I
made innumerable adieux, and tried to make provision and find a happy
home for every single being, man or beast, that had been dependent
on us.
Two Moslems came to me, and offered to shoot down certain official
enemies of mine from behind a rock as they passed in their carriage.
A Jew also came to me, and offered to put poison in their coffee. I
declined both offers, which they did not seem to understand; and they
said that I was threatened and in danger, but I slept in perfect
security, with all the windows and doors open. My last act was to go
into our little chapel, and dress it with all the pious things in my
possession. When the day of the sale of our goods arrived, I could
not bear to sit in the house; so I went up to the mountain behind, and
gazed down on my Salahiyyeh in its sea of green, and my pearl-like
Damascus and the desert sand, and watched the sunset on the mountains
for the last time.
My preparations for departure necessarily took some time. But Richard
having gone, I had no place, no business, at Damascus, and I felt that
it would be much better taste to leave. I began to perceive that the
demonstrations in our favour were growing, and threatened to become
embarrassing. The Moslems were assembling in cliques at night, and were
having prayers in the mosques for Richard's return. They continually
thronged up to the house with tears and letters begging him to return,
and I saw that my presence and my distress excited them the more.
Pages:
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149