"That same night in the hotel I was introduced to a dragoman, whom we
engaged to take us about. I am sure you will like to hear about Salim,
for, apart from himself, he had a great claim to attention, for he had
been Gordon's dragoman years ago when he was in Egypt. Yes! I knew
that would interest you, and you would have loved Salim for his own sake
too. He had a gentle, sad face, with the beautiful dark eyes of the
Eastern, and he spoke English remarkably well. He was unmarried, and
lived with his mother and a married brother. Sixteen years he and his
sister-in-law had lived in the same house, but he had never seen her
face. He had been unlucky in money matters, but accepted his poverty
with the placid acquiescence of the Oriental. I remember one day when
he told me of a piece of good fortune which had befallen a fellow-
dragoman, and I said that I hoped he might be similarly fortunate. He
bowed his head with quiet dignity, and waved a brown hand in the air.
`That is with God, sahib--that is with God!' I used to question him
about Gordon, and he loved to talk of him. `He was a good man, sahib,
better than any bishop. When we were camping in the desert he was up
every morning before it was light, kneeling to pray before his tent, and
his heart was so great that he could not bear to see anyone in trouble.
I must always keep with me a bag with small moneys, and he would not
wait to be asked. Everyone who needed must be helped. When he went
away he gave me his two best horses, but my heart was sore. He was a
great chief--a great chief; but I heard afterwards that when he came to
die he was quite poor--the same as Christ!'"
Hilliard told a story well, and now, as he repeated the words, his voice
softened into the deep cadence of the Eastern tones, in which they had
first been said; his hand waved and his eye kindled with emotion.
Esmeralda looked at him, and her heart gave a throb of admiration. The
manner in which he had spoken was unmistakably reverent, and if young
men only knew it, there is nothing which a girl loves more than a
mingling of manliness and reverence in the man who singles her out for
attention.
"He is a good man; I like him," was the mental comment. Aloud she said
dreamily, "Gordon is my hero. I love to hear about him. He was too
generous to others to heap up money for himself. I suppose he didn't
care about it. I wish I didn't, but I do. It's so very distressing to
be always short of money. All the good people in books are poor, but
for myself I think it's bad for the temper. They talk about the peril
of riches, but I should like to try it for myself, wouldn't you, Mr
Hilliard?"
Hilliard smiled--a quiet, amused smile.
"Well, I don't know. Everything is comparative. If some people would
think us poor, others would most certainly consider us very rich indeed.
We have all that we need, and for myself I'm quite content. I manage
to have a very good time."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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