"By a venomous tongue the fairest motives may be rendered foul," was the somewhat evasive reply. "Thus it came to pass that Suleyman--on whom be peace!--listened unto the voice of Jarjarees and refused to receive the maiden. Moreover, he commanded that I should be seized and imprisoned in a bottle of brass and cast into the Sea of El-Karkar, there to abide the Day of Doom." "Too bad--really too bad!" murmured Horace, in a tone that he could only hope was sufficiently sympathetic. "But now, by thy means, O thou of noble ancestors and gentle disposition, my deliverance hath been accomplished; and if I were to serve thee for a thousand years, regarding nothing else, even thus could I not requite thee, and my so doing would be a small thing according to thy desserts!" "Pray don't mention it," said Horace; "only too pleased if I've been of any use to you." "In the sky it is written upon the pages of the air: 'He who doth kind actions shall experience the like.' Am I not an Efreet of the Jinn? Demand, therefore, and thou shalt receive." "Poor old chap!" thought Horace, "he's very cracked indeed. He'll be wanting to give me a present of some sort soon--and of course I can't have that.... My dear Mr. Fakrash," he said aloud, "I've done nothing--nothing at all--and if I had, I couldn't possibly accept any reward for it." "What are thy names, and what calling dost thou follow?" "I ought to have introduced myself before--let me give you my card;" and Ventimore gave him one, which the other took and placed in his girdle. "That's my business address. I'm an architect, if you know what that is--a man who builds houses and churches--mosques, you know--in fact, anything, when he can get it to build." "A useful calling indeed--and one to be rewarded with fine gold." "In my case," Horace confessed, "the reward has been too fine to be perceived. In other words, I've never _been_ rewarded, because I've never yet had the luck to get a client." "And what is this client of whom thou speakest?" "Oh, well, some well-to-do merchant who wants a house built for him and doesn't care how much he spends on it. There must be lots of them about--but they never seem to come in _my_ direction." "Grant me a period of delay, and, if it be possible, I will procure thee such a client." Horace could not help thinking that any recommendation from such a quarter would hardly carry much weight; but, as the poor old man evidently imagined himself under an obligation, which he was anxious to discharge, it would have been unkind to throw cold water on his good intentions. "My dear sir," he said lightly, "if you _should_ come across that particular type of client, and can contrive to impress him with the belief that I'm just the architect he's looking out for--which, between ourselves, I am, though nobody's discovered it yet--if you can get him to come to me, you will do me the very greatest service I could ever hope for. But don't give yourself any trouble over it."