'
'You have indeed Solomon's signet, my dear Fakredeen.'
'Would that I had; for then I could pay two hundred thousand piastres
to that Egyptian camel, Scheriff Effendi, and he would give me up my
muskets, which now, like a true son of Eblis, he obstinately retains.'
'And this is your scrape, Fakredeen. And how much have you towards the
sum?'
'Not a piastre; nor do I suppose I shall ever see, until I make a great
financial stroke, so much of the sultan's gold as is on one of the gilt
balls of roses in your nargileh. My crops are sold for next year, my
jewels are gone, my studs are to be broken up. There is not a cur in the
streets of Beiroot of whom I have not borrowed money. Riza Pasha is a
sponge that would dry the sea of Galilee.'
'It is a great thing to have gained the Patriarch of Lebanon,' said
the lady; 'I always felt that, as long as that man was against you, the
Maronites never could be depended on. And yet these arms; after all,
they are of no use, for you would not think of insurrection!'
'No; but they can quarrel with the Druses, and cut each other's throats,
and this will make the mountain more unmanageable than ever, and the
English will have no customers for their calicoes, don't you see? Lord
Palmerston will arraign the minister in the council.
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