At that Alia uttered a faint scream, and a growl of disapproval came from the four critics.
But Shems-ud-dìn said simply: “Let it be. She is not yet a woman complete, and Allah knows her face at present is not such as to excite desire. Be not afraid, O my dear,” he added in a soothing tone to the sufferer. “For thy health’s sake, this sacrifice is required of thee.”
One glance at the unveiled brow sufficed the foreigner. He rose again quickly and, turning to the sheykh, shrugged his shoulders with an upward look.
“How far have you carried her in this manner?”
“Four days or five, O khawâjah.”
For comment the Frank gave another shrug. His face was troubled. The stare of so many eager eyes appeared to irk him.
“She is very near to death,” he said at length, half to himself. “Allah alone can cure her now.”
Whereupon the listeners whispered: “He knows his trade, this heathen! He makes her case out the worst possible, in order that his skill in curing her may appear the more considerable. Yet is he not totally without religion, for he ascribes the chief power to Allah.”
“O sheykh,” pursued the Frank, when he had withdrawn beyond earshot of the occupants of the litter, “what can I do? Am I God that thou bringest to me a dying girl, and sayest, ‘Heal her’?”
Then Shems-ud-dìn adjured him by the love of Allah, by all things sacred, to have mercy upon Alia, and not to turn away his face from affliction. He said: