me to be seen, or meddle in the affair. "I assure you, Ayto Aylo," said I, "I shall strictly obey you. There is no sort of reason for my meddling in this affair with such associates. If they can cure him by a miracle, I am sure it is the easiest kind of cure of any, and will not do his constitution the least harm afterwards, which is more than I will promise for medicines in general; but, remember what I say to you, it will, indeed, be a miracle, if both the father and the daughter are not dead before to-morrow night." We seemed all of us satisfied in one point, that it was better he should die, than I come to trouble by interfering.
After the procession was gone, Aylo went to the Iteghè, and, I suppose, told her all that happened since he had seen her last. I was called in, and, as usual, prostrated myself upon the ground. She received that token of respect without offering to excuse or to decline it. Aylo then said, "This is our gracious mistress, who always gives us her assistance and protection. You may safely say before her whatever is in your heart."
Our first discourse was about Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre, Calvary, the City of David, and the Mountain of Olives, with the situations of which she was perfectly well acquainted. She then asked me to tell her truly if I was not a Frank? "Madam," said I, "if I was a Catholic, which you mean by Frank, there could be no greater folly than my concealing this from you in the beginning, after the assurance Ayto Aylo has just now given; and, in confirmation of the truth I am now telling, (she had a large bible lying on the table before her, upon which I laid my hand), I declare to you, by all those truths contained in this book, that my religion ismore
