or revenge, there was no denying that 
 the young Romanes was as redeemable as a bank 
 note, or, if not that, at least he figured as a tool in
 
 FACE TO FACE WITH NAKED TRUTH 313 
 
 the Jew's calculations, an almost helpless means to 
 an end. Thus far the problem was clear enough. 
 "Put two and two together, it makes four," said 
 Aleppo. 
 
 The next to be weighed by the scales of justice 
 and fact was his father. As to Henrique Romanes 
 being his father, he had nothing to say; whether it 
 were he or some other man, made no difference in 
 this question. The author of his bodily existence 
 according to Issachar, had refused, from pecuniary 
 motives to ransom his son. The Jew might have 
 lied, yet Issachar being a prominent figure, went 
 openly about the streets, his house in Stamboul must 
 necessarily be known; why in the name of parental 
 love, if such love there really were, had not his 
 father brought the law to bear and rescued his im 
 prisoned son? But setting this aside, admitting that 
 the elder Romanes had been in some way deceived, 
 misled, there was Regan, his voluntary sire (at 
 the thought he smiled slightly), who had vowed to 
 guard him from the wiles of the Jew. A Yankee, 
 shrewd, rich, how was it possible that he and his 
 boy friend Sallus who had in former times expressed 
 lor him such entire devotion, how was it possible 
 that they had not succeeded in some measure in 
 tracing him, if any effort on their part had been 
 made? Then Catus, who had so valiantly rescued 
 him from the Arab tent the mysterious Catus, in 
 touch with the powers, what save an infatuation 
 for Rhea could have turned him against the friend
 
 344 EL RESHID 
 
 of his aspiration and youth Rhea his heart 
 neither trembled nor fluttered; the woman who had 
 sung his song and made claim to an eternal affec 
 tion, who had enamored him on the Nile as 
 Cleopatra had bewitched Antony; Rhea if the 
 tale of the Jew were false, why had she not 
 followed him, even to the dungeon, guided by the 
 unerring instinct of love itself. And El Reshid, if 
 the wonderful powers that his admirers ascribed to 
 him had not in some way failed, why had he not 
 mastered a wily Jew who appeared boldly on the 
 streets of Constantinople like an honest man. 
 And bis mother dead. 
 
 Whatever of feeling was left to Aleppo manifested 
 itself in admiration for Issachar; evil or good he 
 was sublime, whether a fiery volcano spitting the 
 lava of death, or an icy peak of the north grand 
 or, to look upon him as a thing of motion, a royal 
 tiger in the jungle of life, he had struck right and 
 left with his velvet paws and silenced the friends of 
 Aleppo- his pareLts, his sweetheart, the man, El 
 Reshid, and the order of the Olympians. As he 
 dwelt upon Issachar his admiration grew, but reso 
 lutely putting his rising emotion aside, he began 
 his mental tussle again. 
 
 Here on the chess-board were arranged the men, 
 now for the game: First, he must remember that 
 the great master seldom shows his hand in the 
 beginning; it were possible, yes probable, that El 
 Reshid was waiting his time; that such a man
 
 FACE TO FACE WITH NAKED TRUTH 345 
 
 existed he was certain, others had seen him, then 
 again, if Issachar could be as great, as he had 
 proved himself to be, it were not unreasonable to 
 presume that there might be another neck and neck 
 with him. In the calculation of chances the world 
 must hold more than one great man at a given time. 
 Conceding therefore the possibility of a being 
 called El Reshid, and that he were biding his time 
 to act, how about the executor Caesar Catus ? 
 One thing was sure, it was a fact that he had risked 
 his life on the desert to rescue Aleppo; it was also 
 true that Caesar was a man with all the passions of 
 one whose temperament is intense and artistic. He- 
 had returned to Cairo, and how could he help it 
 fallen in love; Rhea, piqued and hopelers of regain 
 ing Aleppo, for consolation had responded. The 
 tale of the Jew corresponded exactly with the fickle 
 nature of man where Cupid flutters and hovers. 
 Yet on the other hand if there be such a trait as 
 that of loyalty, why need Catus and Rhea neces 
 sarily have been devoid of it, especially as he had 
 sworn fealty to a sacred order, and she to an eternal 
 love. About Regan and Sallus he debated less, as 
 he well understood that they were no match for the 
 Jew, and might have been making great efforts 
 without avail. 
 
 He balanced his pros and cons, and diving 
 deeper into the subtleties attacked the very laws 
 themselves. First he asked himself, ' ' Is there such 
 a thing as parental love ? Admitting that there is,
 
 346 EL RESHID 
 
 does it extend beyond the mother and its manifesta 
 tion in the brute? " He went after data, recalling 
 all the incidents that he could glean from memory. 
 Of course the animal protects its young, the mother 
 suckles it, but this over, the time for nursing past, 
 does the parental instinct disappear and another 
 take its place, this much boasted affection resolving 
 itself either into friendship or indifference ? From 
 the data at hand he could hardly make up his mind 
 and became agnostic upon the question at once. 
 
 Second, "Is there such a thing as loyalty unto 
 death, or can it be resolved into a temporary condi- 
 . tion of mind which new faces and environment are 
 most likely to dissipate ? ' ' He sought for one 
 datum and found it in himself. About parental 
 love he knew nothing; personally, about loyalty he 
 understood a great deal. If he could be true, was 
 it not the height of egotism to presume himself to 
 be the only reliable person on earth ? The fact that 
 loyalty was possible to him made it possible to 
 others also. He had no hesitation in deciding this 
 question, the trait of loyalty was a fact. 
 
 Third, " Is love eternal? " That love is, he had 
 proven in himself, but in face of his apparently dead 
 heart, could it be eternal. He recalled that his con 
 dition was now purely mental; that all his energy 
 was firing the furnace of his brain; that his will 
 was bent upon deciphering a problem and trans 
 lating the cold gaze in the eyes of the sphinx. That 
 his heart, should grow sluggish in its beating was
 
 FACE TO FACE WITH NAKED TRUTH 347 
 
 nothing strange the reaction to emotion was bound 
 to come, when the fever heat would be upon him. 
 "Is love immortal?" In the sense that it is 
 always somewhere, he said to himself, " yes; but to 
 specialize the question is love between two beings 
 immortal, do they not shift their affections as they do 
 their clothes, can one man and one woman look into 
 each other's eyes forever through aeons of time, 
 must they not, by the very nature of life itself, 
 which is variety, look elsewhere ? ' ' Then he 
 sought for data ; it crowded upon and buried him. 
 He recalled case after case, even in his own short 
 existence, where man, honest in intent, had sworn 
 eternal fealty and been false to the vow. He had 
 seen a husband raining tears on the grave of the 
 beloved, and twining bridal wreaths in the young 
 hair of another, later on. An eternal love is love 
 forever, to which the love for a few years seems but 
 a dot in the circle, and yet the large proportion of 
 these immortal lovers were seeking divorces and 
 remarriage, as if a day were eternity and an hour 
 everlasting. Alas ! the data were overwhelmingly 
 in favor of license and against the flimsy hypoth 
 esis of unsullied constancy. Yet he plunged 
 deeper into subtleties. "Did an eternal love deny 
 to him who experienced it a realization of an 
 other? " Because one is always the same to him, 
 an environment, a response that never changes in 
 its effect, does that imply that another may not 
 have its individual effect also and call forth its re-
 
 348 El, RESH1D 
 
 sponse ? Does a mother love but one of her child 
 ren ? Are they not all dear according as they ap 
 peal to and draw out the mother nature that 
 intoxicates her heart? That no one ever takes 
 another's place he was well aware, but the soul of 
 man is a harp of many strings, and the musician ! 
 a L,iszt plays his own melody, which is not that of 
 a Mozart. By logic he grasped it. " Love is im 
 mortal. " The individual Rhea, not the shifting 
 phantasmal, but the true, the eternal, meant a 
 something to him, that realized once, was his for 
 ever ; though she marry Caesar Catus, the vision 
 of the Nile was his through the aeons of time ; 
 though she doubt and apparently forget, in the still 
 depths of memory the song of " the forever " must 
 echo and echo as long as she were Rhea. 
 
 In this mental debate he disdained the question 
 of a bodily marriage or a physical contact ; he was 
 delving into the logic of love, the subtlety, the 
 principle ; he was dealing with environment, 
 which meant places and beings other than Aleppo 
 everlasting mirrors that threw himself back to 
 himself eternally. He might in time meet women 
 who would thrill his heart and reveal to him his 
 soul, but, strange ! an innumerable number must 
 necessarily emphasize Rhea, who would throw him 
 farewell kisses while memory lasted. 
 
 One more question the final problem the 
 Propylon ? " Was the flood of light a delusion a 
 St. Paul dream? No., " he said emphatically,
 
 FACE TO FACE WITH NAKED TRUTH 349 
 
 "no." The fact that I sit here and weigh these 
 questions, the fact that I have tny grip upon the 
 sphinx, the fact that logic plays me true and reason 
 holds the reins, the vanquished desert, the broken 
 statues, the rejected harlot all verify the lightning 
 which struck me there. Yet, he remembered the 
 teachers of opposing cults, the leaders of contending 
 religions, the priests of different doctrines, the 
 worshipers of idols, the Moslem, the Buddhist, the 
 Brahmin, the Parsee, the Christian, all claiming 
 the same enlightment and swearing to the same 
 experience. If light flashes in green tints on one, 
 in yellow on another, and blue on a third, though 
 the fire which caused the same be undeniable, the 
 effect and condition produced is far different. One 
 beholds naught but the yawning abyss of a sul 
 phurous hell, while another gazes on a heavenly 
 star ; one sees but palpitating ethers, and another 
 the sun-kissed moon. So there with his experience, 
 he took no issue, but what the light of himself 
 would reveal later must necessarily depend upon 
 the strength and power of his eyes. Light implies 
 a revelation of truth of some sort, either good or 
 bad, while darkness necessitates ignorance and 
 doubt. 
 
 All this time Aleppo sat with his head buried in 
 his hands, but now, his mind strengthened by the 
 icy tonic of thought, with an air of mastership he 
 arose to his feet. He had been face to face with 
 naked truth ; for the time abjuring sentiment, and
 
 250 lO, RiCSHID 
 
 looked into the eyes of bitter fact, and he, too, had 
 stripped himself ; tossing off one after another, his 
 garments of imagination, fancy, theory, hypothesis, 
 illusion. As nude as despoiled nature, as bare as 
 an athlete, he had entered the arena with his an 
 tagonists and fought the battle out ; passing from 
 person to principle, he had wrestled at last with the 
 Almighty itself, which was the Reason of reasons, 
 and never varying law. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 THE HOUNDS. 
 
 l< Here's a private note from Catus," said Regan, 
 and finding a chair near Sallus, he read the letter 
 out loud. 
 DEAR REGAN: 
 
 I must be more explicit ; I hurried you off to 
 Stamboul without giving you sufficient instructions 
 as to the course you had better pursue. In the 
 first place let me say that Aleppo is in Constantin 
 ople ; it is a presumption founded on the nature of 
 Issachar, and what has been known of him in the 
 past. The Jew owns houses, stores, and bazaars 
 in all the great centers and has a thousand good 
 places in which to conceal our friend. I have said 
 that we believed Aleppo to be in Constantinople, 
 because of the nature of Issachar ; I must also add 
 for the sake of honesty, that through a certain let-
 
 THE HOUNDS 351 
 
 ter lately arrived, I have received hints that this is 
 a fact. How many residences Issachar has in 
 Stamboul, I do not know ; to' look for the young 
 man there, is like " searching for a needle in a 
 hay-mow." 
 
 The properties of Issachar may be booked under 
 another name, and should you see the Jew himself, 
 it would be absurd to lay hands on him, as by so 
 doing, we would put Aleppo forever out of our 
 reach. Issachar has agents on every street in 
 Constantinople, and has but to wink, cough, or 
 make some diabolical signal, for swift emissaries to 
 understand and do his bidding. So then, if you 
 see him, arid you are likely to do so, for he goes 
 everywhere boldly, track him from haunt to haunt, 
 and trust to instinct to do the rest, as I advised in 
 Cairo. Shall be on the ground later. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 CATUS. 
 
 " I don't see as there's much of an element 
 here, except luck and chance; it sifts itself down 
 to this, it you see the Jew, or I see the Jew, get on 
 his scent and hound him. We might be here till 
 doomsday, though, and never catch sight of him; 
 he's a striking figure everywhere, but in Stamboul 
 they're all striking, if I know myself. I suppose I 
 could track him by his footprints if I were hound 
 enough; why, of course, I have it, I'll hire an 
 oriental detective there're lots of them, must be
 
 352 EL RESHID 
 
 I'll pay him a fortune, it's easy enough; get a Jew 
 after a Jew, of course, money '11 fetch them, besides, 
 if I can rope one of them in, he'll locate Issa- 
 char's house, stores and so forth; a man can't own 
 property like that and keep in the dark.' ' 
 
 They had just arrived in Constantinople and 
 taken a room together, intending to live in 
 Bohemian fashion, as they had done in Cairo, 
 and hardly had had time to wash their faces 
 when Caesar Catus' letter was handed to them. 
 An hour or two later they were haunting 
 Jew shops and certain other suggestive quarters 
 in search of the right man for the right 
 place; at last they found him, and though he spoke 
 in a jargon of tongues we will strive to clear the 
 mixture into Anglo-Saxon, and though not pidgeon 
 English, it is perhaps a combination of words that 
 can be made out. 
 
 "Have you ever done detective work?" said 
 Regan, after he had shown the Jew the color of his 
 palm, and explained the object of his call. 
 
 " Me shinning after my blasted brother on my 
 four legs, like a rodent." 
 
 "That's just it." 
 
 " Nay, but once I wriggled across a room on 
 the place where I digest." 
 
 " Ah, a worm, hey ? " 
 
 1 ' I steal an epistle from the pocket of a dissenter 
 when he had not yet closed his eyes, and he was 
 not comprehending."
 
 THE HOUNDS 353 
 
 " So, so, you'll do; you must be extra." 
 
 "Extra pay, most certainly I'll do, for extra 
 moneys extra moneys." 
 
 He had an enormous nose, retreating chin and 
 forehead, rat-like eyes, slim hands, and, strange to 
 say, his name was Isaac." 
 
 " Issachar and Isaac are somewhat alike," said 
 Sallus. 
 
 " I have the name of the patriarch; Abraham 
 was my father and Jacob my brother." 
 
 " Do you know the Jew, Jacob Issachar ?" asked 
 Regan, getting down to business. 
 
 " Yes, I know him much; if I make no mistake 
 he is Jehovah." 
 
 "Great Scott! that's blasphemy," said Regan. 
 
 "He have moneys, houses and lands, he is 
 almighty." 
 
 " Well now's your chance Isaac, I want to make 
 the tour of premises; if you'll but show me the way, 
 to-night we'll saunter down in this direction; be on 
 hand; just one house after another to say nothing 
 of the shops; understand you shall be well paid." 
 
 "But the great man, I will not meet; I put up 
 the fence there, nobody shall force me to see the 
 great man." 
 
 " How much will you take to interview him? " 
 
 "Nay, nay" Isaac shrugged his shoulders and 
 spread his palms. 
 
 " Well so be it; remember, to-night, sharp ! " 
 
 "Isaac led them a pretty life; he ferreted out
 
 354 EI< RESHID 
 
 place after place which he ascribed to Issachar; 
 spending weeks at it, and they had a taste of a side 
 of Stamboul that they would never have taken from 
 choice; yet the experience was wonderful, interest 
 ing. Partially disguised, assuming the greasy un 
 washed look of the mongrel, they haunted alley 
 ways, stole into back yards, made friends with in 
 numerable combines of dogs, escaped officers, were 
 sworn at and swore, tortured their stomachs with 
 dyspeptic viands, peeped into windows, crawled on 
 their hands and knees, looked under the cracks of 
 doors, tried duplicate keys, practised with burglars 
 tools, slept in the daytime and prowled at night, 
 learned half a dozen vernaculars, flirted with buxom 
 Jewesses, and were as utterly Bohemian as the very 
 dogs of the street who took great interest in their 
 proceedings, and aided them to the extent of their 
 powers. By this means they discovered that 
 Isaachar had vast posession?. One house to which 
 Isaac took them made a great impression; although 
 hard to distinguish from the adjoining residences, 
 it being so blent in and united to them that "which 
 was which" was the question, this however, Isaac 
 answered directly and to the point. 
 
 " You behold the structure," he said. 
 
 " I'll be switched if I do," answered Regan. 
 
 " It is belligerent somewhat and loaded with age; 
 it stoops with the little window aperture, and com 
 mences with the gargoyle; it is the house of
 
 THE HOUNDS 355 
 
 Issachar, whose mother you have certified was 
 Leah." 
 
 "The blamed thing is not clear yet," replied 
 Regan. 
 
 It was already twilight and the men had to strain 
 their eyes to discover the fine distinctions which 
 Isaac was so patiently trying to show them. 
 
 " Come with me from behind, the alley is the near 
 vicinity to the cellar window. I would show you 
 that one window." 
 
 The three men skulked around in the shadow in 
 the rear alley, and Isaac triumphantly designated 
 the barred glass of the wine cellar which dis 
 tinguished the house of Issachar from its two 
 neighbors. 
 
 '* That one window show you the variety; that 
 one window go to the dungeon." 
 
 "What! " 
 
 "Yes. Issachar keeps the grape juice and the 
 prisoner together ; the prisoner gets into the bran 
 dies and the brandies get into the prisoner." 
 
 " That is they get even," said Regan. 
 
 "Yes, they even upward; first, the prisoner 
 crack the bottle, and then the bottle crack him ; 
 they discover satisfaction, both." 
 
 " I wonder if we couldn't get into that cellar and 
 rescue whatever prisoner might be pining," said 
 Regan. 
 
 " Wait you till the moon subside, I would re 
 commend one barrel in which to crawl all."
 
 356 EL RESSlt) 
 
 "Not much!" said Regan, "I prefer going 
 away and coming back later." So they strolled 
 over the adjoining streets till the moon "subsided" 
 and then returned to the barred window, which ex 
 erted great fascination upon them. It was on the 
 line of the alley which, at that hour, was shrouded 
 in darkness. 
 
 " Now you keep hushed," said Isaac in a tragic 
 whisper. " If there be one prisoner I will exhort 
 him." 
 
 Regan and Sallus crowded close together and 
 put their ears to the pane, while Isaac tapped 
 softly on the glass ; silence no answer. 
 
 "If there be one prisoner here I will inform 
 him; you hush up your tongues." 
 
 He tapped again ; they listened. 
 
 ' ' I comprehend that I hear one sound, ' ' said 
 Isaac ; "hark, and breathe you no air what? " he 
 rapped faintly a third time. 
 
 " Ah ! I apprehend I feel a prisoner." 
 
 " You feel him ? " whispered Regan. 
 
 "Swallow your breath up," said Isaac indig 
 nantly, "I'll not get him alive this way." He 
 tapped again. 
 
 They all heard it now a faint answer, as though 
 some one had thrown a bit of dirt from the inside 
 of the cellar at the glass. 
 
 " The window must be high up from the 
 ground," said Sallus.
 
 THE HOUNDS 357 
 
 "That is one dungeon; the foundation of the 
 house of Issachar is a hole." 
 
 A half dozen dogs, more or less, started a fight 
 in the alley contiguous to the three men, and made 
 so much havoc and dust that it was impossible for 
 a long time to get a fair chance at the window ; 
 when stillness was restored they renewed their 
 efforts, but, receiving no response, postponed their 
 investigation till the next night. On this occasion 
 they left the Jew behind. Regan tried the tap 
 ping, but with no avail, when Sallus, crouching 
 close to the pane, whistled an old air that he and 
 Aleppo had often sung together ; then, pressing 
 his ear against the glass, caught what seemed like 
 the echo of a far-off trill. 
 
 " That's L,ep ! " said Sallus, so excited that he 
 could hardly speak ; " nobody on earth can whistle 
 like him -nobody." 
 
 Regan, with trembling fingers, tapped again, and 
 a pebble from the inside answered the salute. 
 
 " There's no mistake, he remembers the song and 
 recognizes us. I expect that before he imagined 
 some street boy was playing him a trick." 
 
 Callus whistled again and again, and called out 
 responses from the depths below; to be sure they 
 might be mistaken, possibly the prisoner was not 
 Aleppo, " yet why on earth does he recognize and 
 answer my signal whistle ?" he said. 
 
 One thing they soon discovered, that where the 
 window was set in the stone a small aperture,
 
 358 EL RESHID 
 
 large enough to allow the passage of the body of 
 a rat, had been left, making an opening through 
 which the whistling was heard. 
 
 " This foolishness might go on forever," said 
 Sallus, "let's write a note and stick it in that 
 hole. We can push it through and come to-mor 
 row; if the prisoner is Lep he'll manage to climb 
 up there and put in an answer." 
 
 " Right you are, we never can see him night 
 nor day through that ground glass window; the 
 postoffice is the business got a pencil, Sal?" 
 
 The two men went into an eating house, some 
 distance away, and ordering coffee as a blind, 
 wrote the following note: 
 
 ' ' Aleppo Bracciolini ; 
 
 " If you are in that cellar, for the love of God 
 answer this note ; manage somehow to get your 
 paper into the aperture by the window and we'll 
 fish it out. 
 
 Loyal to the death, 
 
 REGAN AND SALLUS." 
 
 They went again to the charmed spot and 
 crowded the little message into the opening, mak 
 ing sure that it had got somewhere into the depths 
 below. 
 
 "I expect he'll not discover it till morning," 
 said Regan, as they entered their room, " then he'll 
 answer and manage to reach us if I know him." 
 
 " Suppose, after all, it's somebody else ? "
 
 THE HOUNDS 359 
 
 " If it is, we'll rescue that somebody, but it isn't; 
 it stands to reason it is Aleppo; in the first place 
 Issachar has got him in Stamboul; in the second, 
 that cellar's the best hiding place we've found yet; 
 in the third, he whistled your tune back to you; 
 what more do you want ? " 
 
 "I suppose I ought to be satisfied, but we've 
 been disappointed so many times that I'm growing 
 pessimistic." 
 
 " Time will tell, now you contain yourself till 
 to-morrow night, and we'll know." 
 
 " Perhaps he's chained." 
 
 " I never thought of that, but I don't believe it. 
 How on earth if he were, did he manage to hit the 
 glass so true with his pebble stones ? Don't you 
 worry, it'll turn out all right, sure." 
 
 Aleppo had adapted himself to the wine cellar 
 without difficulity; he had been deprived of his 
 freedom for so long a time that to an extent he 
 wrought out of his environment, wherever it might 
 be, a new world. He investigated and explored 
 every part of the spacious excavation, and had 
 found innumerable things to engage and interest 
 him. He cultivated rats and mice by feeding and 
 other allurements, watched the artistic and wonder 
 ful spiders that seemed to be spinning things of 
 beauty for himself alone, explored the old rubbish 
 piles and studied out a half dozen plans for escap 
 ing, which, somehow, he had no desire to carry for 
 ward. His food, of the plainest, was served three
 
 360 EL, RESHID 
 
 times a day, by a hump-backed old man, who 
 looked as though his mission had been that of a 
 rag-picker since he first began to walk. He was 
 slovenly, filthy and taciturn, never deigning to 
 answer the young man's questions except with a 
 grunt or a snarl. Though Aleppo fully intended to 
 get away from the rat-hole later, if it lay within 
 his power, thus far he had only made plans, because 
 of the work he was striving to do upon himself, 
 toward which he found this sombre isolation espec 
 ially conducive. 
 
 The time had now arrived, however, when he 
 was ready for freedom and he determined to have 
 it. He had discovered in the cellar, barrels and 
 boxes sufficient to make it possible to reach the 
 window through which he felt sure he could make 
 his exit, sooner or later, and never being interrupted 
 except by the humpback, there were hours in which 
 he could work at the bars with an improvised file 
 that he had already secreted. 
 
 One night as he was falling asleep he dreamed 
 in his half doze that Sallus and Regan, beaming 
 with the old love and friendship, had entered the 
 cellar and taken him bodily, through the aperture 
 in the wall, out into the street. He seemed in his 
 vision, to have dwindled to the size of a rat, which 
 they found no difficulty in" dragging through the 
 hole ; suddenly, as though touched by some one, 
 he sat up in bed as wide a wake as he had ever been 
 in his life ; the cellar was dark and he had no
 
 THE HOUNDS 3^1 
 
 means by which to strike a light ; he listened in 
 tently, for such a waking as that implied something 
 extraordinary. In a moment he heard a faint tap, 
 tap, tap ; it came from the direction of the case 
 ment, which was a long distance from the bed. 
 This rapping continued, intermittently, till Aleppo 
 arose, and finding at his feet a bit of hard earth, 
 made his way, by instinct, in the direction of the 
 window, and strove to hit the faint blur of glass 
 with this lump of dirt. Once or twice he thought 
 he had succeeded, for the tapping seemed to come 
 in answer, but later it ceased altogether, and silence 
 reigned as before. 
 
 There was no more sleep for young Romanes 
 that night. At first he felt sure that some 
 friend had discovered his prison and come to his 
 rescue, but later, in cold thought, he concluded 
 that he might have been too hasty ; a child, or a 
 mischievous person, from pure wantonness, was 
 just as likely to be at the bottom of this ; however, 
 when the raps were repeated the next night, and 
 the next, his hopes grew apace. The effect of 
 Sallus' whistle was like a re-birth ; when Aleppo 
 heard the old college tune that they had sung 
 together, he cried like a child " Loyal to the death, ' ' 
 he said, as the tears gushed to his eyes. " Regan 
 Sallus ! And there's nothing between us but 
 this stone wall ; once I doubted even you, O God, 
 forgive me ! " 
 
 He was so happy the next day, and his heart
 
 3G2 EL, RKSHID 
 
 was so light that he sang and whistled as he used 
 to do in the old time in Stamboul. The hump-back 
 looked at him suspiciously, for Aleppo's eyes were 
 brilliant and his look illuminated. He had his 
 boxes and barrel handy and in striving to adjust 
 their height to the window he discovered a bit of 
 paper which had a fresh look about it, quite foreign 
 to the condition of other articles in the place. It 
 was the note of Regan. He had known happiness 
 many times in his life ; like all trusting natures, he 
 had believed in his friends and looked upon it as a 
 crime to doubt them, but when he opened the 
 twisted billet and rested his eyes again on the well 
 known writing of Regan he was intoxicated with 
 rapture; he wondered if he would have been so 
 true, so faithful, himself, if he had that same capac 
 ity of devotion which these two had shown. 
 Months had passed since he had vanished at Kar- 
 nak, and yet they were on his track ; their trip 
 had been abandoned, pleasure forgotten, ail for 
 himself. 
 
 He was intoxicated with the rapture of grati 
 tude and, bursting with a desire to express it, he 
 climbed to the window, but no one was there. 
 Dimly, through the aperture, he beheld the dull 
 ground of the alley ah ! he could write ! All day 
 he spent at it, tearing up one note after another, as 
 he found old scraps of paper, feeling that each but 
 feebly expressed his love and longing. At last it 
 resolved itself into this, and this only ;
 
 S.1TAN 363 
 
 " I am dumb with gratitude. 
 
 Yours forever, 
 
 "ALEPPO ROMANES." 
 
 He deposited the message in the secret receptacle 
 and, when morning arrived, discovered that it had 
 vanished. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 SATAN. 
 
 From the time that the first notes were ex 
 changed between Regan and Aleppo a constant 
 correspondence had been kept up and all arrange 
 ments made for the young man's escape. Regan 
 and Sail us were obliged to work secretly and 
 mostly in the dark, for the alley was constantly 
 traversed by individuals whose attention was more 
 or less attracted to them. 
 
 The night for which the escape had been planned 
 was propitious ; a drizzling, disagreeable rain was 
 falling, the clouds above causing the alley to be 
 shrouded in darkness. Sallus allowed himself 
 about an hour and a half for the filing of the bars ; 
 at some distance from him, on either side, Regan 
 and Isaac acted as sentinels, and, by a pre-arranged 
 signal, stood in readiness to warn him of the ap 
 proach of danger. 
 
 The dogs of that special locality had become so 
 accustomed to the three prowlers that they united
 
 364 EI< RESHID 
 
 themselves with them as friends and allies, feeling 
 a secret kinship which they strove silently to 
 express. 
 
 Sallus expected to work from midnight till after 
 one in the morning, when, as had been previously 
 arranged, Aleppo was to break the thick window 
 pane and make good his escape from the house of 
 Issachar. 
 
 When Romanes heard the first rasp of the file, he 
 thrilled with the ecstasy of liberty. He had 
 climbed upon the boxes, placed his ear to the glass, 
 and for an hour had remained almost rigid before 
 any sound was heard. He felt sure that he had 
 failed in comprehending the time, as he had no 
 means by which to do so, save that of instinct, he 
 rightly conjectured the cause of delay. Yet his 
 anxiety was so intense that he thought, as he stood 
 there, of a thousand things that might have 
 happened to prevent his escape. His friends for 
 aught he knew were already arrested and incarcer 
 ated, and Issachar possibly had acquired a knowl 
 edge of the whole scheme. He glued his ear to the 
 glass and every sound in the alley set his heart to 
 beating with alternate spasms of hope and fear. 
 At last the dull heavy rasp of the file ! He remem 
 bered the powerful muscles of Sallus and felt that 
 his friend's very sinews were on the bars. Between 
 him and liberty, stood the Adonis of his boyish 
 dreams. His whole life with his young friend 
 their days of frolic and travel passed before his
 
 SATAN 365 
 
 mental glance; he recalled the picture of Scutari 
 ages ago, so it seemed, when he and Sallus had 
 fought out the question of the flask, which the half 
 inebriated boy had bequeathed in the irony of his 
 bitterness to a helpless corpse. Sallus ! Sallus ! 
 and here he was risking his own liberty with every 
 grate of the steel which ripped open the bars that 
 cut his friend off from the joys of life. When for 
 an instant the noise subsided, Aleppo's heart 
 stopped with it, to start again with a bound at the 
 welcome sound. It was the longest hour that he 
 had ever experienced, the most tantalizing, terrible. 
 All the memories of his past thronged upon him as 
 though to rend him asunder. A possible future was 
 scarcely more than formed ere it would dwindle and 
 vanish to be replaced by Issachar -Issachar, whose 
 hyena teeth flashed in the black deeps of his mind, 
 like the ultimate instruments of doom; and while 
 these hellish visions came and went, interspersed by 
 gleams of azure skies, soft vales and swaying trees, 
 he still heard distinctly and reassuringly, the steady 
 rasp of the file as one iron after another yielded to 
 the muscle and brawn of Sallus, who neither 
 wavered nor paused for rest. 
 
 There were six bars; the last act was to be per 
 formed quickly; at a signal tap from the outside, the 
 pane was to be broken and Aleppo drawn forth. It 
 came three sharp quick raps w r hich Aleppo 
 followed immediately by a blow that shattered the 
 glass, when from the deeps of the dungeon, from
 
 365 
 
 the abyss of darkness ' ' ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 ha!" 
 
 Before Aleppo could realize how it was done, the 
 structure of boxes was knocked from under him, 
 and pinioned by two powerful men he was hurried 
 from the place into a dimly lighted apartment where 
 stood Issachar, immaculate, sardonic, superb. 
 
 We seek in vain for martyrs among the free. At 
 last Romanes, who had conquered isolation and 
 vanquished the demon of luxury, was honored with 
 martyrdom, which is the acme test of character and 
 the finality of pain. 
 
 He raised his eyes to Issachar the saddest eyes 
 the Jew had ever seen ; even he who forgot all else 
 that throbbed with sorrow or gasped with agony, 
 even he in after years remembered them, 
 
 " Wouldst thou know me?" said Issachar; 
 "completely, entirely, I am Satan! " His voice 
 grew to a full falsetto. " Be mine, and all things 
 shall be given unto thee ; rebel, and thou art 
 crucified." 
 
 Extremes meet. A soft glamour of happiness 
 stole over Aleppo like the unseen kiss of spring 
 that warms her lover's lips ; he had realized the 
 limit of suffering, which means bliss bliss ; again 
 he dreamed the Syrian dream and warmed to the 
 heart of El Reshid, as the great warm to the great. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! Thou dost imagine that the God of 
 the Jews will come to thy deliverance, or that the 
 fabled autocrat of a fickle Order will snatch thee
 
 SATAN 367 
 
 from the grip of Issachar ha, ha ! Thou knowest 
 not Satan, whose mark is on thee, and whose 
 child thou art, By proxy he would sin through 
 thee ; on thy gluttony and debauchery would 
 he regale himself ; his beak he would dip 
 into thy rotten carcass ; a dainty bit shalt 
 thou be for one whose robe is spotless and whose 
 body is clean. 
 
 " Aleppo Romanes, a respite, and afterward, tor 
 ture begone ! " 
 
 He was hurried away and the light extin 
 guished. 
 
 Outside stood Sallus ; at the smashing of the 
 glass he had reached through the aperture and 
 found nothing. His disappointment was terrible ; 
 he forced his head and arms into the cellar, and dar 
 ingly struck a match ; the wreck of the boxes was 
 beneath him, and the great vault. He lighted a 
 bit of caudle, which he had purposely brought, and 
 examined the excavation as far as his eyes could 
 reach. The straw pallet of Aleppo, the stone table, 
 the broken pitcher, all thrust themselves at him to 
 torture with their pathos, but the prisoner, gone ! 
 Then Regan jerked him by the shoulder, and said, 
 emphatically, in an excited whisper 
 
 " Put that light out will you quick ! run! " 
 
 The unusual spectacle had attracted some curious 
 night prowlers, from whom Sallus and his col 
 leagues escaped as best they could, to meet later,
 
 388 EL RESHID 
 
 in their room, in a disheveled and unhappy con 
 dition. 
 
 " That blasted Jew has beaten me again." Regan 
 for the first time in the hunt, looked the picture of 
 despair. 
 
 " Now," said Sallus, a peculiar expression in his 
 eyes, "patience, chicanery, double dealing, and 
 underhand play, cease to be virtuous ; from this 
 time on, I shall go it open.' ' He took his revolver 
 from his pocket and looked down into the barrel 
 " I'll hound that Jew to hell and shoot him like a 
 dog." 
 
 " And then you will get punished yourself," 
 said Isaac ; "the authorities will make you dead 
 and buried." 
 
 "I hope they will put up a headstone " Sallus 
 was raging. 
 
 "They will put up no tombstone; one good 
 moneys is better than marble. You should have 
 the young man yet ; you have no patience ; moneys 
 will fetch that young man ; you bribe those author 
 ities ; money is greater than Issachar ; you give 
 those authorities moneys and the Jew will give 
 them the young man." 
 
 " What authorities on earth, are you talking 
 about ? " all out of patience. 
 
 ' ' Those officials all ; for moneys they attack 
 the Almighty, that is Jehovah, that is Issachar ; for 
 moneys they dig out the bowels of the planet, and 
 pluck those lights out of the sky ; for moneys they
 
 SATAN 369 
 
 steal from the Satan, and burn up the mosques of 
 Stamboul. You have much moneys, you get that 
 young man." 
 
 At this juncture the door opened and Caesar Catus, 
 in his traveling attire, and dusty from a long 
 journey, stood on the threshold arid extended his 
 hand 
 
 "So you have lost him again ? " 
 
 The hounds were a wretched pair ; in 
 muddy bedraggled garments, a sort of mongrel dis 
 guise, with dirty hands and faces, unkempt hair 
 and half grown beards, they presented about as dis 
 reputable an appearance as any two Bohemians that 
 ever made a night of it. 
 
 No matter about Sallus ! He was bound to be 
 handsome, but Regan had no touch of beauty left. 
 
 "I'm afraid this time it's forever," said the 
 Yankee. 
 
 Catus teemed with energy that spoke from his 
 very fingers, and the fagged men took new heart. 
 He dismissed Isaac, turned up the light, and, 
 touching a match to the wood in the grate, put a 
 cheerful aspect on things at once. "Go and have 
 a good wash," he said, " get into Christian gar 
 ments and come back." 
 
 Mechanically they obeyed, to return in fifteen 
 minutes, still unshaved, but otherwise looking 
 quite themselves. 
 
 " I have come to request you to give up this 
 hunt."
 
 370 EL, RESHID 
 
 " Never !" saidSallus, shutting his teeth in bull 
 dog fashion. 
 
 " I urged you to go into it, " went on Catus un 
 moved, " and now I urge you to get out of it." 
 
 " Why do you set us on in this way only to make 
 fools of us ? ' ''said Sallus, still angry. 
 
 " Cool up a little and I'll tell you. In the first 
 place, when I started you on the scent I didn't 
 know as much as I do now, that's one reason ; in 
 the second, you've done your work, audit's a great 
 one." 
 
 " I don't understand," said Regan. 
 
 " Do you think it is nothing to restore Aleppo's 
 confidence in human nature and to fill his heart 
 with gratitude ? You have done a great work, I 
 say, and to you I shall communicate some of the 
 secrets and objects of the Order of the Olympians 
 and the cult of Romanes. Great in victory, for you 
 have won. Rest now, contented, till you hear 
 from me again." 
 
 "And shall we do nothing ? " said Sallus, much 
 sobered, " nothing at all ? " 
 
 " You don't mean to say you have given Aleppo 
 up, do you ? " put in Regan, alarmed. 
 
 ' ' Never ! he is a Romanes. ' ' 
 
 " I can't understand your manner of cool cer 
 tainty. We used to feel that way, Regan and I, 
 but we don't any more ; the conceit has been taken 
 out of us, every bit, hasn't it, Dad ? ' '
 
 THE GREAT ORDER 371 
 
 "Sal says he'll shoot the Jew; what do you 
 think of it ? " asked Regan. 
 
 " He might try, but I expect he would fail" the 
 same twinkle in his eyes. ' ' Stay here in old Stam- 
 boul, rest and wait for me." 
 
 Somehow the men felt more comfortable than 
 they had thought possible an hour before ; Catus 
 inspired great confidence. 
 
 " There's one consolation," he said, "we're in 
 the same boat we both had him, when lo, he was 
 not." 
 
 " Isaac says moneys will fetch him." 
 
 " Isaac judges everybody by himself, and he's 
 not far wrong either ; it's a pretty safe way ; 
 money is just as powerful here as anywhere, but 
 Satan's not caught on a gold hook ; good night." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 THE GREAT ORDER. 
 
 The following evening Regan and Sallus estab 
 lished themselves before a fire in their room, hav 
 ing arranged the most comfortable chair in expecta 
 tion of Catus, who had promised to join them. 
 
 " Guess likely these cigars will be good enough," 
 said Regan, reluctantly placing some first-class 
 Havanas within reach. " There he is now." 
 
 Catus was in quite a different mood from that of 
 the night before, in fact his atmosphere was as
 
 372 EL RESHID 
 
 varied as the New England climate. On this 
 particular evening he was in a communicative 
 frame of mind his "tongue had been oiled," he 
 said. 
 
 " May we ask questions? " said Sallus. 
 
 " Certainly, though I'll not promise to answer 
 them." 
 
 Catus took the easiest chair he always did for, 
 though a young man, he was treated like a patri 
 arch, then; raising his feet on a stool to the level of 
 his hips, he "lighted up" and smiled good- 
 naturedly on his friends. 
 
 "Now pay close attention, for I'm going to teach 
 you something and I'm anxious that you get it cor 
 rectly. 
 
 "There are any number of orders in the world as 
 of course you know, but this society of the Olym 
 pians, while a decided factor, is the least under 
 stood of them all. In the first place, to a great 
 extent it is hermetic, its members being exceed 
 ingly cautious in their communications. Even to 
 you, who deserve to be on the inside, I shall tell 
 but little, leaving you to guess as much more as 
 you like. 
 
 "Since history, men have found that if they 
 would think for themselves they must seal their 
 lips, and I have no need to explain to you the 
 reason of this. Wherever the church and state are 
 one, or to be more exact, the religion and state, no 
 matter whether in heathendom or Christendom,
 
 THE GREAT ORDER 373 
 
 tyranny and torture prevail. Money, the base of all 
 evil, is the gilded foundation on which a religious 
 autocracy is built, and no man, or set of men, with 
 their senses about them, under such conditions, 
 dare to openly defy an invincible power. If one be 
 such a sublime fool, he gets the reward of a Bruno, 
 as sure as the sun sets. Within the last few years 
 the method of torture has been altered, becoming 
 more subtle and refined, yet the sting is there, 
 nevertheless, in the fang of the snake, and the 
 venom as deadly to-day as in ages past. Hence, 
 the Olympians, who banded secretly at the dawn of 
 history, and undying, defy time, priestly rule and 
 political autocracy." 
 
 " Is it a large order ? " asked Regan. 
 
 "Compared with the Masons, no, though there 
 are many of that organization among them." 
 
 " Is it a religious body ? ' ' 
 
 "That depends on what you understand by the 
 word. If religion means the finality of truth, 
 devotion to the changeless .laws of being, and the 
 principle of them, yes, it is a religious organization. 
 If, however, you define religion, as a devotional 
 allegiance to an anthropomorphic God, and a sibyl 
 line book, no, it is not religious. Like St. Paul, 
 they preach the unknown God, whose name is 
 never spoken ; and, as for a bible, the book of 
 nature is amply sufficient, both as inspirer and re- 
 vealer. They are always getting new insight as 
 they turn the leaves, such strange revelations that
 
 374 EL RESHID 
 
 pre-conceived conventional opinions become of but 
 small value, and all things formerly believed are 
 found to be flashes of a truth but half revealed. 
 It is emphatically an experimental religion and in 
 that, is closely allied to science which some of our 
 members claim is but another name for the same 
 thing." 
 
 " Has the Order a chief or head ? " 
 
 " Most assuredly; now listen closely: Years and 
 years ago, you would doubt me if I told you how 
 many, the oider of the Olympians had one of the 
 most brilliant masters that ever sat in the imperial 
 chair. Though I myself was unborn at the time, I 
 have heard the members tell of Henrique Romanes, 
 who like Pericles of ancient Hellas was called the 
 Olympian Zeus. He had gone so far in his study 
 of chemistry and medicine, had penetrated so 
 keenly into the secrets of nature, knew so much of 
 the transmutation of energy and the conservation 
 of force, that he maintained his prime as easily as 
 others grow old, and earned his right to Olympus 
 by the conquest over sleep and death. He had 
 entered the innermost shrine of the order and knew 
 the secret of secrets; not only practically com pi e- 
 hending the nirvanic poise, which means an inten 
 sity of life that words fail to paint, but also grasped 
 the paradox of opposition which made him a man 
 of affairs, a general, a commander." 
 " This is all Greek to me," said Sallus. 
 " I presume it is, my boy, however, the light may
 
 THE GREAT ORDER 375 
 
 break on you some day. Well, as I was saying, he 
 was the greatest master that Olympian tradition 
 boasts, and had more influence in the order than 
 any who had preceded him. 
 
 It would seem that lie deliberately went out; 
 whether he was tired of his supremacy, or over 
 come by love, was never quite determined. However 
 this aside; the young man Aleppo is of his own 
 flesh, and some day, as surely as the sun rises, will 
 take the old man's place." 
 "Old man !" 
 
 "Yes, old man, Henrique Romanes is very, very 
 old." 
 
 " How many years ? " 
 The age of an Olympian is never told. 
 " How is it that Aleppo's father is so fast break 
 ing up? " said Sallus. 
 
 " That is as great a secret as is the famed elixir; 
 to give away one would be to explain the other." 
 " Are the members all celibate ? " 
 " Oh, no ; only those of the inner shrine ; and 
 here let me say that these words, shrine, degree, 
 etc., are fictitious, simply designating lines or as 
 pects of life and action. In reality, if a man wants 
 some particular thing or power, he gives up an 
 other to get it ; in cheap language, pays for it. 
 Force is constant, psychically as well as physically, 
 mathematics and logic are at the base of Olympus; 
 rather than gold; the medium of exchange is any 
 thing but jingling coin."
 
 376 EL RESHID 
 
 "Is it not a pretty cold place?" said Regan 
 doubtfully. "Olympus has ice on the summit." 
 
 "True, but fire at its heart; it is no extinct vol 
 cano, let me assure you; as a thinking body it is at 
 the freezing point; as an emotional, it has the pas 
 sion of a Christ." 
 
 ' ' Do you do any practical work ? ' ' 
 
 " Without boasting, certainly, and always incog 
 nito. Among fallen women we are most energetic, 
 and have pronounced success. Let me assure you, 
 though, that we never appear among them as 
 preachers or philanthropists. In our study of 
 nature we remember the inner aspect and pull 
 people out of the ditches, rags and all; should we 
 stop to change their garments most likely they 
 would drown. We make no show of working nor 
 of goodness; an Olympian who boasts or uses 
 platitudes is thrust from the order. We find osten 
 tation intolerable, and a show of sympathy fails to 
 pass in our cult for the real thing." 
 
 " Have you no hypocrites among you ? " 
 
 "Not at present, that we are aware of. Many 
 years ago we entertained a traitor, so says 
 tradition." 
 
 "How was that?" 
 
 "And Satan came among them." 
 
 " Ah ! Satan ! " 
 
 "Yes, Issachar. He was then a young man and 
 succeeded in deluding the Olympians, all save
 
 THE GREAT ORDER 377 
 
 Romanes, until he wormed from them the secrets 
 which he utilizes to this very day." 
 
 " Was that long since ? " 
 
 "Yes," laughed Catus. 
 
 " What are you so amused about ? ' ' 
 
 "Time cuts no figure with us." 
 
 " It's the most all-fired curious combination I 
 ever heard of," said Regan; "you talk about 
 nature one minute and fly into her face the next; 
 how the deuce can you abide by the laws of nature 
 and not grow old ? " 
 
 Catus lighted another Havana, at the same time 
 laughing silently, much to the annoyance of Regan. 
 
 Now. there's no use in your looking so wise ; 
 facts tell on me every time, or, for that matter ) 
 reason; but smiles don't go down with this Yankee, 
 nor any of your confounded mysteries, that are 
 ashamed of the light of day." 
 
 " There is now and then a flower that opens in 
 the night, you know," said Catus sobering. 
 
 "All right, I'll agree to that." 
 
 " What is more," went on Catus, " while nature 
 is true to her rhythmic law she has another if I'm 
 not mistaken, which the Masters have not told of 
 and the rest of humanity have not, it refers to the 
 supremacy of will, nirvanic poise, or the moving 
 equilibrium of science, but that is all out of the way 
 of my narrative. Mark you one thing more, there's 
 nothing supernatural in the universe; but there are 
 laws and laws, and a L,aw of them. To discover a
 
 378 EL RESHID 
 
 principle is to enhance one's power; now let us 
 drop this and go on." 
 
 " Say, Catus, what has a fellow got to do to get 
 in with the Olympians? " asked Regan. 
 
 "A few more such noble deeds as you have just 
 done. Really, I look up to you and Sallus, already; 
 you ought to be in my place. 
 
 '* Fiddlesticks ! that was for love, and it doesn't 
 count. Love is the most selfish thing in the 
 universe. ' ' 
 
 " True, and the sublimest; henceforth, who shall 
 dare call selfishness an evil ! ' ' 
 
 ' Who is the chief of the order to-day?" said 
 Sallus. 
 
 It was rather strange, but Catus removed his cigar 
 and stood up, then answered in a subdued and 
 affectionate voice, " El Reshid." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 IN OLD CAIRO AGAIN. 
 
 L,eft in Cairo, Rhea sought Spino and Cicily, and 
 with her keen womanly intuition comprehended 
 and solved them as no man had been able to do. 
 To "the beautiful Yankee," as she called her, 
 Cicily poured out her story, begging help to escape 
 from Issachar, of whom she was becoming more 
 and more afraid. 
 
 As the Jew was absent, Rhea went every day to
 
 IN OLD CAIRO AGAIN 379 
 
 visit her new friends and spent long hours both 
 listening to their story and planning for their 
 escape. 
 
 ' ' Has the answer to my letter arrived ? ' ' she 
 asked of Spino one afternoon, as she entered the 
 Jew's quarters. 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! " and Cicely came from behind the 
 arras, and throwing her arms about Rhea kissed her 
 again and again. The letter which the young girl 
 produced was from southern France, and addressed 
 to Rhea Nellino, being an answer to one from that 
 young lady sent to Cicily 's relatives making inquiries 
 in regard to her family and their intentions. The 
 reply was brief but explicit, stating that Cicily was 
 undoubtedly a daughter of their family, and also 
 a member of a secret order to which her father 
 belonged; that while she was ostensibly stolen for 
 money, in reality the act was a stab at the organiza 
 tion, and that, though her near relatives were dead, 
 those living were willing to take the young girl, 
 provided she made her escape. While the letter 
 authenticated to a great extent Spino's story, the 
 writer was no enthusiast, and being several degrees 
 removed in blood from the victim of Issachar, 
 seemed actuated more from a sense of duty than a 
 desire to help in her rescue. 
 
 The communication, however, was sufficient for 
 the purpose of Rhea. The characters of Spino and 
 Cicily being cleared to her satisfaction she re 
 solved, in spite of Mrs. Hancock or Issachar, to dis-
 
 380 EL RESHID 
 
 patch the two women to France immediately ; at 
 the same time writing a note to Regan and Sallus, 
 requesting them to see that they were properly 
 cared for, as soon as they could get off duty at 
 Stamboul . 
 
 i( Do you think there is any danger of the Jew's 
 return just about now?" asked Rhea, folding the 
 letter and looking anxiously at Spino. 
 
 ' ' Issachar ! he bobs up anywhere, at any time ; 
 yes, there is danger; nevertheless, we must try in 
 the face of it, and keep on trying, no matter if we 
 are captured and re- captured." 
 
 " How soon can you start ? ' ' 
 
 "Any minute," answered Spino. 
 
 "I will pay your fares to France," said Rhea. 
 " Get your things together directly; the longer you 
 wait the less chance you have; let me help you." 
 
 The three bustled about and packed the few nec 
 essaries required on the trip. Rhea, finding 
 Cicity's wardrobe in a barbaric condition, supplied 
 her with a good many sober garments, which so 
 transformed the girl that, instead of a dowdy ori 
 ental princess, she appeared a natty French 
 woman, quite chic and delightful. However you 
 might fix Cicily, she was distractingly pretty; in 
 splendid decay or prim prosperity, washed or un 
 washed, the girl was a flesh and blood beauty that 
 forced people to turn their heads. Rhea had given 
 her a quiet, gray dress of her own and a sober 
 traveling hat that simply enhanced the rebellious
 
 IN OLD CAIRO AGAIN 381 
 
 tangle of her lovely hair and the bright glow in her 
 cheeks. 
 
 " Here, let me tie you up in a veil; you will be 
 followed from the first you are altogether too 
 lovely," said Rhea anxiously. " If I were a man 
 I would certainly run off with you." 
 
 But the veil only made matters worse. Cicily's 
 soft, dangerous eyes flashed through its meshes 
 more seducingly than ever, so Rhea found a heavy, 
 green baize and smothered the poor child's fasci 
 nations in its cruel folds. 
 
 " There, you little Venus, don't you dare, on the 
 penalty of getting caught, to lift that mask an inch 
 an inch." 
 
 ' ' But I'm positively wretched ; I cannot 
 breathe." 
 
 " Be wretched then," said Rhea, laughing; "it 
 isn't my fault that you're so pretty; if you will 
 persist in throwing us all in the shade, we'll have 
 to treat you in the same way." 
 
 " Aren't you going to put a veil on me?" said 
 Spino in a grieved tone. 
 
 " Yes, granny, I am, of course I am." 
 
 People turn around and look after me," went on 
 the old lady ; " tbe men stare as long as they can 
 see, and it isn't Cicily that does it, for it's worse 
 when I go out alone. I don't believe that there is 
 any woman in Cairo that attracts as much attention 
 as I do."
 
 382 KL, RKSHID 
 
 " That's because you're so distinguished, granny; 
 stand still now and I'll tie you up." 
 
 But Spino never stood still in her life, and she 
 couldn't now, nor did the veil disguise her in any 
 sense. Her face was but a part of her; her queer 
 shape and awkward motions betrayed Spino wher 
 ever she went, and in spite of Rhea's precautions, 
 she looked herself from head to toe. 
 
 Whether the old fellow who kept the shop below- 
 stairs had an inkling of the mischief brewing above 
 was unknown to them ; at any rate he appeared 
 very innocent, and went his usual way without 
 interfering in the least. Mrs. Hancock, too, let 
 Rhea severely alone, contenting herself with the 
 remark that, " The time would come when the 
 account would be settled, and her niece would 
 answer at the judgment seat for her hermetic inti 
 macy with the Egytians, who were nothing more 
 than heathen and devils." Mrs. Hancock folded 
 her robes of sanctity around her and sat aloof, dis 
 daining to soil the tips of her sacred fingers with 
 the touch of such " vile trash." 
 
 No Hindoo of the highest caste could treat a 
 cursed pariah with more contempt than she showed 
 to these poor prisoners of Issachar, whom she hap 
 pened to meet, with her niece, on the streets of 
 Cairo. Rhea was ashamed of her, bitterly, and a 
 great coldness came between them, which threat 
 ened to end in separation. 
 
 To escape from Issachar as easily as they did,
 
 IN OLD CAIRO AGAIN 383 
 
 seemed absurd in the face of the difficulties that had 
 apparently been in their way. Either the Jew was 
 glad to get rid of them, or was so engaged else 
 where, that he had forgotten their existence ; how 
 ever this might be, they went quietly to the 
 station with Rhea, and kissing their friend again 
 and again, took the train out of Cairo, unmolested. 
 Rhea went as boldly back to her aunt, who asked 
 in an icy tone 
 
 "Are we to stay forever, in Cairo ? " 
 
 "A few weeks longer, Aunt Carrie, then we'll 
 take up the thread of our tour where we left it, and 
 spin it out to the end." 
 
 Her aunt sniffed the air suspiciously, but made 
 no answer. 
 
 Though Regan and Sallus had both written 
 many times to Rhea, they had said nothing of the 
 finding of Aleppo, as they dreaded to torture her 
 with more intense anxiety than she had already 
 felt. Still she waited at Cairo, putting off her de 
 parture from week to week, for a time making 
 Spino and Cicily her excuse, and afterward saying 
 to herself, "A little while longer, and something 
 will be discovered, then I will go. " 
 
 " Spino sent Rhea a message from every available 
 point on her trip, and at last, news came from 
 France, that they had arrived safely, and were met 
 by Cicily's relatives, who had found the girl charm 
 ing, especially a young cousin who desired to marry 
 her without delay. This troubled Rhea consider-
 
 384 EL RESHID 
 
 ably, as she knew Sallus' secret, and was anxious 
 for the happiness of her boy friend; so she wrote 
 him immediately; telling him of the situation, and 
 urging him to communicate with Cicily at once. 
 Sallus answered: 
 Dear Miss Nellino: 
 
 ' ' The young lady knows very well that I love 
 her, and that I will keep my promise as soon as 
 Aleppo is found. If she is true, as I believe she is, 
 no temptation in the shape of a French cousin can 
 induce her to betray my trust. Time will prove 
 Cicily." 
 
 While this all sounded very well, in reality Sallus 
 was suffering from jealousy and love combined a 
 miserable gray mixture of white and black, light 
 and darkness. Yet, setting aside his personal joys 
 and sorrows, ever nearest his loyal heart was 
 Aleppo, whom he had vowed to champion till 
 freedom came, if it took forever. 
 
 In Sallus's heart were two opposing emotions 
 hatred for Issachar and love for Romanes; they 
 were his hell and heaven. He cared little for 
 psychology, philosophy, or religion, save as they 
 were personified and demonstrated. Aleppo was 
 the soul of Stilus, and stood for the psychic, the 
 poet, the dreamer; through him he saw visions, and 
 felt the thrill of rhythm- and song; through his far- 
 seeing glance, he watched the stars and the clouds 
 that veiled them; without Allepo, Sallus felt himself 
 to be an animal and nothing more. Rhea, who
 
 IN OLD CAIRO AGAIN 385 
 
 seemed but another aspect of his friend, was his 
 goddess, his religion; through her he worshipped 
 and gave sacrifice. Even loyalty in its finality is 
 selfish. We are true to that which we need, to that 
 which wakes us out of sleep. Issachar also stirred 
 the depths of Sallus. To hate supremely, is to 
 thrill with a sombre ecstasy that brings potential 
 being into active life. Any emotion that shocks a 
 man to his feet and stirs his sluggish blood, 
 whether it be hate or love, any excitation that lifts 
 him out of body into mind, and stirs his inert self 
 into action, is a breeder of life and a revealer of 
 being to itself. Sallus then was as loyal to his 
 personalized religion Rhea and his personified 
 soul Aleppo as another might be to his church 
 and his priest. He hated Issachar as most men 
 hate the devil and was working out his own salva 
 tion in a unique way. 
 
 Life is a problem, especially to him who attempts 
 to solve another's existence and not his own. No 
 two are ground on the same wheel, no two are up 
 lifted in the same direction, or by the same means. 
 Back of each is a different causation, a spring whose 
 source is especially its own; in its flow through the 
 aeons, it has gathered its respective debris and on 
 its banks are its own peculiar flowers, yet, we 
 teachers and preachers presume to judge of the 
 sequence as though we knew the causation; of the 
 blood, without the pedigree. We dictate but one 
 method of progress, point out but one way of
 
 386 El, RESHID 
 
 advancement, ordering an ameba to bring forth a 
 giant and a mollusk a man. Evolution is a slow 
 process and depends entirely upon its eternal mate 
 involution, from which it can never be divorced. 
 
 The marvelous variety spread before our eyes 
 to day the jungle of specialization, rich, teeming, 
 voluptuous, seen, unseen, within reach, beyond, 
 above, below, beautiful, ugly, harmless, venomous; 
 this fetid, perfumed, gorgeous, deadly jungle, 
 preaches heterogeneity with a silent daring that 
 holds us spell-bound; each individual facing the 
 combined opposition of the mass, as subtly con 
 scious of its immortality, as though logic were 
 expounding in a voice of thunder, and we preachers 
 penetrate this jungle of spiders and lilies, and toss 
 the lamb to the jaws of the lion, and the bird at 
 the fangs of the snake, saying, in unctuous ver 
 bosity, "Live ye in harmony; be one; seek the 
 same gleaming heaven, and flee from the identical 
 sulphurous hell; as though the lotus loved the sun 
 light, or the sun-flower adored the moon. 
 
 Should there come a Master among you, who 
 could, like Shakespeare, read each man as though 
 on earth there were no other; who could prescribe 
 for the individual a formula that would fit his spec 
 ial condition; who would look over the far-off past 
 of a man, as well as ahead; who would judge the 
 changing phases of his existence, as though but the 
 other pole of his unit of energy; should a great 
 specialist appear, who at the same time could realize
 
 FAREWELL, MY DREAM 38? 
 
 unity as the changeless base from which phenomena 
 spring, and should he present you with the paradox 
 of an altruistic individualism, you would nail him 
 to the cross and pierce his hands and feet and 
 side; even more, you would place the crown of 
 thorns upon his head, and soak a sponge in hyssop 
 and vinegar to moisten his lips. Ah, yes, for men 
 are sheep who run in herds, so like each other that 
 they have no names, and the priest devours them 
 in their ignorance, lest they be startled into life by 
 a clarion voice and a new gospel. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 FAREWELL, MY DREAM. 
 
 It was Rhea's last night in Cairo. The next day 
 they were to continue their journey as previously 
 planned. Why she had remained so long in 
 Egypt she hardly knew. Her friends in Stam- 
 boul had sent no encouraging news in regard to 
 Aleppo and the prospect of ever seeing him again 
 was exceedingly dim. 
 
 Though she had felt the spell of El Reshid, and 
 for a time had been roused by hope, later she 
 became depressed and practically a skeptic regard 
 ing the whole affair. Also, about herself, her dream, 
 her belief in love eternal, constancy, and those ideal 
 possibilities which she had so ardently sought, she 
 was now doubtful. Of one thing only was she sure,
 
 338 EL RESHID 
 
 and that was the love of Aleppo; but whether it 
 would longer be entertained by him in face of new 
 and more lofty aspirations, she was also doubtful. 
 A smouldering fire was scarcely warm enough for 
 an exotic nature like hers; she was a Psyche, and 
 a Cupid who went elsewhere, even to heaven, was 
 a sorrow rather than a joy. 
 
 She took herself to task coldly, severely, treat 
 ing her suffering heart as though it belonged to an 
 enemy whom she desired to torture. Her New 
 England conscience showed no pity, but in its pur 
 itanic cruelty troubled her night and day. " What, 
 after all," she thought, "are my silly fancies and 
 dreams ; was there ever a romantic girl without 
 them ? Venus makes dupes of us all ; she whis 
 pers 'love eternal,' and seduces our sweethearts 
 with her voluptuous eyes. She breathes ' con 
 stancy, ' and shuffles the queen of hearts with a 
 reckless hand ; she preaches Uranian felicity while 
 intoxicating us poor mortals with the wine of hell. 
 " Ah, I have dreamed of friendship, of happy con 
 tact, of divine delights, in the glow of which, time 
 and space are a chimera, and death a lie. I have 
 lived in the vestal whiteness of the soul's heat, I 
 have felt the glamour of Adonis and the cold power 
 of Diana ; I have built me a castle in the blue, 
 from the very fleece of the clouds, which even a 
 zephyr has] blown over; I have revelled in a dim 
 past, where the soul of the ancient congealed into 
 marble, and told its story in the Hellenic shaft;
 
 FAREWELL, MY DREAM 389 
 
 I have wandered backward, to the very verge of 
 being, and onward to the gate of Paradise. Alas ! 
 farewell, my dream. 
 
 "Even the Nile, with its tawny beauty, the 
 moon, the sky, the very stars, are transfigured by 
 my eyes; I throw a spell upon Venus, and en 
 chantment over Mars; I behold all things through 
 the fine mesh of illusion, which transforms a pebble 
 into a diamond and a weed into the tree of life. 
 My soul is a rhapsody, without measure or tune. 
 Henceforth, remember the Nile is but a mud- 
 stained stream, Egypt a corpse, Hellas a vision 
 born of false ideas, Karnak a ruin of the past, re 
 ligion a superstition, love an impulse of the blood, 
 and Aleppo Aleppo! my other self! Then 
 wherefore seeks he the Olympians, and the inner 
 shrine of the sage ? The great temple of Ammon 
 has seduced him, for amid its very ruins he don 
 ned the garb of a priest ; and the stars that gleam 
 coldly on the cursed pile of the ancients have put 
 out my eyes mine. To love you now is to wor 
 ship the ice peaks of a mountain, or the cold 
 splendor of the moon; you are a Christ uplifted, 
 whose feet I may not kiss; and yet are you con 
 stant as is the generous sun that shines over all. 
 You love me as God loves, and I I spurn it all ; I 
 renounce you. Instead of me, embrace the 
 world; it fills your arms even now, your heart. I 
 am not wise. Did the marble Phryne warm the 
 fingers of Praxiteles? Was the chisel hot that cut
 
 390 EL RESHID 
 
 the block to semblance of sweet life? O, to know 
 the subtlety, the flutter of love's heart the thrill, 
 the passion that sets the universe a quivering, to 
 feel the rapture of the soul's abandon. Alas ! 
 farewell, my dream ? 
 
 ' ' And yet shall I love you through the years of 
 my life the eternities. Despised and rejected 
 a prince and a master you. Somewhere in the 
 depths of self may you feel me, as one discovers 
 the beating of his heart; somewhere in the spaces 
 may you hear me, as one catches the echo of a 
 song; somewhere in the light within may you see 
 me, as one beholds the heavenly face; somewhere 
 in the universe may you know me, as self discov 
 ers self. 
 
 ' Far back I behold the oracle of Delphi and the 
 pale priestess of a frenzied prophesy; far ahead, 
 the seeress of a resurrected Hellas and the sibyl of 
 an unborn age. Till then farewell, my dream. " 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 THE UNIT OF FORCE. 
 
 " Dos moi pou sto kai tan gan kinaso " Give 
 me where I may stand and I will move the earth. 
 
 Romanes and Issachar were face to face; the Jew 
 had crept upon him with the slyness of a cat and 
 their eyes met. 
 
 " Think not that I came to barter again," said
 
 THE UNIT OF FORCE 391 
 
 Issachar, "Aleppo Romanes has had his chance, 
 henceforth he is mine. " He smiled. 
 
 " You may barter till the day of doom, but not 
 with me," said Romanes; "my son shall not be 
 bought; I knew this well when last I scorned you, 
 vile snake, who crept into the order of Olympus on 
 your belly, and behind me but a moment since, as 
 if to stab me in the back. Money ! you laugh, 
 money ! by the powers you seek revenge. I might 
 fling you gold till I were beggared, and you would 
 chuckle and spit upon me using my flesh and blood 
 as but a means to pull me down me. Think you 
 I failed to understand when last you came; think 
 you that I remember not your threat in Syria years 
 since ? have you forgot ? " 
 
 "Nay, but thou hast had thy day; my turn has 
 come." 
 
 "So you would dare the Olympians; quite well 
 aware are you that should you draw^ the knife upon 
 Aleppo your own life's blood yon must needs for 
 feit; by .the powers you thought to catch me napp 
 ing and prick my vein?. Even yet, you have done 
 the youth no harm, nor can you; your steel has 
 lost its temper, your blade its edge; your cursed 
 magic rebounds upon llself. All this I knew full 
 well when last we met." 
 
 " Thy tongue can twist itself to boasting, but 
 acts speak louder than cheap words" the Jew's eyes 
 glowed like burning coals; " thon art helpless; thy 
 son forever is far beyond thy reach; thy power
 
 392 EL RESHID 
 
 which flashes, as does a dying fire whose fuel has 
 been spent, is not sufficiently sustained to force me 
 as thou once did do, when thou wert Master of 
 Olympus; ha ! and I, invincible, have thee upon 
 th)' knees spouting thy boastful prayers into my 
 ears the prince of ancient time, a cheap buffoon 
 among the moderns, making slim use of bluff and 
 and verbiage, where once he opened not his lips, 
 and did but glance to make me tremble; ha! ha ! 
 Romanes, my revenge is sweet." 
 
 "Words," sneered Romanes, haughtier, taller, 
 " are sometimes deadly shot, whose prick you may 
 feel later, but mark you this : It is strange in all your 
 boasted prowess that as yet you have failed to dis 
 cover that El Reshid is but using the paws of the 
 cat to pull the jewel from the fire. It amazes me 
 that one, so wise as you suppose yourself to be, has 
 not yet ascertained that you are doing a service to 
 Aleppo beyond price. You the devil have helped 
 a master to evolve; you have broken the husk of 
 the chrysalis and let loose the butterfly; you have 
 ground the uncut gem upon a wheel. In truth, 
 El Reshid owes you thanks; unconsciously have 
 you done service to the order and to me." 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! If I have failed to make 
 thee suffer, prepare for torture now; Know then, 
 that the young Master, the new star of Olympus, 
 flashed but a day on Hellas, and sank to rise again 
 over the strong-hold of Issachar on the banks of 
 the Golden Horn. Thy son has deserted the house
 
 14 
 
 THE UNIT OF FORCE 393 
 
 of Romanes, and swears allegiance to an outcast 
 and a Jew. He loves thee not, but me, reverest, 
 who stamped him with the devil's mark." 
 
 " 'Tis false! You He!" 
 
 " Ha! ha! the proof, words are but dirt." 
 
 The afternoon sun had sunk, and the room of 
 Romanes was in shadow. He struck a light, it 
 threw a dim glow over the apartment and brought 
 out the Jew like a Rembrandt. Romanes went a 
 step nearer, so close that he touched the immacu 
 late robe of Issachar, and said under his breath 
 with deadly emphasis, " Know thou that I come to 
 vStamboul to demand my son ; that when the time 
 was ripe, I left Genoa? I give you warning that 
 the Powers are at my back. Would you escape 
 them, bring forth Aleppo." 
 
 " Ha! ha! And what if he desires thee not ; no 
 power can force him against his will. Should the 
 order insist, he will laugh in its face. Should El 
 Reshid command, he will turn his back. He is 
 vile, debauched, lost. And thou wouldst lift him 
 high over Olympus? Ha! ha! revenge is sweet." 
 
 A deadly sickness struck at the heart of Romanes. 
 Had Aleppo failed as he had ; had the tests been 
 beyond him? Was Issachar, after all the Master, 
 and Satan, the supreme ? 
 
 For an instant the Jew tasted the .sweetness of 
 revenge ; he saw the pallor creep to the brow of 
 Romanes, the trembling of his hands, the startled 
 expression in his eyes. He had known every
 
 394 EIv RKSHID 
 
 emotion before, save this ; he had revelled in every 
 unlawful sensation and experienced every sin, but 
 revenge, in its exquisite finality, its intensest pos 
 sibility, he had waited long to feel. The bliss of 
 the devil was forcing his heart to quick action, the 
 exultation of the inferno was upon him the insane 
 rapture. To acquire this, was to have lived su 
 premely. To realize the terror at the paternal 
 heart of the enemy, and to know that he, himself, 
 was the cause ; to humble to the very dust his 
 former Master, to behold him trembling with fear 
 and sorrow ah, ecstasy! 
 
 The door opened so silently that neither of them 
 heard, and a young man, vivid, powerful, crossed 
 the threshold. For a long minute he stood in the 
 shadow watching the two mortal enemies. On the 
 face of one was the look of supreme triumph, on 
 that of the other, despair. He stepped between 
 them. 
 
 Imagine the sky when the sun bursts through the 
 clouds, and you get some idea of the change in the 
 face of Romanes when his eyes caught those of El 
 Reshid, yet, in spite of the most powerful emotion 
 that the human heart can feel, the habit of the 
 order controlled him, and he bowed himself nearly 
 to the floor. 
 
 Jssachar, who grew tall or short according to the 
 state of his sensations, shrank till he seemed to be 
 bowing also, and his eyes, as they scanned the calm 
 figure before him, flashed with deadly fear.
 
 OF;;FORCE 395 
 
 ' ' Thy haughty demeanor became thee far better 
 than this craven aspect," said El Reshid; "of 
 what art thou afraid ? ' ' 
 
 Issachar tried to regain himself and backed 
 slowly toward the door. 
 
 " Halt! on the spot where thou standest; move 
 not an inch." 
 
 The voice of El Reshid vibrated with a musical 
 intensity that echoed long after in the soul. 
 
 "Romanes," he said, turning his back on Issa 
 char, " the time is at hand; can'st thou face 
 Aleppo?" 
 
 The Jew again attempted to reach the door, but 
 a glance from the masterful eyes of El Reshid trans 
 fixed him where he stood. 
 
 " I fear not to meet Aleppo, " answered Romanes, 
 "if he be the chosen of the Olympians; but this 
 vile Jew has thrown it in my teeth that mine own 
 sou has disgraced me, even me. I betrayed the 
 order; but if this be so, he has fallen to a depth of 
 which I have never dreamed; nor would I behold 
 him now, or ever. " 
 
 "The devil is the father of lies. Stand thou 
 erect, Romanes." Then, turning to the Jew he 
 said in a strange tone, so vibrating with intensity 
 that it seemed scarcely a voice at all 
 
 " Go thou, and bring Aleppo." 
 
 Issachar threw at him a terrified glance. 
 
 " Go thou, and bring Aleppo."
 
 396 EL RBSHID 
 
 But the Jew, while shifting his eyes from point 
 to point, remained as before. 
 
 " Go thou, and bring Aleppo." 
 
 This time El Reshid stepped nearer and touched 
 his spotless robe, at the same time holding the 
 glance of Issachar upon his own, which blazed with 
 the impelling heat of will. The Jew turned, as 
 though walking in sleep, and glided from the place, 
 forced by a power beyond him; while El Reshid 
 stood calm, immovable, with his eyes upon the 
 entrance. A half hour passed, an hour, and yet 
 the Master, cold as marble, rigid as granite, unwav 
 ering, fixed, remained upon the identical spot. As 
 we have said before, though apparently without 
 motion, one might have felt a still quiver of the 
 nerves, that manifested itself in the power with 
 which he impressed his surroundings; and during 
 this long, tense time Romanes stood with bowed 
 head, a shriveled pine that the blast had bent, but 
 failed to break. 
 
 Could one have studied the face of El Reshid dur 
 ing this pregnant hour he would have noticed deli 
 cate changes of expression, as though he saw at a 
 far distance, and forced action upon another by the 
 power of an overmastering will; it was evident, 
 however, that his whole Unit of Force was called 
 into action, and that the strain was telling as the 
 time advanced. 
 
 At last, the cat-like step of Issachar was heard 
 upon the stairs, and the young, springing gait of
 
 THE DAWN 397 
 
 another who followed at his heels. Still El Reshid 
 remained rigid, energized. The Jew glided into the 
 room like one in sleep, and behind him came 
 Aleppo, in the beauty and strength of unsullied 
 3 r outh. Upon the young man Romanes cast but a 
 glance when his eyes were blinded with tears, and 
 he turned his head away. 
 
 "Go, thou snake of Olympus," said the same 
 strange voice of El Reshid, " back to the Gehenna 
 of Phallic worship and the den of the depraved; 
 revel for once, thyself, in the beastliness over which 
 thou hast gloated, and soil thine own robes with 
 the filth of the slums Go ! 
 
 Even more servile, more serpentine, Issachar, re 
 coiling upon himself and moving with the sinuos 
 ity of the reptile, vanished into the darkness, 
 leaving the room reeking with a polluted atmos 
 phere that is beyond analysis. 
 
 "Open the windows," said the Master; then, 
 bolting the doors, he retired to Romanes' inner 
 apartment, leaving father and son together alone. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 THE DAWN. 
 
 Regan and Sallus lived according to Catus' in 
 structions, quietly at Stamboul, having firm faith 
 that to do nothing is sometimes a part of wisdom. 
 Catus had the comet attribute of coming from un-
 
 398 EL RESHID 
 
 expected quarters and disappearing to others as 
 mysteriously as he had arrived. 
 
 ' ' I shall simply remain here until Caesar ap 
 pears," said Regan; there's something brewing, or 
 I'm off my base." And Sallus was faithful, too, 
 though his life of inaction was telling on his 
 healthy nerves. The time of suspense was short, 
 however. They were at home one evening, in 
 dulging in a harmless game of cards, beating each 
 other in a half-hearted way, when Catus entered. 
 Both men sprang to their feet, for they felt re 
 joiced, somehow, though seemingly at nothing. He 
 appeared the same, his face telling no special story 
 of either good or bad import. 
 
 " Well," said Regan anxiously. 
 
 " I am sorry that you don't smoke," said Catus, 
 lighting up. " It does a man good to have com 
 pany in his vices; it relieves his conscience, makes 
 him feel more respectable, etc." 
 
 " I should like it mighty well," said Regan, " in 
 fact, I never have conquered the desire; but that's 
 not the question. I simply won't, that's all. The 
 very fact that I want it so bad makes me all the 
 more stubborn. Do you suppose I am going to 
 be bound by a cursed habit; for that matter, I take 
 special pleasure in torturing myself; to get where 
 tobacco smoke is the thickest is the most hellish 
 delight imaginable; it's a pitched battle between 
 will and desire. I always did enjoy a fight like it 
 yet, see !"
 
 THE DAWN 399 
 
 "What's the news," said Sallus, as though half 
 afraid to ask. 
 
 Catus puffed away in the most aggravating man 
 ner, holding his two anxious inquirers in suspense 
 a half minute, then deliberately took his cigar from 
 his mouth, inspected the lighted end, and said 
 slowly, " Aleppo will be here shortly." 
 
 "What ! " 
 
 " Yes, he sent me ahead." 
 
 A rap, distinct and peculiar, called up in the 
 minds of Sallus and Regan pleasant memories of 
 other days. 
 
 An instant more, and Aleppo Romanes stood in 
 their midst. 
 
 As we all know, there are times when words fail 
 us utterly. Regan and Sallus were dumb, while 
 the young man who had paralyzed their tongues 
 looked joyfully at them. He had the old, bright, 
 beaming smile, his eyes flashing a wordless love, 
 and his mouth, in full sympathy with them, part 
 ing over his beautiful teeth. He was thinner, 
 fairer, but otherwise the same no, he had acquired 
 a dignity, a poise, an insight, which his friends felt 
 instantly, but failed to analyze. 
 
 He went to Regan and embraced him in oriental 
 fashion; then to Sallus; his touch, his aspect, tell 
 ing of imperishable gratitude. 
 
 What so pregnant as a silence which no one 
 dares to shatter? 
 
 At last Catus broke the spell. He had thrown
 
 400 EL RESHID 
 
 away his cigar on the entrance of Aleppo, but 
 when the stillness became unendurable he struck a 
 match and lighted another. This loosened their 
 tongues, and for a couple of hours they talked with 
 the condensed energy that had gathered from long 
 separation. 
 
 Aleppo related his experience and spoke rever 
 ently of his father, saying in a grave tone that he 
 should proceed with Catus to Damascus, and he 
 must tear himself from those to whom he owed so 
 much. This, they both expected. 
 
 " It is just what we looked for," said Regan, 
 " we knew you would fly if we caught you; never 
 theless, we were determined to beat the Jew where 
 is he?" 
 
 "He has vanished," said Catus; "he was 
 wounded and has crawled into the jungle to re 
 cover. He has no strength at present; he 
 wilted in the full glare of the sun; he's a night 
 blossom." 
 
 " So, then, there is no danger," said Sallus. 
 
 "None, whatever. To trip a man up on his 
 climax of triumph is to send him headlong; he fell 
 far. The art of the Master who would achieve a 
 great victory lies in hitting his victim in his weak 
 est spot. Issachar, gloating over Romanes, was a 
 cat revelling with its prey; his vanity ran riot; he 
 lost his grip, and El Reshid, taking advantage 
 of an instant's weakness, threw him down from 
 his pinnacle of triumph, which was a point of un-
 
 .THE DAWN 401 
 
 certain foothold. The art of Mastership is as ac 
 curate as any other; to bring an extreme to bear 
 upon an extreme is the strategy of war and the 
 secret of conquest." 
 
 All the time that Catus was talking Regan kept 
 his glance fastened on Aleppo, for his heart was 
 heavy ; he had dreamed a dream in his innocence 
 and ignorance, and had hoped that he and this ap 
 parently homeless boy might be all and all to each 
 other ; but as the greatness of the young man be 
 gan to dawn upon him, while his heart swelled 
 with honest pride, and at the same time he realized 
 that he was once more alone. Rhea had become a 
 sweet memory, Sallus dreamed of fair France, and 
 now Aleppo would steal away to Damascus, while 
 he a tear rolled down his cheek, which he shame 
 facedly brushed away 
 
 "Look here Regan," said Catus, turning sud 
 denly toward him, " what's the matter with your 
 joining us? " 
 
 " What do you mean by us? " 
 
 " The Order, of course." 
 
 "Me?" 
 
 " Yes, you ; I'm sure most of us would duck our 
 heads when you came on deck, we'd have to." 
 
 "Guess you would, said Sallus. "Regan is the 
 greatest philosopher, in my opinion, that ever 
 walked the earth ; neither you nor El Reshid can 
 hold a candle to him ; you'll be honored, if you let 
 him in."
 
 402 EL RESHID 
 
 Another tear forced itself from Regan's eye, 
 do ?vm on to his swarthy cheek ; he was never so 
 disgusted with himself before, in his life. 
 
 "It isn't exactly what a man knows that opens 
 the door of the order, but what he does. Now 
 Regan, and you too, have done something, and, in 
 my opinion, are the most modest couple that I ever 
 met. You don't seem to realize, either of you, that 
 you have been of any use, whatever. Approba- 
 tiveness is left off your heads, I imagine. El Reshid 
 himself, would have been helpless, without you ; 
 there's nobody almighty, you know. Yes, gentle 
 men, your names are both up, and there's no dan 
 ger of your being black-balled, I'll warn you of 
 that." 
 
 To Catus' chagrin this announcement made but 
 little impression on either Regan, or Sallus ; in fact, 
 they manifested a decided indifference. 
 
 "You see, it's this way, "said Regan, "neither 
 Sallus nor I worked for honors. We rather like 
 that boy over there for his own sake ; and don't care 
 a rap whether he is destined to be a Mahatma, or 
 an archangel. We admire him for just what he is, 
 and though I assure you that we feel honored we, 
 for I think I know Sallus well enough to speak for 
 him also shall most gladly come among you, if 
 you so desire, yet I must warn you that all the 
 condensed wisdom of Hellas, and the Yogi powers 
 of India, with the Kundalini thrown in, can never
 
 THE DAWN 403 
 
 take the place with me, of a little love and a loyal 
 friendship." 
 
 Here Aleppo turned his quick, masterful glance 
 on Regan. " This is the finality of philosophy and 
 the secret of the fiery Nirvana," he said. 
 
 Regan made no answer; he scarcely understood. 
 
 ' ' There is work for you in the order, ' ' said Catus. 
 We deal especially with fallen women, because sex 
 depravity is the worm that burrows at the root of 
 the tree of life. Now there is Nita" he drew a 
 letter from his pocket "here is another the 
 second this week and she is but an example of a 
 hundred more. We have her in good hands; she 
 is learning to do for herself and becoming very 
 proud of her virtues. We have agents everywhere, 
 who help along, and furnish employment suitable 
 for these women; work of just the right kind seems 
 to come to them, and they are unaware from what 
 source. Some marry, but more go as missionaries 
 to their unfortunate sisters, and slyly help them. 
 They make the best workers imaginable, for, know 
 ing the inferno and the way out of it, they have 
 sympathy and charity for that for which an immacu 
 late, touch-not-my-garment Pharisee would have no 
 patience." 
 
 "Yes"' said Regan, whose mind was far away 
 from the subject, " when do you go? " 
 
 1 ' To Damascus ? ' ' 
 
 " Yes, to Damascus."
 
 404 EL, RESHID 
 
 " In a few days," answered Catus; but Aleppo 
 pierced to the heart of the question 
 
 " I will write to you continually, Regan, my 
 adopted father, you know "and he laughed. 
 " You will never lose me; if all the others drift 
 away, I shall become a regular bore, and torture 
 you with letters till I come back later to take pos 
 session of you bodily understand ? ' ' 
 
 The honors of the Order of Olympus and the 
 prospect of future glories were as nothing com 
 pared to this. Aleppo had restored Regan's equi 
 librium and made his heart beat to the old tune. 
 Herein lay the greatness of young Romanes. 
 
 " And Sallus what about Sallus ? " said Catus. 
 
 " His heart is in France," answered Regan, and 
 I don't wonder; that little Cicily is the rosiest 
 magnet alive." 
 
 " Who is Cicily ? " said Aleppo, casting on Sallus 
 a puzzled, reproachful glance. 
 
 " Don't you remember the house of Issachar, 
 L,ep, where you stopped for a few hours in Cairo ? " 
 
 " But slightly ah yes, a pretty girl of course; 
 I couldn't forget her no man could; and another 
 who wasn't so pretty,' ' laughingly. 
 
 " I was half asleep, but I saw them both." 
 
 "And the beauty is Sallus' sweetheart," said 
 Regan, boldly. 
 
 A spasm of pain contracted the brows of Aleppo. 
 There is a selfishness in love at its best, and a slight 
 jealousy that the philosophy of the sage has a hard
 
 THE DAWN 405 
 
 tussel with. Aleppo was oriental and intense in 
 his personal affections. Sallus was his Apollo 
 Belvidere, and this pretty girl ah ! love even has 
 its dark side. Under the trees in paradise are 
 shadowy places. Sallus saw the pained look in 
 Aleppo's eyes, and for the first time in his life he 
 knew supreme happiness. It is supposed that two 
 men are incapable of love; friendship is deemed 
 quite possible, but a pure devotion is considered a 
 dream; nevertheless Sallus drew close to Aleppo 
 and said in bis blunt fashion 
 
 " Lep, Cicily means a good deal to me, but not 
 what you do; understand, you've always been first 
 and always will be; does that suit you?" 
 
 " I'm far from greatness, " said Aleppo, blushing 
 with shame and pleasure; "about you I'm as selfish 
 as ever." And this selfishness made Sallus so con 
 tented and Aleppo so satisfied, and Regan and Catus 
 so good natured, that we question the evil in it after 
 all; and wonder if a thing great could ever be 
 realized in its size, if it failed to contrast with the 
 small. The weakness of a man, but emphasizes 
 his strength; for character is far from being a chain 
 guaged by its fickle link. The roar of the wild 
 beast may be harmless, if his teeth are gone; but 
 woe be to him who falls into the clutches of one 
 that has lost nothing but his voice. 
 
 The night was far spent when Catus and Aleppo 
 left the rooms of their friends, and dawn had spread 
 the east with a rosy haze.
 
 408 EL RESHID 
 
 " And we go next to Damascus," said Catus. 
 
 "First to Cairo," answered Aleppo. 
 
 "To Cairo?" 
 
 Romanes glanced quickly at Catus; he seemed 
 surprised. 
 
 " I would meet Rhea Nellino," he continued. 
 
 "Ah!" A pained look passed over the coun 
 tenance of Catus, and then the sun in full majesty 
 ascending the arc of heaven, literally dazzled them 
 with the splendor and fire of the dawn. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 In the old Roman city, Vinenne, by the river 
 Rhone, on the veranda of a rather modern French 
 dwelling house, sat the irrepressible Spino, dis 
 guised, to be sure, but Spino for all that. Cicily's 
 relatives had stripped every " oriental rag " from 
 off her back, and dressed her up in modern French 
 garments, suitable to her age and condition. She 
 had been queer before, but was queerer in her 
 present habilaments; in fact an absurd medley, 
 made up of a black silk gown, a corset, a watch 
 and chain, and a shriveled personality that still 
 displayed its one tooth and cavernous throat in 
 defiance of civilization and Parisian dressmakers. 
 She was painfully conscious of all this and more 
 awkward than ever; as whatever congruity she
 
 FRANCE 407 
 
 once had with her surroundings was lost, and 
 now, as she expressed it, she felt like " a cat in a 
 rat's skin." There was much left bare that had 
 once been covered ; she missed the convenient 
 draperies and folds in which she had formerry 
 swathed herself: the silk gown drew tightly about 
 the hips and was low at the neck, the wrists and 
 scrawny hands were very much exposed, while her 
 tufts of nondescript hair, were strained up to a 
 peculiar little top-knot that nearly pulled her eyes 
 into her head; she had been decorated with gold- 
 bowed spectacles and a pair of French ear-rings, 
 which dangled about the shrunken tissue of her 
 neck in tipsy fashion ; while she sported a lace 
 handkerchief, a smelling bottle, and more absurd 
 still, a pair of high-heeled Parisian gaiters. Alto 
 gether she was remarkable, and Sallus spied her a 
 long way off. It was queer that an old hag like 
 that should set his heart palpitating, but it did, 
 she thrilled the young man from head to foot, and 
 was surpassingly beautiful, in his ardent eyes. In 
 the rapture of love he seized her by the hands 
 and kissed her effusively, much to the ancient 
 dame's delight. 
 
 " And Cicily ? " he said, out of breath. 
 
 But Spino was an arrant tease. 
 
 " She's off with her young man." 
 
 To have seen the lilies chase the roses from the 
 face of Sallus would have been to pity him, but 
 Spino was not half bad.
 
 408 EL RESHID 
 
 "To tell the truth she has watched for you 
 ever since she came to France, and has refused 
 no end of offers. She's a great catch here, I can 
 tell you; her cousin's not the only one. Why didn't 
 you come sooner ? ' ' 
 
 " Am I too late," asked Sallus, gloomily. 
 
 " You're just in the nick of time " she took out 
 her watch with a great flourish, and adjusted her 
 spectacles to ascertain the hour. " She'll be back 
 after a while; sit down can't you. When did you 
 get here?" 
 
 " This morning; as I wrote Cicily that I would 
 come as soon as Aleppo was found. I've kept my 
 promise." 
 
 "So the young man turned up, did he, and 
 Issachar, "why on earth isn't he capturing Cicily ?' 
 
 " That's what's the matter; for fear of any such 
 catastrophe I 'm here to marry her that is, if she 
 will. Once we are married, I'll defy Issachar, or 
 any other Jew to lay hands on her." 
 
 " What's become of the young man? " 
 
 " Oh, I bade him good-bye temporarily; he leaves 
 soon for Damascus but comes back after a time, or 
 I go there. I shall see him again," said Sallus 
 with a slight contraction of the brows. 
 
 (< In the mean time, you want to marry Cicily." 
 
 " Most assuredly; that is, if she is willing." 
 
 " Willing! Now let me tell you something. I've 
 been downright angry at the girl for waiting for 
 you; she's refused some splendid offers since you
 
 FRANCE 409 
 
 saw her last. If I had been she, I'd have jumped 
 at the first one. It's absurd, the fool she's made of 
 herself, and for a fellow like you, who prefers a 
 young man's salvation to her own; who puts him 
 first and foremost, and her second. It wasn't you 
 who saved her, understand, but Rhea. Rhea's her 
 angel as that Romanes is yours. She'd take her in 
 preference to you every time, but, little fool that 
 she is, seeing that Rhea is not to be had, she pines 
 for you; you are the next best, that's all, and 
 enough according to my idea. Queer couple you 
 are, you both take up with each other because you 
 can't get some one else; and I suppose you'll go on 
 consoling yourself to the end of time." 
 
 " Cicily is but another name for constancy," said 
 Sallus, very happy. 
 
 " Constancy, and you've doubted her all along; 
 that's why you don't deserve her. You were sus 
 picious in Cairo and in Stamboul, and here even, 
 just because she happens to be dangerously pretty. 
 You imagined that Issachar made a tool of her; I 
 saw it the first time we met, in old Khem." 
 
 She stood up on her French heels and nearly 
 toppled over. 
 
 "There, granny, sit down or 3'ou'll lose your 
 balance." 
 
 She laughed clear down to the epiglottis, and 
 sank back all in a heap on the veranda bench. 
 
 " You see, if I misjudged Cicily in the old days, 
 you certainly got a wrong idea of Issachar, so we're 
 quits."
 
 410 EL, RESHID 
 
 " Please explain yourself, my heart's desire." 
 
 1 ' You said it was money that he was after, but 
 it wasn't; it was simply revenge.'' 
 
 " He managed to rake in the coin all the same." 
 she answered, unconvinced. 
 
 " He has bled Cicily's relatives, I am pretty con 
 fident from what they tell me; however, that is 
 neither here nor there, he's out of the way, and 
 I'm glad of it. There's no telling how long he'll 
 stay though," but Sallus' mind was on another 
 subject. 
 
 " Will Cicily's relatives object to her marrying 
 me, do you think, granny? " 
 
 " I suppose you're able to sustain her?" The 
 old woman's expression was very severe, as though 
 she expected this ardent suitor to plead poverty on 
 the spot. 
 
 " I guess I've enough," he answered indiffer 
 ently. "I get the income of a pretty good pile 
 which my father has looked out for. Cicily will have 
 to take me on trust, though, for what I am today, 
 not for what I was." Here he blushed. 
 
 "Cicily will take you, there's no doubt about that, 
 but in my opinion she's a fool; I wouldn't have 
 you if you got down on your knees." 
 
 "Granny, you're cruel." His eyes were fixed on 
 the door. Framed by a climbing honeysuckle, 
 rosy, tantalizing, Miss Cicily, the little eavesdrop 
 per, kissed him with her saucy eyes, which had the 
 touch-me-not, I-love-you expression. It would be
 
 FRANCE 411 
 
 this little maiden's fate to tantalize the man she 
 loved, or any other, to the end of her days, and 
 Sallus' prospect, while bright enough, had its little 
 sun -tinted tortures, which it would be his fate to 
 endure. 
 
 " Cicily,' ' he said, going toward her and extend 
 ing his hands, "I have come to marry you will 
 you have me ? " 
 
 He felt like a cruel schoolboy chasing a butter 
 fly, but the answer of the young lady quite took 
 away his breath. 
 
 "Yes, if you'll be quick about it." 
 
 " Are you afraid of Issachar? " 
 
 "Somewhat, but not so much as of other men ; 
 besides, there's Spino. I've wished a hundred 
 times to be back in Cairo." 
 
 "We'll go there," answered Sallus, "and to 
 Syria and Thibet anywhere to get to a place of 
 safety." 
 
 While the prettiness of Cicily was still evident, 
 it was not in the least enhanced by the Parisian 
 touch. She looked like a French fashion plate, 
 and Sallus mentally vowed that he would persuade 
 her into half-oriental garments, as soon as he had 
 the right. 
 
 Venus must have taken great delight in this 
 young couple ; not the mystic Urania, but the 
 Aphrodite of the sea foam; and Sappho, too, would 
 have written them a bridal hymn, no doubt, had 
 she been living, for they were beautiful in flesh and
 
 412 EL RESHID 
 
 blood and burning with youth. Spino, though 
 she scoffed and made fun, and condemned and 
 preached, enjoyed for the time, a little earthly 
 bliss, by proxy or sympathy, or some other emotion 
 rather hard to understand. 
 
 Of course, the relatives of Cicily could say noth 
 ing; she was dependant on their bounty and her 
 knight had come armed with sovereigns, which he 
 threw at their heads. Her numerous lovers vowed 
 vengeance, whicli they never attempted to carry 
 out, and Issachar, if aware of this French idyl, 
 made no aggressive sign. Even the father of Sallus 
 dispatched his unqualified approval, and Regan and 
 Aleppo wished them joy. Everything was as it 
 should be, and were this tale to end here it would 
 be thoroughly conventional and true to the popular 
 demand. 
 
 On the morning on which they were married the 
 sun was bright, the air balmy, friends and relations 
 cordial, and Spiuo had flowers in her hair. There 
 were presents, congratulations, slippers and rice. 
 Altogether, it was a romantic love affair, ending in 
 the good, old-fashioned way. Ending? Does love 
 subside with marriage, and is courtship the grave 
 of Eros? Not always. 
 
 They left France, and Spino, who though a little 
 sore and terribly homesick for Egypt, nevertheless, 
 refused to countenance their honeymoon with her 
 presence. But when they had gone the old woman 
 went by herself to a deserted graveyard and sobbed
 
 FRANCE 4H 
 
 her grief out on the tombstones, as though the 
 cold marble had a sympathetic touch and felt her 
 woe. 
 
 So it is; too much of happiness in one direction 
 deprives somebody always somebody. An excess 
 of love poured out on a fortunate head leaves a 
 poor heart shivering. The balance seems to be 
 lost temporarily and Justice, with her face awry, 
 belies her name. In truth, though, the equilibrium 
 is preserved and the instability is but apparent, for 
 life, in its finality, is self-settling. 
 
 " I want you to know Regan better," said Sallus 
 as he placed his young wife in a steamer chair near 
 the ship's rail. 
 
 They were on the Mediterranean, going any 
 where or nowhere, simply absorbing the blue above 
 and below. 
 
 "Couldn't he come with us?" said Cicily 
 naively. 
 
 " I think not. " But Sallus sighed, and she took 
 note. " He is a queer individual and the greatest 
 philosopher on earth, but he takes the loss of 
 Aleppo and me very hard. I wouldn't have 
 thought it, but he does. It seems to be the fate of 
 some folks that just as they get attached to a body 
 and find him conducive to happiness, he is snatched 
 away by someone else. It's hard, I tell you," and 
 he sighed again; she made a second note. Those 
 two pronounced sighs of Sallus' were the black 
 wings of the raven that persisted in hovering over
 
 4U fcl, RKSHID 
 
 her head. She knew, through the jealous instinct 
 of woman, that Sallus had other loves besides her 
 self, and, in her pique, she remembered Rhea, whom 
 she determined should eclipse Sallus forever in her 
 eyes. Rhea was the silver moon who was fated to 
 put out her sun periodically as long as she drew 
 breath. 
 
 But the Mediterranean was blue, and the empy 
 rean another sea, and they, between sky and earth, 
 floated outward into life, with its lights and shad 
 ows, its night and day. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 THE SETTING SUN. 
 
 " You will go to El Reshid," said Romanes, gaz 
 ing directly at his son, who had come to his apart 
 ment to bid him farewell. There was a certain 
 pride in his eyes, as they rested on the young man, 
 which Aleppo had failed to notice, so intent was he 
 in admiring his father, whose dignity and reserve 
 excited his profound respect. The look on Alep 
 po's face, his smile, a subtle something beyond an 
 alysis, called Helene to Romanes' mind and, though 
 he made no sign, in fact, assumed an expression of 
 haughtiness, within, his heart ached with the old 
 pain that Helene had caused him on that wild night 
 in Paris, when she slipped his grasp and went out 
 like an extinguished taper. So, too, was Aleppo 
 going. A star, flashing in the dark over Romanes'
 
 THE SETTING SUN 415 
 
 head, was about to be extinguished, and yet, hold 
 ing his feeling in hand with supreme mastership, he 
 impressed his son with a sense of dignity that 
 amounted to awe. Aleppo felt that in all his life 
 he had never seen so imposing a figure; and the 
 consciousness that he himself was of him, bone and 
 muscle, mind and heart, filled him with an ambi 
 tion beyond any past conjecture, and he secretly 
 vowed that he would make himself worthy of the 
 kinship, or perish in the attempt. On the con 
 trary, this man of bone and muscle, mind and 
 heart, wondered if sometime, somewhere, he 
 should gain his lost position and become the peer 
 of his son; if he would yet be able to lovingly 
 challenge the rising stars that he beheld already 
 flashing in Aleppo's eyes. 
 
 We have said that Romanes saw the uplifted 
 beauty in his son's face which had already 
 charmed him in Helene, but an unbiased judge 
 would have said that the two men, as they stood 
 face to face, were strangely alike, even to the 
 masterful quickness of eye, which gave them both 
 that electric glance that is never seen save in the 
 faces of the great. 
 
 Romanes, masked in the reserve of silence, as 
 was his custom on critical occasions, so awed 
 Aleppo that his desire of affectionate expression 
 was checked also, though otherwise he would have 
 embraced his father and talked freely, as in his 
 young impulsiveness he longed to do. Before their
 
 416 EL RESHIP 
 
 meeting he had thought of a thousand things that 
 he desired to ask him, if that happy time ever ar 
 rived ; he would speak of his mother, his memory 
 of her, her beauty ; but no 'word could he bring 
 himself to utter on the subject ; the mystery of her 
 life seemed too sacred to probe. 
 
 " You will go to El Reshid, and later will suc 
 ceed him as master of the Olympians," said 
 Romanes. 
 
 With the question the consciousness of kinship 
 in Aleppo's mind was replaced by independent 
 opinion, and he gave answer with a positiveness 
 that amounted to a finality. 
 
 "Of that I know nothing. El Reshid is but a 
 man. The order must necessarily act as a -break 
 on individuality. I am not prepared to commit 
 myself. The teacher ceases his vocation when the 
 pupil is no more. I seek neither being nor order. 
 Truth is my magnet, and it will I have." 
 
 The apparent conceit of this remark seemed 
 worthy of his youth. It startled Romanes, and a 
 look of admiration flashed in his eyes, which he 
 strove to conceal." 
 
 "To El Reshid, however," continued Aleppo, 
 " I owe untold gratitude, and though truth in the 
 abstract is undoubtedly a final aim, a teacher is a 
 means to the end. His letters appeal to my reason 
 and my instinct. It was not so much the man back 
 of them as the truth behind him, that aroused 
 my consciousness and impelled me to seek further. "
 
 THE SETTING SUN 417 
 
 " But the man, himself, is a magnet," answered 
 Romanes, looking keenly at his son. 
 
 "Ah, you speak of attraction for himself do I 
 love him; that bears naught on the question of his 
 instructions save indirectly; I might adore one who 
 could teach me nothing." 
 
 "But his powers?" Romanes stepped closer 
 and looked even more keenly at Aleppo. 
 
 " True, I have witnessed their manifestation, and 
 have discovered also that by no art of his can he 
 transfer them. In no way can he graft a limb of 
 himself on to me, as you insert the cutting of a 
 peach tree into the body of a plum. The law, 
 however, through which he works is as universal as 
 is that of gravitation, and is no more his than 
 mine." 
 
 " But he knows its secret, and you do not." 
 
 " Yet will I, "said Aleppo, straightening himself. 
 "If El Reshid deem me worthy he will so inform 
 me; if not, I will discover it myself" 
 
 A smile touched and vanished from the lips of 
 Romanes; his son's egotistic audacity, which 
 amounted to authority, thrilled his nerves and 
 startled them fora moment into unwonted life. 
 
 " I have no fear of you," touching his head and 
 his heart, and drawing away from Aleppo as a sig 
 nal of parting. 
 
 The young man's pulse fairly bounded; he longed 
 to rush to this man by -his side and embrace him, 
 for he felt that on earth thev would never meet
 
 418 EL RESHID 
 
 again, but his lofty demeanor, his mask of dignity 
 so impressed him, that he restrained all outward 
 manifestation like a true son of the Orient, and 
 returning the salute, went slowly from the room, 
 his eyes fastened on those of his father as long as 
 he remained in view. By a strange association of 
 ideas Romanes remembered a hotel in Vienna and a 
 similar parting with Helene. With the closing of 
 the door he automatically arranged a few trifles and 
 locked his desk; then, going to the window, he 
 noticed that the sun had long since crossed the 
 zenith and was fast descending the western sky. 
 Placing some letters in his pocket, and casting a 
 strange glance over the room, he left it and sought 
 the outer world. As he passed into the street, he 
 walked with an unsteady gait, and the sunlight 
 brought out the silver in his abundant hair. He 
 glanced over the Golden Horn with the same pecu 
 liar glance; at the masts 1 , and minarets, the towers 
 and ships; from the heights he scanned the 
 Bosporus, on, on to the Mysian Olympus, cov 
 ered with snow ; his eyes seemingly immovable, 
 resting for long minutes on the range, dim, beauti 
 ful, beyond him, holding his gaze with the fascina 
 tion of an unapproachable ideal. Then, slowly 
 turning his back on the Occident, far away ling- 
 land, his beloved France, the cold peaks of Switzer 
 land and the mysterious Byzantium, he crossed to 
 Asia, and became to the rising west but a legend 
 and a dream.
 
 VANISHED 419 
 
 CHAPTER XLL 
 VANISHED. 
 
 Caesar Catus was at home in Cairo; and all 
 things were as they had been in his luxurious 
 apartments, even to the Arab, who materialized and 
 dematerialized, as in times past. He, himself, in 
 his oriental gown and Turkish fez, looked as young 
 and unconcerned as he had done before undertaking 
 the role of executor and man of affairs. He had 
 come out of severe work to luxury, unscathed, 
 and drew hard at his Havana, undisturbed by a 
 spasm of conscience or a pang of regret. Since 
 last embraced by the arms of his stuffy chair he 
 had traveled extensively, labored along numerous 
 lines unceasingly, lived abstemiously, and suffered 
 severely. But tonight he is as benign as the 
 climate of Egypt, and as natural a child of luxury 
 as the Sultan himself. 
 
 He had been seated but a short time when 
 Regan and Aleppo entered the room, and made 
 themselves as much at home as was Caesar him 
 self. They had been in Cairo but an hour or 
 two, and Catus and Romanes were expecting to 
 leave on the following day. Regan, who still re 
 tained his rooms there, had captured Aleppo 
 bodily, and vowed that he would hold him until he 
 departed for Damascus. He had accompanied him 
 to Cairo, declaring that he should remain in the 
 Egyptian city indefinitely, as one part of the world
 
 420 EL RESHID 
 
 was as good as another, and that, besides, it was 
 just possible that Sallus and Cicily might wander 
 that way. 
 
 "I am going out with Aleppo, "said he to Catus, 
 " to locate Rhea's residence; I will then return to 
 you and leave them together." 
 
 "Are you sure," said Catus, 'that she is still 
 here?" 
 
 " Not at all, though she vowed to remain till she 
 learned something definite of Aleppo; however, it 
 does no harm to inquire. " 
 
 While Regan was talking, young Romanes stood 
 staring, with a fixed gaze, at the cast of Miss 
 Nellino, which stood on a pedestal, where a soft, 
 oriental lamp threw a rosy glow on the pure 
 Greek profile and graceful neck. 
 
 "How came you by that?" he said, lifting 
 his large eyes to those of Catus. 
 
 " I made it from memory." 
 
 Aleppo looked searchingly at Caesar for a 
 moment, then turned again to the bust, and re 
 mained silent till Regan reminded him that it was 
 time to make search for Rhea. 
 
 " Do you feel that she is here ' ' said Regan, as 
 they walked toward the familiar street, where he 
 had seen her before, under the trellis of roses. 
 
 " No," answered Romanes, but beyond this he 
 said nothing. 
 
 The house appeared at last, faintly and half 
 defined, for the night was dark; then Regan turned
 
 VANISHED 421 
 
 abruptly and left Aleppo near the garden gate. 
 He looked vaguely, as if in a dream, at the dim, 
 shadowy cottage, and the faint light that stole out 
 through the window, then went slowly to the 
 entrance and knocked upon the door. It was 
 opened by a servant, who ushered him into a small 
 apartment, where he awaited the mistress, who 
 appeared later, and, as he expected, was an entire 
 stranger. He bowed, however, and enquired calmly 
 if she could tell him anything of a Miss Nellino, 
 who had recently occupied the house. 
 
 "Ah, the beautiful young lady! I am sorry sir, 
 but I cannot, except that she left here with her 
 aunt, at the time I took the place." 
 
 " You have no idea in what direction she went ? " 
 
 "Not the slightest; but I have found a lovely 
 picture of her which she must have forgotten; 
 would you like that sir?" 
 
 A slightly sarcastic smile flew off from Aleppo's 
 lips as if a picture could take the place of Rhea 
 but he replied, politely, in the negative and arose 
 to depart. 
 
 " Wait a moment please, perhaps Sahib will know; 
 and she called her man-servant whom she found as 
 ignorant on the subject as herself. The door 
 closed deprecatingly after Aleppo, as if it were 
 sorry also; and he, in the same dream, out of which 
 he had temporarily emerged, wandered back to the 
 room of Catus.
 
 42'2 RL RESHID 
 
 "She. has gone?" said Regan, when Romanes 
 entered. 
 
 He smiled an answer, which spake more em 
 phatically than a monosyllable, and contradicted 
 his eyes, that his friends found hard to fathom. 
 
 The next day Aleppo and Catus bade Regan 
 farewell, and proceeded on their way to Syria and 
 the dwelling place of El Reshid. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 ON THE WAY TO DAMASCUS. 
 
 The environment of ancient Joppa is rich with 
 citrus groves, and during the spring, carpets of 
 gorgeous flowers are spread over the far reaching 
 plain in oriental tints, thick and luxurious like 
 Persian rugs. The air is heavy with the breath 
 of orange blossoms, while the hedges of prickly 
 cactus stand on guard; and this most ancient city, 
 with the Mediterranean at its feet and a tropical 
 sky overhead, was said to be the port where, in the 
 far-off past, the famous cedars of Lebanon were 
 landed for the building of that half mythical temple 
 from which came the voice of the the oracle and 
 the wisdom of Solomon. 
 
 Here young Romanes and Catus paused on their 
 way to Damascus, meeting parties of travelers 
 with their horses and tents returning from the 
 famous city, and others about to start, all focussing
 
 ON THE WAY TO DAMASCUS 423 
 
 at the entrance of the hotel where Aleppo and 
 Catus stopped. For some reason, hardly under 
 stood by themselves, they had concluded to remain 
 over the succeeding day at Joppa, taking their trip 
 to Damascus leisurely, and as impulse dictated. 
 
 On the following morning after their arrival, 
 Aleppo strolled out into the suburbs of the city, 
 and seeing in the distance a gnarled and ancient 
 tree, that might, for aught he knew, have sheltered 
 the head of the sainted Paul, he walked toward it 
 and discovered a horse tied loosely to its trunk, 
 while sitting near, her seat a stone, was a woman 
 slender and familiar, who caused young Romanes 
 to pause, as though transfixed. For an instant only, 
 then she raised her eyes, large, beautiful, sad, and 
 looked into those of Aleppo, as though she had 
 waited long. 
 
 "Rhea! " 
 
 She arose and went toward him, in the old way, 
 with both hands extended, looking thinner, fairer. 
 
 Aleppo asked no question; he could not speak; 
 he was becoming like his father, the oriental nature 
 having asserted itself, and with it that powerful 
 enthusiasm which finds no vent in words. 
 
 Rhea trembled a little and leaned against the 
 half-dead tree, whose withered and scraggy 
 branches formed a strange canopy for her young 
 and beautiful head. 
 
 " I have come from Cairo," said Aleppo. "I 
 sought you there."
 
 424 EL RESHID 
 
 "And I have seeii Kl Reshid," she answered, 
 dropping her eyes, and breaking a little twig to 
 pieces. 
 
 The name once so magical brought a chill to his 
 heart and froze his blood El Reshid ! 
 
 Near by, in the flower vale of Syria, stood the one 
 of all others that expressed to him the wiUhery 
 and beauty of woman. To be near her was to be 
 in Paradise, to thrill with the rapture of nature and 
 the passion of the muse. To touch her was to be 
 come herself, and to forget his name and race. To 
 hear her was to listen to the ^Eoliaii harp, whose 
 strings were swept by the fingers of the Immortals. 
 
 And she, with downcast eyes, has spoken the 
 name El Reshid that turned him to ice. His life 
 had been in her hands; had she, herself, not said 
 it, he would have fallen at her feet. 
 
 Is it left always with the great among women to 
 decide at last what man shall be ? Are they not 
 only the mothers of men, but their fate also ? Had 
 she not spoken, Aleppo Romanes would have 
 buried the name of El Reshid in the oblivion of 
 memory, and fled from Syria and his high destiny. 
 The flower in his hand he would have crushed by 
 his very passion, and the laurel of the Immortal 
 would have been covered by the sod. No other 
 soul on earth, nor in the unive;se, could have 
 tempted him to this, save Rhea Nellino. But 
 somehow she had caught a glimpse, with that 
 wonderful prophetic glance, of a series of heights
 
 ON_ THE WAY TO DAMASCUS 425 
 
 a Pelion piled on Ossa, a heaven on Paradise, a 
 magical Maha Meru, where love itself is immortal, 
 and where the shadow of the tomb is not. She had 
 come out from among the cedars of Lebanon, 
 where the flickering light is lost in shade, to the 
 splendor of the mountain-top where earth is be 
 neath, and the sky, endless, starry, divine. 
 
 "There is but one thing that can make me 
 happy," she said, gazing tenderly on his sorrowful, 
 startled face, "but one thing your greatness. The 
 farther you climb, the more enraptured shall I be 
 come. We wed upon the heights. " 
 
 With a shock, similar to that felt by him at the 
 temple of Ammon, when he passed through the 
 sacred gates, he suddenly realized that to lose her 
 was to find her, that to part in flesh was to meet in 
 spirit, where time and space and death are not, in 
 the mystical Hesperides, the charmed Elysium 
 within the soul itself; and to do this he must be 
 great. Already had she forestalled him, and was 
 returning from the teacher whom he sought. Al- 
 . ready was she above him looking down into his 
 eyes. To reach her he must rise; to meet her they 
 must part. 
 
 Since first he sought truth, he had faced the 
 paradox. On Libya he had battled with the 
 sphinx, and here, beneath his own Bo tree, the 
 master puzzle, the supreme problem slowly un 
 ravelled itself in the eyes of Rhea Nellino. 
 
 15
 
 426 - EL RESHID 
 
 It was a long sweet day, and in the balance 
 with the life time of the rhythmic man was as gold 
 is to a feather. They talked of the future, the 
 eternal, the divine; and when the sun went down, 
 Rhea Nellino left him in an after-glow of splendor, 
 even more thrilling than the magic orb itself. 
 The hurrying years may come and go, 
 And groups of stars spin onward in their flight, 
 But time and space are naught to him, 
 Who greets each morn the rising sun, 
 Where looms Olympus white and lone, 
 In endless waste of heavenly blue. 
 And here upon the wooded hill, 
 Whose heart with bliss did once o'erflow, 
 A singer sang and singeth still. 
 
 CHAPTER XLHI. 
 THE MASTER. 
 
 Catus and Aleppo ascended the hill on the 
 north, that commands a superb view of the white 
 and rose city of Damascus, lying like a shaded 
 opal in its setting of green; the outlying stretches, 
 a blending of garden and forest, extending away 
 into the distance, where miniature lakes flash like 
 blue gems in the morning sun. 
 
 This marvelous view of ancient Esh Sham, from 
 whose red virgin soil Adam is said to have sprung; 
 this glimpse of the land of Eden, and haven of St. 
 Paul, is one of the famous sights of earth.
 
 THE MASTER 427 
 
 From the high summits of Anti Lebanon one 
 sweeps the wonderful plain, El Cuta, extending, 
 verging even upon Paradise which is the dream of the 
 Arab and the ideal of the poet. And Damascus, 
 "The White Swan," with wings spread, its 
 feet just touching the waters of the glistening 
 Pharpar and the winding Abana, rises as it would 
 seem from the living green of earth to the ethereal 
 blue of heaven, bearing upward the mighty 
 thoughts of the wise and aspirations of the great 
 Damascus ! at last. Before Aleppo was spread a 
 realized vision, a verified panorama that his inner 
 eye had scanned again and again in the past. The 
 great mosques, the minarets, the domes, the golden 
 crescents, the fragile blossoms of the peach, the 
 leaves of the somber olive, the spire-like cypress, 
 the glow, the flash, the splendor which distance 
 lends, even the subtle perfume of the roses, the 
 shifting veil of lucent mist, all about him, as seen 
 within a thousand times, clear, expanded, sub 
 lime. 
 
 Then Catus, who, hushed like himself, had 
 stood entranced, turned abruptly, and said in a 
 resolute voice, pitched, however, in a minor, 
 melancholy key: 
 
 "I return to Cairo; you know the way; find the 
 garden; fare you well." 
 
 He looked away from Romanes to the summit of 
 Anti Lebanon, and extended his hands. For an 
 instant Aleppo felt that this could not be; it had
 
 428 El/ RESHID 
 
 been a series of partings; they had all gone, one 
 after the other, and now, even Catus. But he 
 mastered himself, and answering the salute of his 
 friend in his usual silent way, turned from Caesar 
 and slowly descended toward Damascus. 
 
 He passed through "Straight Street" and 
 wandered on, on, till at last, before an unobtrusive, 
 dingy door, he paused and knocked. It was so 
 low that to enter he must needs stoop; but once 
 beyond it he heard the rush of water, and beheld a 
 sparkling, narrow stream, on the banks of which 
 were ferns and reeds, where everywhere along the 
 paths were shrubs and roses. 
 
 Within this garden, which seemed so familiar to 
 Aleppo, was a small building of four-domed 
 columns, through which the Soft air stole, heavy 
 with perfume and resonant with music. A Smyrna 
 rug had been thrown upon the floor, and upon this 
 Aleppo threw himself, with the ease and natural 
 ness of an oriental, and leaning his head upon his 
 hand he fell again into a dream. It would have 
 seemed a long time to another, but to him it was 
 but a few minutes, when a man came rapidly down 
 the garden path and entered the airy structure. 
 
 Romanes rose immediately to his feet and made a 
 profound salute, but El Reshid waved it aside with 
 a smile and shake of his head, and said: 
 
 ''Recline please, as I shall do, and let us talk." 
 
 El Reshid changed his manner, on occasion, as he 
 did his garment. I n the Occident he had worn the
 
 THE jMASTER 429 
 
 garb of a Parisian and spoken in a dignified foreign 
 tongue; here upon Damascan soil he wore an ori 
 ental robe and spoke with the ease of the native. 
 
 "You have come a long way," he said to 
 Aleppo, smiling again in a familiar manner, and 
 reclining near him. " I am sure I needed you 
 much." 
 
 " You needed me?" replied Romanes, with a 
 slightly astonished inflection. 
 
 "Understand," answered El Reshid, "that 
 everything is fair in philosophy, the exchange is 
 always even. Without you, I should have suffered; 
 we give for what we get, and get for what we 
 give." 
 
 "Yes," said Aleppo, who grasped it instantly. 
 There seemed no need of explanation between 
 them. 
 
 " However, you must have had some definite 
 object in coming; you desire to obtain, I presume, 
 what are called transcendant powers. ' ' 
 
 " I do. I would learn the foimulas, and take a 
 short cut to whatever otherwise might require a 
 long time. But on one condition only will I study 
 with you" here he smiled caressingly at El Reshid, 
 as if begging him to excuse his apparent egotism 
 ''and that is that my individuality remain intact. 
 / am /, and what this or that man says, to me is 
 nothing except it be based on truth, that reveals 
 itself also. Revelation, inspiration, assertion, 
 though vouched for by a Moses or a Newton, are
 
 430 EL RESHID 
 
 nothing to me unless Truth stares at me through 
 their eyes, and speaks from their very lips." 
 
 While Aleppo's words to the uninitiated would 
 have sounded cold and egotistic, his manner was 
 dignified yet humble, and somehow appealed to El 
 Reshid in a remarkable way. 
 
 "You would be the ocean grey-hound," he 
 answered, " that cuts across the waves, and rushes 
 straight to port in the teeth of the wind. You 
 scorn that rare beauty of the sea the full-rigged 
 ship that rises and falls to the rhythm of the tide, 
 and singing the song of the surging deep, its sails 
 taut or its poles bare, runs a race with the gale 
 itself, or is buffeted about, a mere pet and a play 
 thing of the monster that treats it according to his 
 moods. Ah ! you would transcend law and master 
 rhythm; in other words, become a god." 
 
 " I would," said Aleppo, reverently bowing his 
 head. 
 
 ' ' You have come to me for the formulas ? ' ' 
 
 "I have." 
 
 The two men looked at each other; they seemed 
 peers equals. El Reshid was a pure oriental, 
 with a clear, cream tinted skin and brilliant, 
 passionate eyes. Romanes with his strain of west 
 ern blood was wonderfully fair, and his glance 
 while quick was steady as is that of a young sun. 
 
 " Tell me," said he to El Reshid, " in what con 
 sists your power; by what means did you acquire 
 this transcendentalism by which you overcome
 
 THE MASTER 431 
 
 rhythm and discover counter-acting laws? How 
 earned you the title of "The Master?'" 
 
 At this series of questions El Reshid, with a 
 smile like that of Romanes, remained silent a few 
 moments, and no sound was heard save the ripple 
 of the river, which scorned silence and sang in 
 cessantly, then, in slow, decisive language, draw 
 ing a little near to Aleppo, he began: 
 
 "You speak of transcendentalism; know, then, 
 that in the finality there is nothing transcendental 
 save will. To be sure, we apparently overcome 
 law with law, upset principle with principle, but 
 he who rejects the sovereignty of will is a slave of 
 rhythm and a puppet of fate. listen while I talk; 
 lose no word, for to one like you, who has already 
 learned to concentrate, I need speak this truth but 
 once." 
 
 He leaned back against a column of the little re 
 treat, and plucking a bit of fleur de-lis pulled the 
 leaves to bits as he talked. 
 
 THE WIUv. 
 
 "We have defined Will as desire. Will pure 
 and simple, being an inclination in a certain way, 
 as opposed to all other ways. To will and to wish 
 are practically the same thing, as you understand, 
 the strength and weakness lie in the amount of 
 force with which you back it. This force, in the 
 finality, is different in different individuals, and 
 also in a single individual may be greater or less
 
 432 EL RESHID 
 
 according as he exercises his Unit Power. So, in 
 ordinary terminology we speak of a strong will 
 and a weak will, as Will and force generally go 
 together. But in subtle analysis we distinguish 
 Will entirely from force: as man may wish for a 
 thing and make no effort to acquire it, in fact back 
 his desire by no energy, except that required to 
 will. You may sit all day and long for China, but 
 if you make no effort to get there, you use no 
 amount of strength to back your Will; more, you 
 may ardently, imploringly desire China, at the 
 same time knowing .your energy inadequate, you 
 use no force in that direction. You may be a cast 
 away on a desert island, with no timber nor means 
 with which to construct a boat, yet that will not in 
 the least prevent you from longing for home with 
 a heart-breaking persistency. Indeed, it is often 
 the case that the utter impossibility of accomplish 
 ing an object makes the object all the more desired. 
 A thing that a man can not have he sometimes 
 most ardently wants. So, then, force and Will are 
 not the same thing as we define the latter. 
 
 " Coming back to the idea that Will is desire, we 
 get into the subtleties. If you prefer green to 
 blue and desire it about you, why is this ? What 
 leads you to prefer green to blue, when another 
 prefers the latter? Even your power of choice 
 seems to be backed by causation. If in some time 
 past you became accustomed to an environment of 
 green, having lived in a forest, or perchance hav-
 
 THE MASTER 433 
 
 ing been confined to shaded rooms on account of 
 weak eyes, where a green light became a necessity, 
 you got accustomed to the color, and have grown 
 on that account to love it, wherein, then, when 
 you delve into causes, do you find your power of 
 choice ? Any illustration will do; take your 
 preference in any direction, your liking and choos 
 ing of certain articles of food, of certain localities, 
 of certain people, would seem to result from evolu 
 tion, or the birth of cause from cause. You will 
 be startled if you begin to trace your preferences in 
 this way, and will be temporarily shocked into be 
 lieving that after all you are but a puppet of fate, 
 which allows of no free and sovereign Will; that 
 each temporary cause having a preceding one, you 
 are, after all, not choosing anything, but sitting on 
 "the lap of fate, and deluding yourself with the idea 
 that you are a free agent. Even your opinions 
 are but the normal children of previous opinions, 
 which you have forgotten; farther, any change of 
 opinion, apparently due to choice, would seem, if 
 you trace it, to be brought about by good and 
 sufficient reasons, by which you are forced to your 
 present position in all honesty. 
 
 "It you accept the creation hypothesis, and 
 posit a beginning for yourself anywhere, at any 
 time, you are forced into the renunciation of free 
 Will, as surely as you are compelled to drown 
 when the water persistently covers your head. 
 Start a cause anywhere, which shall farther a
 
 434 EL RESHID 
 
 cause, and you are as much the puppet of fate as is 
 the slave a tool of his master. The ghastly joke of 
 the whole matter lies in the fact that while you in 
 reality choose nothing you seem to be choosing 
 everything; and man resolves- himself into a 
 travesty and nothing more. 
 
 " The question then sifts down to this: Man is 
 absolutely without the power of choice, and is 
 forced to every apparent spontaneous desire by a 
 series of causes, or his Will is absolutely free, and 
 no cause affects it. Will either precedes cause, or 
 is the result of cause. If the second proposition be 
 true, a"ll things that we do, we are forced to do, 
 whether they be evil or good ; murder, theft, lust 
 are as much a part of our existence as is beauty 
 and altruism. The terrible blunder of the idea of 
 creation, as propounded by a false philosophy is that 
 it is absolutely self contradictory, giving man, 
 along with his anthropomorphic god and " begin 
 ning in time " a Free Will. 
 
 "The whole strength of our position lies in this : 
 that from the point of Unity or Beginninglessness 
 there is no cause except Will. Should you start to 
 trace by causes, you could never stop, except at 
 the point where your existence begins. Now if 
 it begins ', there is a reason for its beginning; this 
 would be the First Cause, from which all following 
 causes would follow, being the impetus to every 
 choice which you would make to the time of your 
 death. If, on the contrary, you trace back to no
 
 THE MASTER 435 
 
 First Cause, Will being primal and sovereign the 
 two poles of being, though simultaneous, yet in a 
 sense resultant we have an absolutely free and 
 sovereign Will, in itself a cause, influenced perhaps 
 by other free Wills, but never forced, because of its 
 precedence to environment. 
 
 " We must then, either posit, that environment 
 controls Will, or that Will controls environment ; 
 one of these positions must absolutely be main 
 tained. Modern science is far more consistent than 
 the (revealed?) orthodox religion, because it (not 
 as yet, in most cases, admitting endlessness of 
 individual being) practically eliminates free, indi 
 vidual Will, The L/aw of Selection resolving 
 itself into apparent freedom, resulting from past 
 causation. 
 
 " Note, then, the philosophy of the man, who 
 believes in free Will, must be diametrically opposed 
 to that of one who believes in Kismet. Recogniz 
 ing no sovereignty, he practises to that end, even 
 to the dominating of his two poles of being. He 
 finds, that whatever the cause that led up to a 
 thing, that he can change that liking into a hate, 
 by Will, pure and simple, or a resolving to do so, 
 in spite of all environment which would lead to the 
 contrary. But you say ; that willing to do so must 
 have a cause, and we answer, that if Will is the 
 cause of itself, YES. In other words, he may will 
 to will to do so, for Will's sake, as against all
 
 436 EL RESHID 
 
 influences of environment; in other words, he may 
 
 will to te?t his Will. 
 ******* 
 
 " We shall bring you now to test your Will by 
 formulas, and lead you into some subtle thought. 
 You must now be trained to the hardest kind of 
 
 thinking, and the most rigid exercise of Will. 
 ******* 
 
 " Nature is one pole of being, God the other ; 
 Variety one pole, Unity the other; the Law one 
 pole, the laws the other. The laws mean tendencies, 
 the Law of them Unity. Will is Ego desiring. 
 Rhythm is a necessity of God and nature, or Law 
 and laws." 
 
 " The practice, do you understand?" said El 
 Reshid. 
 
 " I would ask you," answered Romanes, ''how, 
 if all things are eternal, that the Will precedes; in 
 other words, how can anything become if all things 
 are? " 
 
 " A wise question," replied the Master. " Know 
 then, that in the bosom of the eternal all things 
 are potential, asleep, simultaneous. But to sum 
 mon these out of Unity into variety necessitates the 
 precedence of Will or desire, for it is one attri 
 bute that never sleeps. Manifestation necessitates 
 sequence, and, therefore, time and space. Event fol 
 lows upon c"esire. Remember then, all things are, 
 and ever shall be, though in variety through desire 
 or Will we marshal them one at a time. In life,
 
 THE MASTER 437 
 
 then, which means action, expression, Will is the 
 Sovereign Supreme." 
 
 He arose, and Aleppo, conscious that the lecture 
 was done, saluted El Reshid and went toward the 
 entrance. As he reached it he turned about once 
 or twice and looked lovingly at his teacher, whose 
 eyes were fixed upon him. 
 
 " To-morrow," said El Reshid. 
 
 " Romanes smiled in his rare way, and saluting 
 once more, vanished amid the tangled shrubs. 
 
 The Master was alone. He sat in an attitude of 
 profound thought for a moment, then, passing 
 quickly from the garden, sought the winding 
 Arbana, and wandering along its verdant banks, 
 addressed the river as though it were an ancient 
 friend. 
 
 "We have waited long, Abana; one after 
 another has come and gone, rejected by the Order, 
 unequal to the test. For a century have aspirants 
 to Olympus sought to scale the heights and achieve 
 the apparently inaccessible. Alas! in the track 
 they stumbled, bleeding and wounded, and were 
 carried back. It was left for a Romanes to plant 
 the standard of the Olympians on the ice peak of 
 pure reason, at the crater of the volcano. Not 
 once, through the terrible ordeal after he passed 
 the Propylon, has he failed or stumbled. We have 
 stood aloof in agony of suspense, and watched, 
 believing, doubting, hoping, fearing. Our eyes 
 were fixed upon him though he knew it not. Sick
 
 438 EL RESHID 
 
 unto death on the waste of Libya, he sought Osiris, 
 and with a glance on the blazing Sirius he captured 
 heaven. By the side of the Golden Horn, steeped 
 in luxury, tempted through the flesh, he shattered 
 the idols of Issachar and struck a terrible blow at 
 the legions of hell. In the dungeon, apparently 
 forgotten, isolate, alone, he stormed the citadel of 
 reason, and destroyed his illusions with the relent 
 less weapon of logic. Beneath the gnarled and 
 ancient tree of Joppa he solved the paradox of love 
 and the mystery of heaven." 
 
 El Reshid plucked a wild rose, as he spoke, and 
 cast its petals, one by one, upon the flashing 
 stream. 
 
 "Beloved Abana, we have waited long."
 
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