uties of his office, kept them so much apart, that he
had no leisure to discover the graces of her mind, nor to appreciate all
the powers of her naturally fine, and indeed well-cultivated intellect;
so that the beauty of her person constituted the only basis on which his
affection was maintained. The fervor of such a love soon cooled with
satiety: and those female slaves whom he had at first procured as
indispensable appendages to his rank and station, were not long in
becoming the sources of new pleasure and voluptuous enjoyment. Aischa
beheld his increasing indifference, and strove to bind him to her by
representing all she had done for him. He listened coldly at first; but
when, on several occasions, the same remonstrances were repeated, he
answered angrily.

"Had it not been for my influence," she said to him one day, when the
dispute had become more serious than preceding quarrels of the kind,
"you might still have been an humble secretary to a Christian noble."

"Not so," replied the grand vizier; "for at the very time when I first
beheld thee in the Bezestein, certain offers had been secretly conveyed
to me from the reis-effendi."

"In whose service you would have lingered as a mere subordinate for
long, long years," returned Aischa. "It was I who urged you on. Have I
not often assured you that your image dwelt in my memory after the
accident which first led to our meeting--that one of my faithful women
noticed my thoughtful mood--and that when I confessed to her the truth,
she stated to me that, by a singular coincidence, her own brother was
employed by the reis-effendi as an agent to tempt you with the offers to
which you have alluded? Then, inquiries which my slave instituted,
brought to my ears the flattering tidings that you also thought of me,
and I resolved to grant you an interview. From that moment my influence
hurried you on to power--and when you became the favorite of the mighty
Solyman, I confessed to him that I had seen and that I loved you. His
fraternal attachment to me is great--greater than to any other of his
sisters, seeing that himself and I were born of the same mother, though
at a long interval. Thus was it that my persuasion made him think higher
and oftener of you than he would else have done--and now that you have
attained the summit of glory and power, she who has helped to raise you
is neglected and loved no longer."

"Cease these reproaches, Aischa," exclaimed Ibrahim, who had list