rself backwards and forwards.

"It is even so," said Balsamides, eying her coldly, and not moving from
his place as he blew the clouds of smoke into the warm air. "My medicine
is of no use when the soul is dark and diseased by a black deed."

"Where is the medicine?" cried the wretched woman, swaying from side to
side in her agony. "Where is it? Give it to me again, or I shall die!"

"It cannot help you unless you confess your sin," returned her torturer
indifferently.

"In the name of Allah! I will confess all, even to you an unbeliever, if
you will only give me rest again!" cried Laleli. From the momentary
respite the pain seemed far greater than before.

"If you will do that, I will try and save you," answered Balsamides,
producing the case from his pocket. He had been very far from expecting
the advantage he had obtained through the combination of the old woman's
credulity and extreme suffering; but in his usual cold fashion he now
resolved to use it to the utmost. Laleli saw him take the syringe from
the case, and her eyes glittered with the anticipation of immediate
relief.

"Speak," said Gregorios,--"confess your sin, and you shall have rest."

"What am I to confess?" asked the old woman, hungrily watching the tiny
instrument in his fingers.

"This," answered Balsamides, lowering his voice. "You must tell me what
became of a Russian Effendi, whose name was Alexander, whom you caused
to be seized one night in the last week of"----

Again Laleli cried out, and rocked her body, apparently suffering more
than ever.

"The medicine!" she whispered almost inaudibly.--"Quick--I cannot
speak---- am dying of the pain." The perspiration streamed down her
yellow wrinkled face, and Balsamides feared the end was come.

"You must tell me first, or it will be of no use," he said. But he
quickly filled the syringe, and prepared to repeat the former operation.

"I cannot," groaned Laleli. "I die!--quick! Then I will tell."

A physician might have known whether the woman were really dying or not,
but Balsamides' science did not go so far as that. Without further
hesitation he pricked the skin of her hand and injected a small
quantity, a very little more than the first time. The effect was not
quite so sudden as before, but it followed after a few seconds. The
signs of extreme suffering disappeared from the Khanum's face, and she
once more looked up.

"Your medicine is good, Giaour," she said, with the ghost of a
di