a terrible scene which took place in public, Ali drove the confidant of
his crimes from the palace, overwhelming him with insults, and declaring
that were Athanasius not the son of his children's foster-mother,
he would have sent him to the gibbet. He enforced his words by the
application of a stick, and Vaya, apparently overwhelmed by terror and
affliction, went round to all the nobles of the town, vainly entreating
them to intercede for him. The only favour which Mouktar Pacha could
obtain for him was a sentence of exile allowing him to retreat to
Macedonia.

Athanasius departed from Janina with all the demonstrations of utter
despair, and continued his route with the haste of one who fears
pursuit. Arrived in Macedonia, he assumed the habit of a monk, and
undertook a pilgrimage to Mount Athos, saying that both the disguise and
the journey were necessary to his safety. On the way he encountered
one of the itinerant friars of the great Servian convent, to whom he
described his disgrace in energetic terms, begging him to obtain his
admission among the lay brethren of his monastery.

Delighted at the prospect of bringing back to the fold of the Church
a man so notorious for his crimes, the friar hastened to inform his
superior, who in his turn lost no time in announcing to Pacho Bey that
his compatriot and companion in misfortune was to be received among the
lay brethren, and in relating the history of Athanasius as he himself
had heard it. Pacho Bey, however, was not easily deceived, and at once
guessing that Vaya's real object was his own assassination, told his
doubts to the superior, who had already received him as a friend. The
latter retarded the reception of Vaya so as to give Pacho time to escape
and take the road to Constantinople. Once arrived there, he determined
to brave the storm and encounter Ali openly.