time in his little ignorant life, the old road to inspiration!'

One of the slave-girls sat down on the divan, and took up a double
flute; while the other rose, and accompanying the plaintive dreamy air
with a slow dance, and delicate twinklings of her silver armlets and
anklets, and the sistrum which she held aloft, she floated gracefully
round and round the floor and sang--

Why were we born but for bliss? Why are we ripe, but to fall? Dream
not that duty can bar thee from beauty, Like water and sunshine, the
heirloom of all.

Lips were made only to kiss; Hands were made only to toy; Eyes were made
only to lure on the lonely, The longing, the loving, and drown them in
joy!

Alas, for poor Philammon! And yet no! The very poison brought with it
its own anti-dote; and, shaking off by one strong effort of will the
spell of the music and the wine, he sprang to his feet....

'Never! If love means no more than that--if it is to be a mere delicate
self-indulgence, worse than the brute's, because it requires the
prostration of nobler faculties, and a selfishness the more huge in
proportion to the greatness of the soul which is crushed inward by
it--then I will have none of it! I have had my dream--yes! but it was
of one who should be at once my teacher and my pupil, my debtor and my
queen--who should lean on me, and yet support me--supply my defects,
although with lesser light, as the old moon fills up the circle of the
new--labour with me side by side in some great work--rising with me for
ever as I rose: and this is the base substitute! Never!'

Whether or not this was unconsciously forced into words by the vehemence
of his passion, or whether the old Jewess heard, or pretended to hear, a
footstep coming up the stair, she at all events sprang instantly to her
feet.

'Hist! Silence, girls! I hear a visitor. What mad maiden has come to beg
a love-charm of the poor old witch at this time of night? Or have the
Christian bloodhounds tracked the old lioness of Judah to her den at
last? We'll see!'

And she drew a dagger from her girdle, and stepped boldly to the door.
As she went out she turned--

'So! my brave young Apollo! You do not admire simple woman? You must
have something more learned and intellectual and spiritual, and so
forth. I wonder whether Eve, when she came to Adam in the garden,
brought with her a certificate of proficiency in the seven sciences?
Well, well--like must after like. Perhaps we shall be ab