will likewise have acquired the letters of
Mesroub, and will know the term for bread, in Armenian, and perhaps that
for wine.'

'Kini,' said my companion; and that and the other word put me in mind of
the duties of hospitality. 'Will you eat bread and drink wine with me?'

'Willingly,' said I. Whereupon my companion, unlocking a closet,
produced, on a silver salver, a loaf of bread, with a silver-handled
knife, and wine in a silver flask, with cups of the same metal. ' I hope
you like my fare,' said he, after we had both eaten and drunk.

'I like your bread,' said I, 'for it is stale; I like not your wine, it
is sweet, and I hate sweet wine.'

'It is wine of Cyprus,' said my entertainer; and, when I found that it
was wine of Cyprus, I tasted it again, and the second taste pleased me
much better than the first, notwithstanding that I still thought it
somewhat sweet. 'So,' said I, after a pause, looking at my companion,
'you are an Armenian.'

'Yes,' said he, 'an Armenian born in London, but not less an Armenian on
that account. My father was a native of Ispahan, one of the celebrated
Armenian colony which was established there shortly after the time of the
dreadful hunger, which drove the children of Haik in swarms from their
original country, and scattered them over most parts of the eastern and
western world. In Ispahan he passed the greater portion of his life,
following mercantile pursuits with considerable success. Certain
enemies, however, having accused him to the despot of the place, of using
seditious language, he was compelled to flee, leaving most of his
property behind. Travelling in the direction of the west, he came at
last to London, where he established himself, and where he eventually
died, leaving behind a large property and myself, his only child, the
fruit of a marriage with an Armenian Englishwoman, who did not survive my
birth more than three months.'

The Armenian then proceeded to tell me that he had carried on the
business of his father, which seemed to embrace most matters, from buying
silks of Lascars, to speculating in the funds, and that he had
considerably increased the property which his father had left him. He
candidly confessed that he was wonderfully fond of gold, and said there
was nothing like it for giving a person respectability and consideration
in the world: to which assertion I made no answer, being not exactly
prepared to contradict it.

And, when he had related