"May thy path be on the high hills, Saadat-el-basha. I come for a favour at thy hands." Nahoum sat down. "What favour is mine to give to Nahoum Pasha?" "The Prince has given thee supreme place--it was mine but yesterday. It is well. To the deserving be the fruits of deserving." "Is merit, then, so truly rewarded here?" asked David quietly. "The Prince saw merit at last when he chose your Excellency for councillor." "How shall I show merit, then, in the eyes of Nahoum Pasha?" "Even by urging the Prince to give me place under him again. Not as heretofore--that is thy place--yet where it may be. I have capacity. I can aid thee in the great task. Thou wouldst remake our Egypt--and my heart is with you. I would rescue, not destroy. In years gone by I tried to do good to this land, and I failed. I was alone. I had not the strength to fight the forces around me. I was overcome. I had too little faith. But my heart was with the right--I am an Armenian and a Christian of the ancient faith. I am in sorrow. Death has humbled me. My brother Foorgat Bey--may flowers bloom for ever on his grave!--he is dead,"--his eyes were fixed on those of David, as with a perfectly assured candour--"and my heart is like an empty house. But man must not be idle and live--if Kaid lets me live. I have riches. Are not Foorgat's riches mine, his Palace, his gardens, his cattle, and his plantations, are they not mine? I may sit in the court-yard and hear the singers, may listen to the tale-tellers by the light of the moon; I may hear the tales of Al-Raschid chanted by one whose tongue never falters, and whose voice is like music; after the manner of the East I may give bread and meat to the poor at sunset; I may call the dancers to the feast. But what comfort shall it give? I am no longer a youth. I would work. I would labour for the land of Egypt, for by work shall we fulfil ourselves, redeem ourselves. Saadat, I would labour, but my master has taken away from me the anvil, the fire, and the hammer, and I sit without the door like an armless beggar. What work to do in Egypt save to help the land, and how shall one help, save in the Prince's service? There can be no reform from outside. If I laboured for better things outside Kaid's Palace, how long dost thou think I should escape the Nile, or the diamond-dust in my coffee? The work which I did, is it not so that it, with much more, falls now to thy hands, Saadat, with a confidence from Kaid that never was mine?" "I sought not the office."