en used as an ornament for its top, but which having been
broken from its position, had slid down to the very eaves and now
hung but half suspended upon the roof. Even the lighting of the
parrot upon its edge was sufficient to balance it from the fragile
support that retained it on the roof, and then it slid off
immediately above the head of the Circassian girl.

The boy was on his feet as quick as thought itself, and springing to
the spot, with both hands outspread above her head, he canted the
heavy frame work away from her so that it came upon the ground,
sinking deep into the earth from its sharp points and considerable
weight. Had the falling mass come upon her head, as it would most
inevitably have done but for the boy, its effect must have been
instantly fatal. The Circassian saw the imminent service the boy had
rendered her, but he was sitting on the end of another shadow in a
moment after!

Was it reason or instinct that had caused him to make that
successful effort with such wonderful speed and accuracy? The slave
looked at him in wonder. It was very evident that he had already
forgotten the service which he had rendered, and the same listless,
childlike, and almost idiotic expression was in his face. This event
endeared the boy very much to the Circassian, and she never failed
to show him every kindness in her power. She would arrange his
straggling dress, and part his hair, smoothly away from his handsome
forehead, and give him always of each delicacy provided for herself,
until the boy seemed to feel himself almost solely dependent upon
her, and to seek her side as a faithful hound might have done.

Thus had time passed with the dumb slave in the Sultan's palace on
the Barbyses.

At times she would stroll among the rare beds of plants, and culling
fresh chaplets for her head, wreathe herself a fragrant garland,
ever finding some familiar scent that recalled her far off home in
all its freshness. Wearied of this she wandered among the jasper
fountains, and watched the play of those waters, the soft and
rippling music of which she might not hear, or still further on in
the many labyrinths of the garden and harem walks, would throw
herself upon some rich cushions beside a silver urn, where burnt
sweet aloes and sandal wood and rods of spice to perfume the air. At
early morn she loved to pet the blue pigeons that had been brought
from far off Mecca, held so sacred by the faithful, to feed them
from her ow