Orion shuddered as he read and, when he laid the letter down, his mother exclaimed: 

“Perhaps she is right, perhaps it is already ordained that the child should be sent to the convent, and not to the leech’s friend, and started on the only path that leads to Heaven without danger or hindrance!”

But Orion said to himself that he would make it his duty to guard the happy-hearted child from this fate, and he begged his mother to consider that the first important point was to restore the little girl to health.  He now saw that she had been right.  His father had always obeyed the prescriptions of Philippus, and for that reason, if for no other, it would be her duty to act by his advice.

Neforis, who for some time had been casting longing eyes at a small box by her side, did not contradict him; and in the course of the afternoon Orion conducted little Mary and her governess to the house of Rufinus, who, notwithstanding the doubts he had expressed the day before, made them heartily welcome.

When Mary was lying in her bed, close by the side of Paula’s, the child threw her arms round the young girl’s neck as she leaned over her, and laying her head on her bosom, felt herself in soft and warm security.  There, as one released from prison and bondage, she wept out her woes, pouring all the grief of her deeply wounded child’s heart into that of her friend.

Paula, however, heard Orion’s voice, and she longed to go down to her lover, whom she had greeted but briefly on his arrival; still, she could not bear to snatch the child from her bosom, to disturb her in her newly-found happiness and leave her at this very moment!  And yet, she must—­ she must see him!  Every impulse urged her towards him and, when Pulcheria came into the room, she placed Mary’s hand in hers and said:  “There, now make friends and stay together like good children till I come back again and have something nice to tell you.  You are fond of Orion, little one, my story shall be all about him.”

“He was obliged to go,” said Pulcheria, interrupting her.  “Here is his message on this tablet.  He was almost dying of impatience, and when he could wait no longer he wrote this for you.”

Paula took the tablet, with a cry of regret, and carried it to her room to read.  He had longed for their meeting as eagerly as herself, but at last he could wait no longer.  How differently—­so he wrote—­had he hoped to end this day which must be devoted to the rescue of her friends.

Why, oh why had she allowed herself to be detained here?  Why had she not flown to him, at least for a few moments, to thank him for his kindness and faithfulness, and to hear him confess publicly and aloud what he had but murmured in her ear the day before?  She returned to the little girl, anxious and dissatisfied with herself.

Orion had in fact postponed his departure till the last moment; he thought it necessary to give Amru due notice of his journey and of his rupture with the patriarch.  Of all the motives which could prompt him to aid the nuns, revenge was that which the Arab could best understand.