Donovan Pasha, and Some People of Egypt — CompleteParker, Gilbert
General
Donovan Pasha, and Some People of Egypt — Complete
Parker, Gilbert
Egypt -- Fiction; Short stories
He took his hand from the top of the glass, and the amber liquid and the
froth poured in. At that instant he saw Hope’s eyes upon his, he saw her
hand go to the poke bonnet, as it were to unloosen the strings. He saw
for the first time the turquoise ring; he saw the eyes of Shelek Pasha
on Hope with a look prophesying several kinds of triumph, none palatable
to him; and he stopped short on that road easy of gradient, which Shelek
Pasha was macadamising for him. He put his hand up as though to pull his
hat down over his eyes, as was his fashion when troubled or when he was
setting his mind to a task.
The hat was not there; but Hope’s eyes were on his, and there were a
hundred Quaker hats or Cardinals’ hats in them. He reached out quickly
and caught Hope’s hand as it undid the strings of her grey bonnet. “Will
thee be mad, Hope?”
“All the world’s mad but thee and me, David, and thee’s a bit mad,” she
answered in the tongue of Framley.
“The gaud upon thy hand?” he asked sternly; and his eyes flashed from
her to Shelek Pasha, for a horrible suspicion crept into his brain--a
shameless suspicion; but even a Quaker may be human and foolish, as
history has shown.
“The wine at thine elbow, David, and thine hat!” she answered steadily.
David, the friend of peace, was bitterly angry. He caught up the glass
of champagne and dashed it upon the fine prayer-rug which Shelek Pasha
had, with a kourbash, collected for taxes from a Greek merchant back
from Tiflis--the rug worth five hundred English pounds, the taxes but
twenty Turkish pounds.
“Thee is a villain, friend,” he said to Shelek Pasha in a voice like a
noise in a barrel; “I read thee as a book.”
“But through the eyes of your wife, effendi; she read me first--we
understand each other!” answered the Governor with a hateful smile,
knowing the end of one game was at hand, and beginning another instantly
with an intelligent malice.
Against all Quaker principles David’s sinful arm was lifted to strike,
but Hope’s hand prevented him, and Shelek Pasha motioned back the
Abyssinian slaves who had sprung forward menacingly from behind a
screen.
Hope led the outraged David, hatless, into the street.
III
That evening the Two Strange People went to Abdul Huseyn, the jeweller,
and talked with him for more than an hour; for Abdul Huseyn, as
Egyptians go, was a kindly man. He had taught Arabic to David and Hope.
He would have asked more than twelve pieces of silver to betray them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account