some way connected with the Emeer Daghfel's movements, who,—a new cause of disquiet,—might now be expected almost any day.

"She listened to my words, seated, and looking straight before her, calm as ever, but saying nothing. I felt sure that her silence covered whatever I most longed or feared to know; but could not then comprehend the strength of her resolution, and what gave her whole manner the composure I was unable to rival, even externally.

"Zahra, my sister, speak,' I urged. She remained silent. I cast myself at her feet, clasped them between my hands-and, more by look and gesture than by words, implored her pity.

"Not thus, my brother Aḥmed, not thus,' she said; 'or is it that you doubt me?'

"Do I doubt you!' was my answering exclamation; 'ah Zahra'! can you think that of me? It is no doubt that troubles me; but this uncertainty is hard to bear. You know that when the Beg leaves Diar-Bekr, I must leave too; and meanwhile the Emeer,--may God confound him, -will arrive; and what hope then remains to me of seeing you again?"

"A thousand Begs and a thousand Emeers,

46

shall not separate between you and me, my dear brother." She raised her head as she spoke, and looked me straight in the face. But you must have patience; the time is not come; it—' Suddenly she stopped, and a slight blush came over her features; her hand moved towards her veil.

"Let these things alone for the present,' she added, regaining her former calm. There was a tone in her voice which while it re-assured, warned me.

"Are you displeased with me, sister?' I said. "No,' she replied, 'why should I, Aḥmed? But I fear your impetuosity; be cautious. Believe me, there is danger in the air.'

"I was about to ask her what her last words meant, but before I could frame my question, the door opened, and the black, Jowhar, whose fidelity I never had any reason to doubt, either then or afterwards, came hastily in. With a low voice. he warned Zahra' that such and such ones were about, and were likely to be soon coming that way; if she wished to retire unperceived, she must make haste. He then went out and reclosed the door.

"We parted abruptly. My heart was heavy, my temperament in an excitement bordering on

irritation; her features, too, had no longer their wonted cheerfulness,-they were fixed and sad.

"Not to-morrow, my brother,' said she, as I proposed the next day for our meeting; 'wait till I send. And, for God's sake, be prudent,' she added.

"I will be so, but do not let the time be too prolonged, sister, dearest Zahra”,' I replied.

"Please God,' she answered, with a faint smile. She left the room by one door, I by the other, each with a foreboding heaviness of heart, which, had we known more, would have been yet heavier. The sky, so bright of late, was now grey and overcast, its horizon was gloomier still; eyes less keen than those of lovers might have seen that a storm was at hand.

"Slowly I bent my way back to the busy town and streets; but before I had got well out of the gardens I noticed a figure, seemingly expectant of something or somebody; it was standing a little way round the corner of a cross path, half visible in the dark shadow of the boughs that overhung the wall. As I approached, it moved, and turned partly towards me; then abruptly retreated, and passed along into the side lane. I looked after it; and by a small green tassel hanging down behind over the collar

of the blue cloth jacket, more than by any other distinctive sign, I became aware that I had twice before already observed the same figure; and each time while I was on my way to or from the Sheykh Asa'ad's quarters; and that then, too, it appeared to be, as it were, concerned with my own movements. Could it be a spy? and if so, who was the employer?

"More uneasy than before, I quickened my steps, and entering the town by a different gate from the usual one, made for a small kaḥwah in the northern quarter, where from time to time I had been accustomed to meet Moharib, in hopes of perhaps finding him now. No Moharib was there. This was the sixth day that I had seen nothing of him; formerly his intercourse had been the mainstay to steady my mind amid the successive fluctuations of events; now it failed me just when I most needed it.

"I returned to Afsheen Beg's house, thinking there to find comparative rest of body and mind, for I felt strangely exhausted. But no; there, too, everything went against me. An unusual number of my fellow horsemen were gathered together in the room that evening, and, as if on purpose to annoy me and increase my restlessness, their whole conversation turned on our approach

ing return to Jezeerah. I listened with disgust and impatience to the satisfaction that most,indeed, all-except myself, expressed in the prospect of that event, and, in a fit of ill-timed perversity, took to contradicting them; I even went so far as to declare that I hated Jezeerah, and would make means to remain at DiarBekr.

"Makan Agha, who had remarked my illhumour, and kindly tried to soothe or turn it off, stared in astonishment. 'What is the matter with you, this evening, Ahmed Agha? Has any one been annoying you?' he asked.

"Upon my word, I think that Ahmed is in love with some girl, hereabouts,' remarked, in the merest random jest, one of my companions.

"But I started like a guilty man suddenly detected; and then, on looking round, perceived for the first time, seated in the room, not exactly with our group, but close by, between us and the door, the very figure that I had observed that afternoon in the lane. The sight deprived me of what little presence of mind I still had left; and I hurriedly began a perfectly unnecessary and uncalled-for explanation; in a word I exemplified the proverb, 'The fool went to the tank to wash, and dirtied his feet with the mud.'