The paper fell from his hands, and he covered his face.
"They are dead--dead.

I alone am left." The sheik had been a silent, but not unsympathetic, witness of the young man's suffering; now he arose and said, "Son of Arrius, it is for me to beg thy pardon.

Read the paper by thyself.

When thou art strong enough to give the rest of it to me, send word, and I will return." He went out of the tent, and nothing in all his life became him better.
Ben-Hur flung himself on the divan and gave way to his feelings.
When somewhat recovered, he recollected that a portion of the letter remained unread, and, taking it up, he resumed the reading.

"Thou wilt remember," the missive ran, "what thou didst with the mother and sister of the malefactor; yet, if now I yield to a desire to learn if they be living or dead"-- Ben-Hur started, and read again, and then again, and at last broke into exclamation.