man's heart was given to that maiden on the water. She could not be his
sister; what then was the connection between them?

The merchant soon gained this information, for the guide on his return
could give it him. She was Paula, the daughter of Thomas, the famous
Greek general who had defended the city of Damascus so long and so
bravely against the armies of Islam. She was Mukaukas George's niece,
but her fortune was small; she was a poor relation of the family, and
after her father's disappearance--for his body had never been found--
she had been received into the governor's house out of pity and charity
--she, a Melchite! The interpreter had little to say in her favor, by
reason of her sect; and though he could find no flaw in her beauty, he
insisted on it that she was proud and ungracious, and incapable of
winning any man's love; only the child, little Mary--she, to be sure, was
very fond of her. It was no secret that even her uncle's wife, worthy
Neforis, did not care for her haughty niece and only suffered her to
please the invalid. And what business had a Melchite at Memphis, under
the roof of a good Jacobite? Every word the dragoman spoke breathed the
scorn which a mean and narrow-minded man is always ready to heap on those
who share the kindness of his own benefactors.

But this beautiful and lofty-looking daughter of a great man had
conquered the merchant's old heart, and his opinion of her was quite
unmoved by the Memphite's strictures. It was ere long confirmed indeed,
for Philip, the leech whom the guide had been to find, and whose
dignified personality inspired the Arab with confidence, was a daily
visitor to the governor, and he spoke of Paula as one of the most perfect
creatures that Heaven had ever formed in a happy hour. But the Almighty
seemed to have forgotten to care for his own masterpiece; for years her
life had been indeed a sad one.