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He stood bowed low in reverence so long as the holy father remained visible, in the attitude of blessing the crowd from the open side of the chariot; then he hurried away to join his mother. He expected to find her exhausted by the excitement of the patriarch's visit; but, in fact, she was more composed than he had seen her yet since his father's death.
Asaad's statement was forthwith copied and sent in various directions through the mountains, and afterwards it had a much wider circulation in a printed form. The Patriarch's first effort to recapture the fugitive, was by means of a Turkish sheriff, and it failed.
And whose arm was long enough to reach the Patriarch's throne if not.... But no, it was impossible! the mere thought of such a thing made her blood run cold. Still, still.... And how graciously the Moslem leader had talked with him! Merciful Heaven!
He was adrift, and blown out of harbour upon a shoreless sea, in utter darkness; all heaven and earth were nothing to him. He was alone in the blindness of anger. Gradually one fixed idea, as a light-tower, began to glimmer through the storm.... To see Hypatia, and convert her. He had the patriarch's leave for that. That must be right.
But, so far from this, he laid every person, and even his own brother under excommunication, should they presume to dispute or converse with me on the subject of religion. Entirely bereft of books, and shut out from all persons who might instruct me, from what quarter could I get the evidence necessary to persuade me to accept the Patriarch's opinions?
"Another bearing his own name, just on the threshold of manhood, his heart beating high with hope, falls into the dust; but above the cries of early widowhood and the desolation of that dark day, I hear the patriarch's prayer, commending children, and children's children, to the Divine sympathy. "But a deeper shadow fell across the old home-stead.
This patriarch's unfavorable opinion as to the prospects of the colored people was shared by my hopeful young widower before mentioned, who expressed himself quite as emphatically. But he was less perspicacious than the older man. He was one of the very few persons whom I met at the South who did not recognize me at sight as a Yankee. "Are you a legislator-man?" he asked, at the end of our talk.
"You always turn everything into nonsense," said Ada, petulantly. "To be told I'm to wear a dress that had touched the heart of a patriarch, and had perhaps gone well nigh to make me a patriarch's bride!
"A priest," was the prompt answer. "A bishop perhaps?" asked Alexander with a smile; "you think it is an easy and a glorious life?" The boy's eyes looked straight into the Patriarch's. "The blessed Peter was a martyr," he answered. "You need much learning to be a priest." "I love learning," said the boy. Alexander noted the broad, intelligent brow, the keen eyes and the clear-cut face before him.
But he was a good and kindly man; and when, as I was going to college at the age of eighteen, he laid his hand upon my head, and gave me, with solemn form and tender accent, his blessing, I felt awed and impressed, as I imagine the Hebrew youth may have felt under a patriarch's benediction.
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