ness of the hour, I found the clerk, busied as
usual at his desk.

He had always appeared to me a singular being, this same Moldavian clerk.
A person of fewer words could scarcely be conceived: provided his master
were at home, he would, on my inquiring, nod his head; and, provided he
were not, he would invariably reply with the monosyllable No, delivered
in a strange guttural tone. On the present occasion, being full of
eagerness and impatience, I was about to pass by him to the apartment
above, without my usual inquiry, when he lifted his head from the ledger
in which he was writing, and, laying down his pen, motioned to me with
his forefinger, as if to arrest my progress; whereupon I stopped, and,
with a palpitating heart, demanded whether the master of the house was at
home. The Moldavian clerk replied with his usual guttural, and, opening
his desk, ensconced his head therein.

'It does not much matter,' said I; 'I suppose I shall find him at home
after 'Change; it does not much matter, I can return.'

I was turning away with the intention of leaving the room; at this
moment, however, the head of the Moldavian clerk became visible, and I
observed a letter in his hand, which he had inserted in the desk at the
same time with his head; this he extended towards me, making at the same
time a sidelong motion with his head, as much as to say that it contained
something which interested me.

I took the letter, and the Moldavian clerk forthwith resumed his
occupation. The back of the letter bore my name, written in Armenian
characters; with a trembling hand I broke the seal, and, unfolding the
letter, I beheld several lines also written in the letters of Mesroub,
the Cadmus of the Armenians.

I stared at the lines, and at first could not make out a syllable of
their meaning; at last, however, by continued staring, I discovered that,
though the letters were Armenian, the words were English; in about ten
minutes I had contrived to decipher the sense of the letter; it ran
somewhat in this style:--

'MY DEAR FRIEND--The words which you uttered in our last conversation
have made a profound impression upon me; I have thought them over day
and night, and have come to the conclusion that it is my bounden duty
to attack the Persians. When these lines are delivered to you, I
shall be on the route to Ararat. A mercantile speculation will be to
the world the ostensible motive of my journey, and it is singula