ISKANDER EFFENDI. 6 1 



" Edith knelt by his side and whispered — 



" ' And thou, Selim ?' 



" ' I almost believe in thy words, dear one. I have 

 wandered far from the dear old land. I have long for- 

 gotten all faith. But thou hast almost won me. Speak 

 to me of the Son of Mary.' 



" So she spoke gently in low accents of singular melody 

 — telling us all the story of the Passion and the Exaltation. 

 And Selim, lying on the ground at Beitin — even where 

 his father Jacob lay of old — by the same spring that 

 soothed the sleep of Israel, saw, as his father saw, the 

 heavens opened, and angels ascending and descending. 

 And the face of Edith was the holiest of all, as she knelt 

 by his side and prayed. 



" Effendi, I believe that the prayers were heard. Doubt- 

 less the smile of joy that stole over his face as the dawn 

 came into the east was the answer of our God, the God 

 of Jacob. When the sun was rising over the hills of 

 Moab, he stretched his right hand out, and threw it over 

 Edith's neck, and drew her down to him, and pressed his 

 lips to hers in a long kiss, and then I received her in my 

 arms as she fell back from his dead embrace. 



" We buried him under the wall of Jerusalem, outside 

 the Zion gate, where the Christian dead are congregated. 

 Edith and I prayed at the Sepulchre together that after- 

 noon. 



" I closed my shop in the bazaar, sold my silks to the 

 merchants, and with Edith came to America. I am grow- 

 ing old. Edith is dead. Her child, whom you remember, 

 is lying yonder under the pine-tree. All that I have loved 

 best is gone out of this world. But you know me well 

 enough to know that I am not a gloomy man, though very 

 lonesome and surrounded by many sad recollections. 



