expect him to win fame and honor--so Marcus says--for his parents and for
the city of Memphis: but for my part, I can see the shady side, and I
tell you the women will turn his head and bring him to a bad end. He is
handsome, taller even than the old man in his best days, and he knows how
to make the most of himself when he meets a pretty face--and pretty faces
are always to be met in his path . . ."

"And the young rascal takes what he finds!" said the Moslem laughing.
"If that is all you are alarmed at I am glad for the youth. He is young
and such things are allowable."

"Nay, Sir, even my brother--he lives now in Alexandria, and is blind and
foolish enough still in all that concerns his former pupil--and even he
thinks this is a dangerous rock ahead. If he does not change in this
respect he will wander further and further from the law of the Lord, and
imperil his soul, for dangers surround him on all sides like roaring
lions. The noble gifts of a handsome and engaging person will lead him
to his ruin; and though I do not desire it, I suspect. . . ."

"You look on the dark side and judge hardly," replied the old man. "The
young. . . ."

"Even the young, or at least the Christian young, ought to control
themselves, though I, if any one, am inclined to make the utmost
allowance for the handsome lad--nay, and I may confess: when he smiles at
me I feel at once as if I had met with some good-luck; and there are a
thousand other men in Memphis who feel the same, and still more the women
you may be sure--but many a one has shed bitter tears on his account for
all that.--But, by all the saints!--Talk of the wolf and you see his
tail! Look, there he is!--Halt! Stop a minute, you men; it is worth