"What has happened?" asked Osman in anxious tones, as he entered the
room. Mohammed stood still, controlling his wrath with a gigantic
effort.
"You ask, Osman, what has happened. Within is Cousrouf Pacha with
the sheik Alepp's daughter, and he treats with her for her honor and
innocence, and she allows him to do so!" cried he, loudly and
fiercely.
"That is not true," said the governor. "You accuse him wrongly.
There is no reason why all the world should not see and hear what is
going on within. It is your fault alone that I found it necessary to
lock the door. What was your object in coming?"
"I came because the decisive hour has arrived, and I saw, in the
adjoining room, Cousrouf Pacha raising the girl's veil."
"You came and rushed past me like a madman. How do the girl's
actions concern you. She came to seek deliverance for her father."
"How her actions concern me, you ask, tschorbadji?" he cried,
clinching his fists. "How Masa's actions concern me, you wish to
know?"
"Be still, Mohammed!" said Osman, whose keen vision had read the
youth's soul, in low, entreating tones. "I pray you do not betray
your secret."
Mohammed shook convulsively, and covered his face with his hands.
"It is true," he murmured. "I must and will be silent. She is lost
to me. I will think of nothing but revenge, let all else be
forgotten. --Tschorbadji, you swore that I alone should decide the
fate of the prisoners, and you will keep your oath!"
"I will keep my oath, as beseems an honest man, yet I hope,
Mohammed, that you will not be relentless; if you had heard, as I
have, the poor young girl's lamentations, it would have softened
your heart, and it would not have become necessary to resort to the
pacha.
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