CH. XVI.] Otw Friend Hiiscyn and his Woes. 



Thus attacked, the Pasha could only repeat his 

 usual exclamation, "Wall! wah ! wall!" and appear 

 delighted ; though, to our guilty consciences, there 

 seemed a curious expression not quite of pleasure in 

 his eyes. "All was Avell that ended well. He 

 was glad we had met with no accident ; but the 

 desert was a dangerous place, and the Bedouins 

 were not always to be trusted. However, we had 

 returned, which was the principal thing ; and he 

 would do his best to console us for our fatigues. 

 Our old rooms unfortunately were occupied, or on 

 the point of being occupied, by the new Valy of 

 Bagdad, who was passing through Deyr ; but we 

 could lodge at the house of a Christian tradesman, 



one Z Effendi, where we should still be the 



Pasha's guests, and, he hoped, more comfortably 

 than was possible in his own poor house. For him- 

 self he had had a miserable time of it, ever since we 

 went away, perpetual work and perpetual solitude. 

 He was beginning to pine for home and the society 

 of his friends at Aleppo ; and Deyr was bringing 

 him to an early grave." 



Poor man ! we were ready enough to believe that 

 the latter part at least of this little speech was 

 sincere, for he looked, in the short time since we 

 had seen him last, considerably aged. His hair 

 was several shades whiter, and he had grown thin. 

 So we expressed our sympathy heartily enough, and 

 said as little as was necessary about our relations 

 with the official world of Bagdad. It was only our 



