the letter on the tablet had been written, and there had been a great
deal of argument on both sides, that the real discussion began.

It was long before the assembly could agree, and all the while Orion sat
now looking as though he had already been condemned to a cruel death, and
now exchanging glances with Paula, while he pressed his hand to his heart
as though to keep it from bursting. He perfectly understood her, and her
magnanimity upheld him. He had indeed persuaded himself to accept her
self-sacrifice, but he was fully determined that if she must die he would
follow her to the grave. "Non dolet,"--[It does not hurt]--Arria cried
to her lover Paetus, as she thrust the knife into her heart that she
might die before him; and the words rang in his ear; but he said to
himself that Paula would very likely be pardoned, and that then he would
be free and have a whole lifetime in which to thank her.

At last--at last. The Kadi announced the verdict: It was impossible to
find Orion worthy of death, and equally so to give up all belief in his
guilt; the court therefore declared itself inadequate to pronounce a
sentence, and left it to be decided by the Khaliff or by his
representative in Egypt, Amru. The court only went so far as to rule
that the prisoner was to be kept in close confinement, so that he might
be within reach of the hand of justice, if the supreme decision should be
"guilty!"

When the Kadi said that the matter was to be referred to the Khaliff or
his representative, the Vekeel cried out:

"I--I am Omar's vicar!" but a disapproving murmur from the judges, as
with one voice, rejected his pretensions, and at a proposal of the Kadi
it was resolved that the young man should be protected against any