he
magnanimous Abbas, I saw there the beautiful Tamira with the gazelle
eyes, the rose of Ispahan, brilliant as the azure campac which only
grows in Paradise. Her glance produced on me the magical effect of the
seal of Solomon, and I resolved to take her for my wife. I went this
very morning to her father, but his word was given to you; and
Bebut-kazi is the only obstacle to my happiness. Listen! I possess great
riches, and have powerful friends; give up to me your claim on Tamira,
and, ere long, I will get you appointed divan-beghi; you shall be the
chief sovereign of justice in the first city in the universe; I will
give you my own sister for a wife, she who was formerly the nightingale
of Iran, the dove of Babylon. I leave you to reflect on my offer;
to-morrow I return for the answer."

The new kazi was thunderstruck. "What! yield my Tamira to him for his
sister! Why, she may be old and ugly; 'tis like exchanging a pearl of
Bahrein for one of Mascata; but he is powerful. If I do not consent, he
will deprive me of my place; and I like my place; and yet I would freely
sacrifice it for Tamira. But were I no longer kazi, would her father
keep his promise? Doubtful. I love Tamira more than all the world; but
we must not be selfish; we must forget our own interest, when it injures
those we love. To deprive Tamira of a chance of being the wife of a
kalantar would be doing her an injury. How could I have the heart to
force her to forego such a glory, merely for the sake of the poor
insignificant kazi that I am! I should never get over it; 'tis done! I
will immolate my happiness to hers! I shall be very wretched;
but--but--I shall be divan-beghi."

If Bebut the Honest, misled by dawning avarice, fancied he committed his
first fault for the sake of love, and not of ambition, he must have been
undeceived when these two rival passions came into competition, and he
could only banish the first. If his eyes were not opened, those of the
world began to be; for, from that moment, he lost (when he had more need
of them than ever) the esteem and confidence he had hitherto inspired,
and became known by the name of Bebut the Ambitious.

Not yet aware that the higher we rise in rank, the harder we find it to
be virtuous, he was for ever flattering himself with the future. Now,
his conduct was to be such as should edify the whole body of the
magistracy of Ispahan, of which he was become the head. He would not be
satisfied with going to