d come up, and I left my darling
in her care.

Madame Murrah darted forward to follow her daughter, but my uncle had
seized her by the wrist, and forcing her down again, said to her in
Turkish:

"We have not finished; and if you stir, beware!"

"Sir," exclaimed the Circassian, addressing the officer of the law, "you
see how violently they are treating me, and how they are threatening
me!"

All this had taken place so quickly that the commissary hardly had time
to intervene with a gesture. Onesime and Rupert were strolling about
outside the window.

"Excuse me for having sent this child out, sir," continued my uncle;
"but you are, I believe, sufficiently acquainted already with her
decision. Moreover, she is there to reply afresh to you, if you desire
to question her alone, secure from all influence and pressure. It
remains for me to speak now upon a subject which she ought not to hear
mentioned. After her refusal to follow her mother, which she has just
given so clearly, be so good as to add on your report that I also refuse
very emphatically to give her up to her."

"You have no right to rob me of my daughter," exclaimed the Circassian,
who was nearly delirious with rage.

"That is just the point we are about to discuss," replied my uncle.
"Firstly, then, allow me to introduce myself to you, sir," he continued,
quite calmly; "and to explain my position and rights in this matter. My
name is _The Late_ Barbassou, ex-General and Pasha in the service of His
Majesty the Sultan--ranks which entitle me to the privileges of a
Turkish subject."

The commissary smiled and nodded to him, thus indicating that the name
of Barbassou-Pasha was already known to him.

"As a consequence of these rights, sir," continued my uncle, "my private
transactions cannot come before the French courts; so that this affair
must be settled entirely between Madame Murrah and myself. I should
even add, while expressing to you my regrets for the inconvenience which
it is causing you, that it is I who have brought about this very
necessary interview. I presented myself twice at Madame Murrah's house
in Paris, with the object of bringing this stupid business to a
conclusion. For reasons, no doubt, which you are already in a position
to estimate, she refused to see me. I arranged, therefore, that she
should be informed yesterday that her daughter was concealed in this
house; and I came here at once myself, in order to have the pleasure of
meet