room. It
shone on Madame Patoff's marble features, and cast strange shadows
around her mouth.

"Shall we have lights?" I asked. There was a general refusal; everybody
preferred the moonlight, which now flooded the apartment.

"It seems to me," said Chrysophrasia, half sadly,--"it seems to me--ah,
no! I must be mistaken,--and yet--it seems to me that I smell something
burning."

"I think it is the lamps outside," I answered. No one else took any
notice of the speech, which jarred upon the pleasant stillness. I myself
thought she was mistaken.

"What a wonderful contrast!" said Hermione. "I mean the lamps and the
moonlight." Then she added, suddenly, "Do you know, Mr. Griggs, there
is really something burning. I can smell it quite well."

A fire in a Turkish house is a serious matter. The old beams and boarded
walls are like so much tinder, and burn up immediately, as though soaked
with some inflammable liquid. I rose, and went out to see if there were
anything wrong. As I opened the door which shut off the whole apartment
from the stairs, I heard a strange crackling sound, and outside the
window of the staircase, which was in the back of the house, I saw a red
glare, which brightened in the moment while I watched it. I did not go
further, for I knew the danger was imminent.

"Will you be good enough to come down-stairs?" I said, quietly, as I
re-entered the room where my guests were assembled. "I am afraid
something is wrong, but there is plenty of time."

A considerable confusion ensued, and everybody rushed to the door.
Protestations were vain, for all the women were frightened, and all the
men were anxious to help them. The sight of the flames outside the
window redoubled their fears, and they rushed out, stumbling on the
dusky landing. In the confusion of the moment I did not realize how it
all happened. Chrysophrasia, who was mad with fright, caught her foot
against something, and fell close beside me. The other ladies were
already down-stairs, I thought. I picked her up and carried her down as
fast as I could, and out into the garden.

"Come away from the house!" I cried. "Away from the trees!"
Chrysophrasia was senseless with fear, and I bore her hastily on till I
reached the fountain, some twenty yards down the hill. There I put her
down upon a bench. There were two buckets and a couple of watering-pots
there, and I shouted to the other men to come to me, as I filled two of
the vessels and ran round to