Paula turned pale as she read.  This then was what Katharina had meant.  This was what had so changed his appearance, and perhaps, too, his whole inward being.  And this, this bore the stamp of truth, this could not be a lie—­it was for her sake that a father’s curse had blighted his only son!  How had it all happened?  Had Philippus failed to observe it, or had he held his peace out of respect for the secrets of another?—­Poor man, poor young man!  She must see him, must speak to him.  She could not have a moment’s ease till she knew how it was that her uncle, a tender father.—­But she must go on, quickly to the end: 

“I come to you only as what I am:  a heart-broken man, too young to give myself over for lost, and at the same time determined to make use of all that remains to me of the steadfast will, the talents, and the self-respect of my forefathers to render me worthy of them, and I implore you to grant me a brief interview.  Not a word, not a look shall betray the passion within and which threatens to destroy me.

“You must on no account fail to read what follows, since it is of no small real importance even to you.  In the first place restitution must be made to you of all of your inheritance which the deceased was able to rescue and to add to by his fatherly stewardship.  In these agitated times it will be a matter of some difficulty to invest this capital safely and to good advantage.  Consider:  just as the Arabs drove out the Byzantines, the Byzantines might drive them out again in their turn.  The Persians, though stricken to the earth, the Avars, or some other people whose very name is as yet unknown to history, may succeed our present rulers, who, only ten years since, were regarded as a mere handful of unsettled camel-drivers, caravan-leaders, and poverty-stricken desert-tribes.  The safety of your fortune would be less difficult to provide for if, as was formerly the case here, we could entrust it to the merchants of Alexandria.  But one great house after another is being ruined there, and all security is at an end.  As to hiding or burying your possessions, as most Egyptians do in these hard times, it is impossible, for the same reason as prevents our depositing it on interest in the state land-register.  You must be able to get it at the shortest notice; since you might at some time wish to quit Egypt in haste with all your possessions.

“These are matters with which a woman cannot be familiar.  I would therefore propose that you should leave the arrangement of them to us men; to Philippus, the physician, Rufinus, your host—­who is, I am assured, an honest man—­and to our experienced and trustworthy treasurer Nilus, whom you know as an incorruptible judge.