The weapon fell. Twice, thrice, the same words resounded in the frozen silence. Death prowled about the room. Those present held their breath as at the pillow of a man at the point of death.
At last the pacha threw down his axe and cried:
"Djezzar will have pardoned for the first time in his life."
By one of those changes of fortune in which destiny delights, this same Soliman replaced Djezzar as Pachalic of Acre. And no doubt, because he had experienced the value of mercy, he showed himself as good and as just as his predecessor had been cruel and licentious.
There are, however, some traits in Djezzar's character which are marked by a certain humour. When his jests were not addressed to persons condemned to death or to victims whom he had just caused to be disfigured, they did not want for wit. Such was the answer which he gave to a Christian of St. Jean d'Acre.
A merchant lived with his son in a house situated on the seashore. The ground floor was damp and unhealthy; the first floor airy and dry. The father lived above, as was right, the son contented himself with the lower part. To be brief, the son wanted to get married, which was quite reasonable, and persuaded his father to lend him his apartments for a fortnight. To this the old man consented readily, but when, on the sixteenth day, his children showed no disposition to restore him his lodging, he hazarded a timid protest.
"Allow us another week to enable my wife to get accustomed to the idea of going downstairs," replied the young husband. But when the week had passed, and the occupants of the first floor made no more sign than the dead, the father, whose old bones were beginning to grow mouldy in this little enviable habitation, made another demand. The son sent him about his business and announced coldly that each of them would remain in future where he was, in which he was wrong.
Djezzar, whose intelligence service was admirably conducted, and who took pleasure in roaming himself about the town, under a disguise, like the caliphs of former times, learned about the matter.
The son was brought trembling to the palace.
"Of what religion art thou?" roared the pacha in a voice of thunder.