I fancied that he had a tear in his eye as he spoke, but I could not be sure, for a minute afterwards Sir William entered the room, and then he seemed as cheerful and full of spirits as he had always been whilst we were travelling together.
"So you never got my letter!" he said, to Sir William. "I am very sorry; but I gave it to a dragoman whom I knew pretty well, and whom I met at the Jaffa Gate. He was not a Jerusalem dragoman, but one who had come with some people from Cairo, and he promised me to deliver it at once. He must either have forgotten it, or, Arab-like, he conveniently lost it, but took care not to lose the 'baksheesh' I gave him at the same time. Well, it does not signify now!"
"Oh no," said Sir William, "of course not; only that fellow deserves to hear of it again! But how was it they knew nothing of your telegram at the Convent?"
"I met the man in the street bringing it, just after I left you, Miss Lindsay. He knew me by sight, and handed it to me at once, and then I just hurried back to the Convent and told them I must leave that morning; but I had neither time nor inclination to enter into particulars with them."
When the gentlemen came into the drawing-room after dinner, Mr. Stanley brought out a number of splendid photographs of Jerusalem and its neighbourhood which he had bought in London, and had brought with him to show us.
Sir William was engrossed for some time in an interesting debate which he had just found in the "Times" newspaper; but Evelyn explained the Jerusalem photographs to Lord Moreton, and Mr. Stanley sat by me and pointed out the different places that we had visited together.
There was one beautiful view taken from the Mount of Olives, just at the turn of the hill where we had stood to look down upon Jerusalem.
We looked at this photograph a long time; I thought it more beautiful than any of the others. Jerusalem stood out clear and bright in the sunshine, each house, each mosque, each dome was standing out before us almost as distinctly as we had seen it on that lovely evening when, like our Lord and Master, we had beheld the city and wept over it.
"I shall never look at that photograph," said Mr. Stanley, "without thinking of those words: 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which I had lost.' Do you remember who said them to me there?"
"Yes," I said; "that was a very pleasant ride."