Then she began to sing the praises of her native land. She was off on her favorite hobby, and no one paid much attention to what she said. She sat opposite Archag, who thus had a good opportunity to study her singular coiffure, a sort of tower made up of braids of hair, both natural and false, and adorned with puffs and rings and curls. This structure was crowned with a large bow of ribbon, which varied in color, according to the season; the dark shade, worn during the day, gave place to rose-color, pale green or yellow for dinner; on Sundays it was pure white, black in Holy Week, and blue at Christmas and Easter, as a symbol of hope. The lady, off at full tilt in praise of England, felt a little uncomfortable with those two eyes fastened obstinately upon her, and retaliated by staring back at Archag: "Young man," said she, "why do you stare at me like that? Do you take me for a show-window?" And poor Archag was so disconcerted by this sally that he did not open his mouth again during dinner. The next morning Nejib began taking his friend about to see the sights of Aleppo; the bazaar, the citadel, and the Dshami Zakarja (the Mosque of Zacarias) where is still shown the so-called tomb of the father of St. John Baptist. Aleppo, surnamed by the Arabs Esh-shehba (the gray city) is one of the most ancient cities of the world, for according to the Egyptian inscriptions it was already in existence two thousand years before the time of Christ. The prophet Ezekiel calls it Helbon (Chapter xxvii, 18). The Arabs gained possession in the year 634 of our era, and gave it the name of "Haleb." Under their sway the city grew and prospered; though more than once destroyed, as it was by Tamerlane in the year 1400, each time it has risen from its ashes. To-day it plays an important part in commercial life, for it is from Aleppo that the caravans set out for Kurdistan and Mesopotamia. I must admit that Archag took very little interest in the ruins of the Arab tombs; he liked better to walk about the great city and look at the show-windows of the great European shops, or to take a ride in the automobile. Almost every evening he went to the railway station to see the train from Beyrout come in. He felt a childish delight in watching the powerful locomotive approach, puffing clouds of smoke, slacken its speed, and then come to a stop close beside the platform. He used to feel of the heavy wheels, examine the boiler, and ask questions of the engineer. Nejib would finally have to take him by the arm and drag him away by main force, or he would have stayed in the station all night. With the exception of Miss Pritchard, who continued to regard him as some sort of curious animal, every one was very kind to him. Winnie treated him as if he were a big brother; Archag told her stories from old Armenian legends, and the young girl's happiest hours were those which she spent with the boys. CHAPTER XVIII ARCHAG IN SOCIETY