emained seated on my stone, as nothing belonging
to myself required any particular attention; in about a quarter of an
hour she returned, and seated herself upon her stool.

'How dark the place is become since I left you,' said she; 'just as if
night were just at hand.'

'Look up at the sky,' said I; 'and you will not wonder; it is all of a
deep olive. The wind is beginning to rise; hark how it moans among the
branches, and see how their tops are bending; it brings dust on its
wings--I felt some fall on my face; and what is this, a drop of rain?'

'We shall have plenty anon,' said Belle; 'do you hear? it already begins
to hiss upon the embers; that fire of ours will soon be extinguished.'

'It is not probable that we shall want it,' said I, 'but we had better
seek shelter: let us go into my tent.'

'Go in,' said Belle, 'but you go in alone; as for me, I will seek my
own.'

'You are right,' said I, 'to be afraid of me; I have taught you to
decline master in Armenian.'

'You almost tempt me,' said Belle, 'to make you decline mistress in
English.'

'To make matters short,' said I, 'I decline a mistress.'

'What do you mean?' said Belle, angrily.

'I have merely done what you wished me,' said I, 'and in your own style;
there is no other way of declining anything in English, for in English
there are no declensions.'

'The rain is increasing,' said Belle.

'It is so,' said I; 'I shall go to my tent; you may come if you please; I
do assure you I am not afraid of you.'

'Nor I of you,' said Belle; 'so I will come. Why should I be afraid? I
can take my own part; that is--'

We went into the tent and sat down, and now the rain began to pour with
vehemence. 'I hope we shall not be flooded in this hollow,' said I to
Belle. 'There is no fear of that,' said Belle; 'the wandering people,
amongst other names, call it the dry hollow. I believe there is a
passage somewhere or other by which the wet is carried off. There must
be a cloud right above us, it is so dark. Oh! what a flash!'

'And what a peal!' said I; 'that is what the Hebrews call Koul Adonai--the
voice of the Lord. Are you afraid?'

'No,' said Belle, 'I rather like to hear it.'

'You are right,' said I, 'I am fond of the sound of thunder myself. There
is nothing like it; Koul Adonai behadar: the voice of the Lord is a
glorious voice, as the prayer-book version hath it.'

'There is something awful in it,' said Belle; 'and then the lightning--th