lesson twenty times, he still could not make it out; and without losing his book, he gradually fell into the way of not using it. He was raised a Catholic, as most of the Maltese are, but had fallen out with his priest before he left Smyrna, and seemed not inclined to have much to do with his church. He generally attended family worship, and either the English or Arabic preaching, but showed a disposition to let little things keep him away. On the whole, he had less religious feeling than his advantages ought to have produced. He always showed much attachment to our children, was a good nurse, and the children loved him. From the early part of our acquaintance, he declared his wish to accompany me home; and up to the day of our reaching Alexandria, I did not doubt that he would do so. I did not indeed see how we could do without him. But now his heart seemed to fail him; his eyes were grievously sore--and, possibly, as the time drew near, he may have had an increase of fears as to how he could live, where no one could understand his language. I am not sure, indeed, that a more special cause existed. He had manifested much kindness of feeling for a young female servant that had spent some time in our family before we left Beyroot. I could not but think that the thoughts of having so many thousand miles between them, had an influence which he did not own, and possibly hardly admitted to his own mind. However that may be, he expressed a desire to remain, and we were able to make such arrangements as allowed of it. He continued his attention to the last day we stayed, and carried with him our best wishes and prayers, that he prove as good a servant of Jesus Christ as he has been to us; and meet us again, where all is love, and purity, and peace. THE END. Bradbury and Evans, Printers, Whitefriars * * * * * Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. Apparent minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters from Palestine, by J. D. Paxton