"For forty years I’ve been doing the work of civilisation in this country. I think progress has received a certain impetus. And now when I am old, and my strength is not what it once was, my son—my only son—is pulling the lever that is to bring my house down over my head." The old man’s voice trembled and almost broke. "You’ve not thought of that, I suppose?" Gordon’s emotions almost mastered him. "Yes, sir," he said, "I have thought of it, and it’s a great grief to me to oppose you. But it would be a still greater grief to help you—to help you to undo all the great work you have ever done in Egypt. Father, believe me, I know what I am saying. There will be bloodshed, and as sure as that happens there will be an outcry all over the Mohammedan world. The prestige of England will suffer—in India—in Europe—America—everywhere. And you, father, you alone will be blamed." At that the General rose in great wrath, but the Consul-General interposed. "One moment, please! I am anxious to make allowances for fanaticism, and at a moment of tension I could wish to avoid any act that might create a conflagration. Therefore," he said, turning to Gordon, "if you are so sure that there will be bloodshed I am willing to hold my hand on one condition—that the man Ishmael, the mouthpiece of the sedition we wish to suppress, should leave Egypt without delay." Gordon did not reply immediately, and his father continued, "Why not? It is surely better that one man should go than that the whole nation should suffer. Send him out, drive him out, walk him over the frontier, and for the present I am satisfied." "Father," said Gordon, "what you ask me to do is impossible. The Egyptians believe Ishmael to be one of the prophets who are sent into the world to keep the souls of men alive. He is like the Mahdi to them, and—who knows?—they may come to think of him as the Redeemer, the Christ, who is to pacify the world. Rightly or wrongly, they think of him already as a living protest against that part of Western civilisation which is the result of force and fraud. Therefore to drive him out of the country would be the same thing to them as to drive out religion. In their view, it would be a sin against humanity—a sin against God." But the General could bear no more. Rising from the desk, he said contemptuously— "All that’s very fine, very exalted, I dare say, but we are plain soldiers, you and I, and we cannot follow the flights of great minds like these Mohammedan Sheikhs. So without further argument I ask you if you are willing to carry out the order I have given you." "It would be a crime, sir." "Crime or no crime, it would be no concern of yours. Do you refuse to obey my order?" "Recall your order, sir, and I shall have no reason to refuse to obey it." "Do you refuse to obey my order?" "It would be against my conscience, General." "Your conscience is not in question. Your only duty is to carry out the will of your superior."