"His tunic was torn where his decorations had been. He looked like ... like a man who might have been degraded."
The Consul-General's face twitched, but in a fierce, almost ferocious voice he said, "Speak! Who is it?"
There was another moment of silence, which seemed to be eternal, and then the Sirdar replied—
"Nuneham, it is your own son."
CHAPTER XVIII
"From the Slave of the Most High, Abdul Ali, Chancellor of El Azhar, to Ishmael Ameer, the Messenger of God—Praise be to Him, the Exalted One!
"A word in haste to say that he who came here as your missionary and representative has within the hour been arrested by the officials of the Government, having, so far as we can yet learn and surmise, been most treacherously and maliciously betrayed into their hands by means of a letter to the English lord from one who stands near to you in your camp.
"In sadness and tears, with faces bowed to the earth and ashes on our heads, we send our sympathy to you and to your stricken followers, entreating you on our knees, in the name of the Compassionate, not to attempt to carry out your design of coming into Cairo, lest further and more fearful calamities should occur.
"This by swift and trusty messenger to your hands at Sakkara.—The Slave of your Virtues,
"ABDUL ALI."