Hassan's mother was a woman of strong
resolution; but she could not over-ride her
father's will. What else could be done,
however, she did. Whilst the Persian was
away in Syria with her child, she maintained
a constant secret correspondence with him.
At length a letter was intercepted by her
father, in which she expressed a longing
desire to behold Hassan, and commanded the
Persian to return. His anger was great; but
he did not show it except some time after, by
saying:

"Fatneh Hanem, go down on thy knees,
and swear never to speak to that child of sin,
or its father shall be at once slain in his
dungeon. Let us make a covenant together.
As long as the child is not spoken to by thee,
and is ignorant of its parentage, he shall live.
If thou deceivest me, the order of death shall
be given."

In obedience to this compact, the Lady
Fatneh abstained from speaking to the little
Hassan when he was brought, according to
her orders, by the Persian back to Cairo; but
she hired a house adjoining that in which she
lived, and caused an opening to be made
through the party-wall high up, so that she
could come and look through, and gaze at
her child.

Thus had she seen him grow up. It was
partly by her influence that the doctor had
been impressed with the idea that exercise
was necessary to Hassan. She first had
divined that his mind was troubled; but it
was not given her to divine what was the
cause of his trouble.

"Wonderful are the ways of Providence!"
said Saleh, when he had heard this story;
"and it is possible that happiness may yet be
the sequel to misfortune. But now that I
know so much, may I not know the secret of
thy nightly wanderings?"

"When we were on our way back from
Syria," replied the Persian, "we rested at a
caravanserai. I sat with the boy on my
knees in the light of a lamp, and amused
myself by watching the smiles that rose from
his young dreams. Suddenly an old man,
with a beard white as a flake of snow that
has not yet touched the ground, came and
stood near, and looked at him and at me,
and after a time, uttered a cry of wonder
and love, and asked me my story, and
prevailed on me to tell it. I was fascinated by
him, and could not resist his wishes. He
listened patiently, now and then struggling
with great inward emotion; and when I had
ended, said to me, 'There is no need for
despair. All will come right at last. Go
thou to Cairo, and obey the orders of the
mother; and promise me this, that every
night without fail, thou wilt go and sit for
two hours after the ashë under the shadow
of the Bab Yuweileh. I will come at last;
and joy shall succeed to sorrow.' So saying,
he stooped and kissed the child on the cheek,
and went his way."

"And thou hast waited, O master, all this
time?" exclaimed Saleh.

"And the old man has not come."

"Perhaps the separator of companions has
visited him."

"He did not say, 'I will come if I live,'
but 'I will come;' and as he was evidently
a pious person, there is no doubt he was
assured thereof."

These waiters on Providence then
separated; and it being now near the ashë, the
Persian went forth in the direction of the
Bab Yuweileh.

It happened that that was the very evening
on which Hassan had determined to put
in practice his plan of espionage. He was
hiding under a porch when the Persian came
forth; and having waited a moment came
forth, also, and followed like a shadow.

Another time the Persian, who was of a
cautious temperament, would have looked
around, and seen that his footsteps were
dogged, and thus avoided coming disaster;
but he was more than usually absorbed in
meditation. He remembered that during
several evenings, when Hassan was ill, he
had omitted to go to the rendezvous; and he
feared that the old man, in whose word he
profoundly believed, might have come on
one of those evenings. However, having
prayed with his heart as he walked along,
he became more calm; and arriving near the
Bab Yuweileh, sat down on the stone seat,
which he had occupied at the same hour for
so many years.

His patience was at length rewarded. He
had not sat many minutes before a tall
negro bearing a huge lantern, appeared,
corning very slowly down the street. Near
behind him, supported under the arms by
two servants, was a very old man, whose
white beard reached below his waist, and
who looked to the right and to the left
with keen, bright eyes. The Persian stood up,
crossed his hands on his breast and waited.
Presently the old man looked at him, and
said, with a loud voice,

"This is the hour I have wished for. Come
forward, O, my friend!"

Hassan, who had concealed himself in a
dark place, wondered at what he saw, and
strove to hear the words that were uttered.
After a while the old man drew the Persian
out of hearing of the servants, towards
the place where the youth was, and said,
thinking himself in a desert place:

"Come here again to-morrow; and we
will go to the postern-gate of the harem;
and when we have said 'Sand and roses,' he
who opens will conduct us into the presence of
the boy's mother. Then we will discuss
what further it is necessary for us to do."

Hassan was at once convinced that it was
of his mother they spoke, and felt marvellously
indignant that he should have hitherto
been kept in ignorance of her very existence.
"I will go and say 'Sand and roses,' at