handkerchief, bought for two piastres in the bazaar;
and had, in consequence, become possessed of
so much wealth that he was about to return
to his country, in hopes of marrying the youngest
daughter of the Shah. "And this Miriam?"
said he, pinching Yusof's pale cheek. The
young man sighed and blushed, for he was
now ashamed of his weakness before strangers.
" It will be good," said the physician — who,
now that he was about to abandon the practice
of medicine, began to recommend his
patients to Providence, of which he had not
thought before, possibly deeming it unnecessary
— "it will be good," he said, " to make a
pious pilgrimage. Go to the Church of the
Apparitions on St. George's day. Who knows
but that the saints may be able to do that
which the art of man cannot accomplish?"
Han Hamma smiled, and the
Persian, who understood his thoughts, said,
"Even in this case I advise what should have
been thy first care. Perhaps, if we remember
well, we have all forgotten to ask a blessing
from above at the commencement of our most
eager pursuits. We pray for rain and
sunshine, which is distributed for others as well as
ourselves ; but we do not pray to be wise,
because we think we are so already." He
determined to follow the Persian's advice,
and this is how it happened that, on the eve
of St. George's day, his boat arrived within
hearing of the great camp of pilgrims assembled
to see the Apparition of the Saints.

Although the Persian's words had been
merely words of vague advice, both father
and son were persuaded that they were
approaching the solemn moment when their
fate was to be decided for good or for
evil. They passed the greater part of the
night in prayer; and Yusof, every now
and then, raised his voice and wept aloud
over his youth that had withered and faded in
pursuit of a shadow. " I feel very old," he
said, " older than thou, father; for thou hast
still hope and I have none. This is an evil
thing which I have done. God placed me in
thy care, that I might serve him and be useful
to my fellow men; yet I have devoted all the
strength of my heart and mind to the pursuit
of a vain illusion— an imagination that is not
a creature of God, but a part of myself. This
is great impiety." But the hour of desponding
passed; and when the sun started up behind
a far off grove of palm-trees, and the blue
heavens trembled with the light, and the
storks began to come down to the margin of
the stream, and the doves fluttered in crowds
from field to field, and ground larks brushed
along the dewy grass; when the fish began to
leap at the flies that buzzed over the water,
as it glided and shone and eddied, and
murmured; when the roar of the camp died away,
stifled by the sounds of reviving life all around;
when the boat again put out into the stream,
and the rowers, rising as they pulled, shouted
the morning song, and were answered by the
crews of the other boats that quitted the
banks where they too had passed the night,
and crowded into a fleet of pilgrims; — when all
the realities of nature were thus astir, Yusof
felt more happy and more hopeful, and said to
his father, "This is the day we have waited
for." Han Hamma kissed him on the temples ;
and both, standing on the roof of the cabin,
now beheld the Church of the Apparitions
rising in the midst of the plain, and white
tents sparkling around, and crowds of people
running to and fro, and camels and horses
standing here and there. They remained in
their boat, moored with a hundred others
against the bank, until the appointed hour.

A crier, standing on one of the pinnacles of
the church, at length announced that it was
noon, and that the people might begin to enter.
There was at first a rush— but presently order
returned, and the crowd began to pour in at
one door and out at the other, gazing intently
on the white wall above the altar; and truly
an uninterrupted succession of phantom forms
moved in stately march from right to left.
Now and then a figure on horseback seemed
to pass rapidly in front of the others, and was
saluted by enthusiastic shouts as St. George.
Sometimes the apparitions were dim, at others
they became as bright and clear as fresco
painting. Yusof and his father advanced
slowly through the crowd. Just as they
reached the great door a tremendous
devotional cry was raised, and the name of Miriam
flew to every lip. The people imagined they
saw the saint of that name, sometimes
confounded with the Virgin Mary. The form of
a beautiful girl, with her head bent modestly
down, slowly advanced, and stood for a moment
as if in a glow of light, in the centre of the
white wall— alone. She raised her eyes
slowly, and seemed to look with affection and
pity on a pale face that was coming on in the
crowd. Yusof had left his father, and,
forgetting everything but what he saw, struggled
forward, shouting " Miriam! Miriam! " not
in the accents of devotion, but in those of love.
The people understood not this scandal, and
when the Shadow passed on, and Yusof was
carried by the stream of pilgrims, panting and
wild-looking, out into the fields beyond the
church, he was regarded with respect, as
one who had been visited by an especial access
of fervour.

Han Hamma, who did not know that
Miriam the Shadow had appeared, hastened
after his son, and found him on the extreme
limits of the crowd, lying upon his face. He
raised him up and pressed him to his breast,
and asked him what was the cause of his
disturbance. Then Yusof said: "It is not that
I beheld her gazing at me from amidst the
saints, for I might have died to join her. But
she appeared to me again here upon this spot
and smiled at me. I fell down to worship and
ask pardon for having profaned her by my
love; but on raising my eyes she was gone."
Then Han Hamma tried to comfort him, and
pretended to be sceptical of apparitions—