face was long, and the position of the wrinkles lengthened it still
more. All the creases of the forehead were broken in the middle, and
seemed to direct themselves toward the meeting of the eyebrows; two wide
and deep furrows descended perpendicularly to the corners of the lips,
as if the weight of the moustachios had drawn in the muscles of
the face.

I have seen a good many septuagenarians; I have even dissected one who
would have reached a hundred years, if the diligence of Osnabrueck had
not passed over his body: but I do not remember to have observed a more
green and robust old age than that of Hadgi-Stavros. He wore the dress
of Tino and of all the islands of the Archipelago. His red cap formed a
large crease at its base around his forehead. He had a vest of black
cloth, faced with black silk, immense blue pantaloons which contained
more than twenty metres of cotton cloth, and great boots of Russia
leather, elastic and stout. The only rich thing in his costume was a
scarf embroidered with gold and precious stones, which might be worth
two or three thousand francs. It inclosed in its folds an embroidered
cashmere purse, a Damascus sanjar in a silver sheath, a long pistol
mounted in gold and rubies, and the appropriate baton.

Quietly seated in the midst of his employees, Hadgi-Stavros moved only
the ends of his fingers and his lips; the lips to dictate his
correspondence, the fingers to count the beads in his chaplet. It was
one of those beautiful chaplets of milky amber which do not serve to
number prayers, but to amuse the solemn idleness of the Turk.

He raised his head at our approach, guessed at a glance the occurrence
which had brought us there, and said to us, with a gravity which had in
it nothing ironical, "You are welcome! Be seated."

"Sir," cried Mrs. Simons, "I am an Englishwoman, and--" He interrupted
the discourse by making his tongue smack against the teeth of his upper
jaw--superb teeth, indeed! "Presently," said he: "I am occupied." He
understood only Greek, and Mrs. Simons knew only English; but the
physiognomy of the King was so speaking that the good lady comprehended
easily without the aid of an interpreter.

Selections from 'The King of the Mountains' used by permission of J.E.
Tilton and Company.

THE VICTIM

From 'The Man with the Broken Ear': by permission of Henry Holt, the
Translator.

Leon took his bunch of keys and opened the long oak box on which he had
been seated.