CHAPTER XXI
THE MARTYRDOM OF THE ARMENIANS
The college year closed in sadness. There was a new English teacher in the place of Professor Piralian, who had been seriously wounded at Adana and, for the time being, was unable to conduct his classes. Professor Pagratian’s successor, an Armenian of Aintab, was still in America, not to return before the autumn term; Dr. Mills took his work in the meantime.
Archag could not forget the painful events in which he had participated; he was no longer his old self, but always under a cloud. He avoided the companionship of the students and spent his spare time with his sister. Nizam was still with the Pagratians, waiting until the college examinations were over, so that she might have her brothers’ escort on the journey home.
Archag’s sadness was due not only to the death of his brother-in-law and of the other Armenians; no, there was a deeper reason. His faith in God had been shaken, as well as his confidence in human nature.
“Is it possible,” he asked himself, “that a God of kindness, a Father who loves His children tenderly, can permit such horrors?”
“No,” whispered the tempter in his ear, “the God whom you adore is hard and inflexible; in His sight men are no more than grains of sand, and He is quite indifferent to our fate.”
The lad was greatly depressed by these thoughts, and felt a growing distaste for life. Nizam and Garabed, to whom he confided his doubts, could not succeed in consoling him.
“We must accept the will of God,” his sister would say, “death ought not to be a terror, but a joy, for it marks the beginning of our eternal life. In Paradise there will be no more tears, no more sorrow nor parting.”