"They think that very nearness will save them. He will never think of looking for them at his own door. One and all, at least, are quite determined to go, except perhaps my grandfather, who is rather passive about it, and my father, who is doubtful. Still they do not oppose the rest. My grandfather says 'Heaven is as near in Urfa as in Biridjik.'" "Very good," said Jack, "but then, can they go to-night?" "To-night!" exclaimed Kevork. "Heaven bless you! It will take them a fortnight or three weeks to get ready; they must do it all quietly, you know, for fear of the Turks." "Then, look here, Kevork," Jack said, with a determined air, "I am not going to leave Shushan in this place another day; the rest may follow as they like." "You are right," Kevork answered. "But as for me, I must stay. Think of it! here are three-and-twenty souls, for the most part women and children, to be brought to Urfa; and not one of them has been twenty miles from home before--not even my Uncle Avedis, who is so shrewd and clever. And then we shall have to make all our preparations, and to sell off everything we can, but with the greatest secrecy, lest the Turks should find out and stop us. Yes, I must stay. You shall take the horses." Jack nodded. "We must start at midnight," he said. "I am going now to arrange matters, and to tell the women." He went, and was fortunate enough to find Shushan for the moment alone. He held in his hand a large bundle, which he laid on the ground beside her. "My Shushan," he said, taking her hand tenderly, "I know you trust me utterly. I am going to ask you for a proof of it." She looked up at him, and her eyes said for her, "But prove me what it is I will not do." "Dearest, put on this clothing I have brought, kiss your father and your mother, and be ready at midnight to ride with me to Urfa." She looked at the garments, as he unfolded them, with an involuntary shudder. "They are Kourdish clothes," she said. Jack smiled. "At least they are clean," he answered. "They have never been worn. And there is no law, that I know of, against sheep in wolves' clothing." "Oh, but all want to go, father, and mother, and Hagop--all of us." "They shall follow us, my Shushan." "But to leave them in such peril! And, Yon Effendi, it is I who have brought it on them." "Not altogether, my beloved. Now it is not one here and there who is persecuted; the danger threatens your whole race--_our_ race," he said, with a sudden throb of the passionate, pitying love that was springing up in his heart for the people of his adoption. "Without you," he added, "their danger certainly will be less. And if God wills, we will all meet again, in Urfa." "I will do what you tell me,--my husband," Shushan said, and the words, if low, were quite steady. The whole trust of her simple heart was his; and although tender, modest, refined, it was still a hot, impulsive Eastern heart.