The great
Sheikh in this has touched me nearly, but I see no baseness in it. He
could not know the intimate relation that should subsist between me and
this young Englishman. He has captured him in the desert, according to
the custom of his tribe. Much as Amalek may injure me, I must acquit him
of treason and of baseness.'
'Yes, yes,' said Eva, with an abstracted air. 'You misconceive me. I was
thinking of others; and what do you purpose, my father?'
'First, to clear myself of the deep stain that I now feel upon my life,'
said Besso. 'This Englishman comes to Jerusalem with an unbounded
credit on my house: he visits the wilderness, and is made prisoner by my
father-in-law, who is in ambush in a part of the desert which his tribe
never frequents, and who sends to me for a princely ransom for his
captive.
These are the apparent circumstances. These are the facts. There is
but one inference from them. I dare say 'tis drawn already by all the
gossips of the city: they are hard at it, I doubt not, at this moment,
in my own divan, winking their eyes and shrugging their shoulders,
while they are smoking my choice tobacco, and drinking my sherbet of
pomegranate. And can I blame them?'
'A pure conscience may defy city gossips.
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