palm to her obediently, and she began following its lines with close attention, without saying a word; then she turned to

Gibran's palm and did the same...

And it pleased me to claim that I, like her, was skilled at reading the palm and telling fortunes, so I took her soft hand and set to examining its veins from the outside. Long before, I had observed how the veins differ upon the hands of one person and another, and had deduced certain signs bearing on natures and characters. And how great was my astonishment! It was the first time I had found a palm resem-bling my own in the winding of its lines... So what was to prevent me from 'telling the fortune' of the girl, ascribing to her some of the traits of my own character??!

— It seems to you, Miss, that you understand everything — and you feel in the depths of your heart that you understand nothing clearly. And this doubt increases your desire for knowledge and understanding... Fortune serves you, but you are not skilled at seizing opportunities and turning them to account...

Miss Olga was listening atten-tively, but she remarked: — I do not believe in these absurdities; yet what you say is not without truth... Perhaps it is the instinct of the Oriental...

She glanced at the clock behind the manageress's desk — we had finished our meal — and said: — I have an appointment — until tomorrow... And she rose in farewell and walked lightly, charmingly, toward the door.

— A beautiful figure, Gibran... It glorifies its Creator!

— She is without doubt of noble stock. Did you not see how nobility shows in all her features and movements?

— What a 'model' she would be... if only she consented to sit before us!

And while we drank our coffee and Gibran smoked his cigarette — and how devoted he was to coffee and the cigarette — he fell to analyzing the types of women. He labored under bad impressions of the Eastern woman, and so was severe in his judgment of her...

From this inquiry he passed to an analysis of the social condition, saying: — Most people, Youssef, live in a flood of lying, treachery, and pettiness... They say: I am the enemy of laws and traditions... Nay, I am the enemy of hypocrisy and false show... I shall say all this to them, that they may be ashamed!

— And if they do not read what you write, no shame will reach them, and your labor will go for nothing... and things will remain as they are...

And I quoted a saying of Voltaire's: — Believe me, Gibran, 'most men will remain liars, hypocrites, knaves, ingrates,

thieves, weaklings, feeble of mind, reckless, charlatans, greedy, drunkards, misers, fawn-ers, shedders of blood, dissolute, fanatical, cowardly...'

After this 'unburdening' we left the restaurant and strolled through the beautiful garden, and paused a while beside the pond where the little ones sail their fleets of cardboard and paper...

Gibran said: — Would that I were one of them... Do you remember, Youssef, the paper kites in the sky of Beirut, on the heights of Ashrafieh? I once tried to fly a kite in the sky of Boston, and the police stopped me!

— And these are the statues of the queens of France... each one in her own dress... as though they were fashion mannequins...

— Or do you find that this queen resembles... Miss Olga?

— You mean, rather... that Miss Olga resembles the statue of this queen!!