“‘I have one or two of some consequence, if I may be allowed, Your Holiness?’
“‘Certainly, brother Selim. Pray continue. We are all ears.’
“The Pleader cleared his throat, again consulted his notes, looked up to me and said: ‘What were your earnings in games of hazard during the year concluding with the opening of the last Feast of Ramadan?’
“I answered that I had no exact calculation, but that I had small stomach for such pastimes, and might have won or lost anything between one hundred and two hundred dinars.
“‘Take care, take very great care!’ said His Holiness, addressing me again.
“‘Between one or two hundred dinars,’ said the Pleader, in a musing sort of voice, and I noticed that the Judge was taking a note of my reply. ‘Now be good enough, you base fellow, to answer me this—and
