And whose arm was long enough to reach the Patriarch's throne if not....

But no, it was impossible! the mere thought of such a thing made her blood run cold.

Still, still....

And how graciously the Moslem leader had talked with him!--Merciful Heaven! If he were to turn apostate from the holy Christian faith, like so many reprobate Egyptians, and subscribe to the wicked doctrines of the Arabian false prophet! It was a tempting creed for shameless men, allowing them to have half a dozen wives or more without regarding it as a sin.

A man like Orion could afford to keep them, of course; for the abbess had said that every one knew that the great Mukaukas was a very rich man, though even the chief magistrate of the city could not fully satisfy himself concerning the enormous amount of property left.