did not anticipate our meeting here.'

'"Sweetmeats and slippers,"' said Herbert to himself, '"shawls and
daggers!" What next?'

'And has George been with you all the time?' inquired Venetia.

'Oh! we quarrelled now and then, of course. He found Athens dull, and
would stay at Constantinople, chained by the charms of a fair Perote,
to whom he wanted me to write sonnets in his name. I would not,
because I thought it immoral. But, on the whole, we got on very well;
a sort of Pylades and Orestes, I assure you; we never absolutely
fought.'

'Come, come,' said George, 'Cadurcis is always ashamed of being
amiable. We were together much more than I ever intended or
anticipated. You know mine was a sporting tour; and therefore, of
course, we were sometimes separated. But he was exceedingly popular
with all parties, especially the Turks, whom he rewarded for their
courtesy by writing odes to the Greeks to stir them up to revolt.'

'Well, they never read them,' said Cadurcis. 'All we, poor fellows,
can do,' he added, turning to Herbert, 'is to wake the Hellenistic
raptures of May Fair; and that they call fame; as much like fame as a
toadstool is like a truffle.'

'Nevertheless, I hope the muse has not slumbered,' said Herbert; 'for
you have had the happiest inspiration in the climes in which you have
resided; not only are they essentially poetic, but they offer a virgin
vein.'

'I have written a little,' replied Cadurcis; 'I will give it you, if
you like, some day to turn over. Yours is the only opinion that I
really care for. I have no great idea of the poetry; but I am very
strong in my costume. I feel very confident about that. I fancy I know
how to hit off a pasha, or touch in a Greek pirate now. As for all the
things I wrote in England, I really am ashamed of them. I got up my
orientalism from books, and sultans and sultanas at masquerades,' he
added, archly. 'I remember I made my heroines always wear turbans;
only conceive my horror when I found that a Turkish woman would as
soon think of putting my hat on as a turban, and that it was an
article of dress entirely confined to a Bond Street milliner.'

The evening passed in interesting and diverting conversation; of
course, principally contributed by the two travellers, who had seen so
much. Inspirited by his interview with Lady Annabel, and her gracious
reception of his overtures, Lord Cadurcis was in one of those frolic
humours, which we have before noticed was no