Until You
Are Placed In Situations Of This Kind You Can Hardly Tell How
Painful It Is To Refrain From
Intermeddling in other people's
affairs - to refrain from intermeddling when you feel that you can
do so with happy effect,
And can remove a load of distress by the
use of a few small phrases. Upon this occasion, however, an
expression fell from one of the girl's kinsmen which not only
determined me against the idea of interfering, but made me hope
that all attempts to recover the proselyte would fail. This
person, speaking with the most savage bitterness, and with the
cordial approval of all the other relatives, said that the girl
ought to be beaten to death. I could not fail to see that if the
poor child were ever restored to her family she would be treated
with the most frightful barbarity. I heartily wished, therefore,
that the Mussulmans might be firm, and preserve their young prize
from any fate so dreadful as that of a return to her own relations.
The next day the Greek priest returned from his mission to Aboo
Goosh, but the "father of lies," it would seem, had been well plied
with the gold of the enamoured Sheik, and contrived to put off the
prayers of the Christians by cunning feints. Now, therefore, a
second and more numerous deputation than the first waited upon me,
and implored my intervention with the Governor. I informed the
assembled Christians that since their last application I had
carefully considered the matter. The religious question I thought
might be put aside at once, for the excessive levity which the girl
had displayed proved clearly that in adopting Mahometanism she was
not quitting any other faith. Her mind must have been thoroughly
blank upon religious questions, and she was not, therefore, to be
treated as a Christian that had strayed from the flock, but rather
as a child without any religion at all, who was willing to conform
to the usages of those who would deck her with jewels, and clothe
her with cashmere shawls.
So much for the religious part of the question. Well, then, in a
merely temporal sense, it appeared to me that (looking merely to
the interests of the damsel, for I rather unjustly put poor
Menelaus quite out of the question) the advantages were all on the
side of the Mahometan match. The Sheik was in a much higher
station of life than the superseded husband, and had given the best
possible proof of his ardent affection by the sacrifices he had
made, and the risks he had incurred, for the sake of the beloved
object. I, therefore, stated fairly, to the horror and amazement
of all my hearers, that the Sheik, in my view, was likely to make a
most capital husband, and that I entirely "approved of the match."
I left Nablus under the impression that Mariam would soon be
delivered to her Mussulman lover. I afterwards found, however,
that the result was very different. Dthemetri's religious zeal and
hate had been so much excited by the account of these events, and
by the grief and mortification of his co-religionists, that when he
found me firmly determined to decline all interference in the
matter, he secretly appealed to the Governor in my name, and
(using, I suppose, many violent threats, and telling no doubt many
lies about my station and influence) extorted a promise that the
proselyte should be restored to her relatives. I did not
understand that the girl had been actually given up whilst I
remained at Nablus, but Dthemetri certainly did not desist from his
instances until he had satisfied himself by some means or other
(for mere words amounted to nothing) that the promise would be
actually performed. It was not till I had quitted Syria, and when
Dthemetri was no longer in my service, that this villainous, though
well-motived trick, of his came to my knowledge. Mysseri, who had
informed me of the step which had been taken, did not know it
himself until some time after we had quitted Nablus, when Dthemetri
exultingly confessed his successful enterprise. I know not whether
the engagement which my zealous dragoman extorted from the Governor
was ever complied with. I shudder to think of the fate which must
have befallen poor Mariam if she fell into the hands of the
Christians.
CHAPTER XXVI - THE PROPHET DAMOOR
For some hours I passed along the shores of the fair lake of
Galilee; then turning a little to the westward, I struck into a
mountainous tract, and as I advanced thenceforward, the lie of the
country kept growing more and more bold. At length I drew near to
the city of Safed. It sits as proud as a fortress upon the summit
of a craggy height; yet because of its minarets and stately trees,
the place looks happy and beautiful. It is one of the holy cities
of the Talmud, and according to this authority, the Messiah will
reign there for forty years before He takes possession of Sion.
The sanctity and historical importance thus attributed to the city
by anticipation render it a favourite place of retirement for
Israelites, of whom it contains, they say, about four thousand, a
number nearly balancing that of the Mahometan inhabitants. I knew
by my experience of Tabarieh that a "holy city" was sure to have a
population of vermin somewhat proportionate to the number of its
Israelites, and I therefore caused my tent to be pitched upon a
green spot of ground at a respectful distance from the walls of the
town.
When it had become quite dark (for there was no moon that night) I
was informed that several Jews had secretly come from the city in
the hope of obtaining some assistance from me in circumstances of
imminent danger; I was also informed that they claimed my aid upon
the ground that some of their number were British subjects.
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