“Patras may be a good man, Sahib,” replied Fagir; “but he would make a very bad clerk. In everything connected with work, I find him far inferior to Abbas.”
“Then Abbas must have the place,” said the Englishman; “the public interest must ever be considered first of all.”
Fagir heard not the Sahib’s answer, for a feeling of horror had stolen over the soul of the guilty clerk. The robe which he wore had suddenly rent into rags as he had spoken the words of falsehood, and in letters of flame had appeared on the border,—Lying lips are an abomination unto the Lord (Prov. xii. 22). All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone (Rev. xxi. 8).
And at that moment again Fagir beheld before him the bright angel from whom he had received the robe—that garment once so white, but now stained, ragged, and polluted! The angel spake; but the voice which had been sweeter than music now sounded more terrible than the blast of the trumpet of the archangel which shall call forth the dead from their graves.
“O Fagir!” cried the angel, “thou art summoned this moment to appear in the presence of the great King.”
Then a horrible fear and dread seized upon the soul of him who had been so confident in his own righteousness—of him who had said in his blindness of heart, “I can hold my head erect before God and man.” How should a poor wretch clad in loathsome rags dare to appear before Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; how should he venture into the presence of the terrible King! Fagir felt as if he would rather call on the rocks and the mountains to hide him; and, in his agony, he cried out so loudly, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” that he awoke from his dream. And, behold, he was reclining on cushions, with his hookah beside him, the punkah swinging to and fro, and Kasiti, with her Bible still on her knees, sitting at his feet.
“My lord[10] has had troubled sleep,” said the wife, raising her mild eyes from her book.
“O Kasiti!” exclaimed Fagir, still trembling from the effects of his dream; “how can a poor sinner, such as I am, weak, guilty, and full of evil, become fit to appear before God?”
Kasiti glanced down again at her Bible, and read aloud the prayer of the penitent David from the page which lay open before her,—Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me (Ps. li. 7, 10).