فرغم رذالتهم عليه أحيانًا وما يسبِّبُونه له من إحراجات مع المعلم حبشي، فإنهم يملأون حياته، ويشغلونه عن السَّرَحان في الدنيا القديمة التي عاشها قبل أن يجيء إلينا.

For all their meanness to him at times and the embarrassments they caused him with Master Habashi, they filled his life and kept him from drifting back into the old world he had lived in before he came to us.

الفقراء هم الذين يرحبون به، هيئتُه قريبة من هيئتهم ويخدمهم لله في لله، لا يتحصَّل منهم لا على تعريفة ولا قرش، وإن ضغطوا عليه ودسُّوا شيئًا في سيَّالتِه كان يعتبرها إهانة.

It was the poor who welcomed him; he looked much as they did and served them for God's sake alone, taking neither a half-piastre nor a piastre from them, and if they pressed and slipped something into his pocket he took it as an insult.

رفع كُلٌّ منهما يده مُحيِّيًا الآخر، والتقت عيناهما دون كلام، لكن الغرض تم، فعينا يوسف كانتا تشعران به وتُعزِّيانه، وأحسَّ هو بالراحة، كان في حاجةٍ لمن يتلطَّفُ به..

Each raised a hand in greeting, their eyes met without a word, yet the thing was done: Yusuf's eyes felt for him and consoled him, and he felt relief; he needed someone to be gentle with him.