My companion of the road was plucking at my sleeve.
I took leave of the Patriarch respectfully, with many thanks.

He clapped me on the shoulder, saying: 'Come again! And never seek to wed the sister of thy brother's wife.

Your Church does not forbid such marriage--does it ?--being still tainted with the Latin heresy.

Why does the Orthodox Church forbid it?
Because it brings confusion into families, and is indecent.' He seemed to jest, but the look he gave to my companion as we rode away was stern, I thought, and more than half-contemptuous.
Excepting that my head was bandaged, I felt well again; so we rode on, as we had first intended, towards Bethlehem.

Over a rocky land with patches of pink cyclamen, black crows were wheeling in a sky of vivid blue.
We came into the olive groves beneath the hill on which stands the Greek priory of Mar Elias, when my companion said ingratiatingly: 'If you please, we will call at the monastery and take refreshment.