to Eva with jaunty grace, exclaiming
at the same time, 'Ladies, if you like to follow us, you shall see a
casket just arrived from Marseilles, and which Eva will favour me by
carrying to Aleppo. It was chosen for me by the Lady of the Austrian
Internuncio, who is now at Paris. For my part, I do not see much
advantage in the diplomatic corps, if occasionally they do not execute a
commission for one.'

Hillel hurried Eva away, accompanied by his sister and Madame Nassim.
Tancred and Fakredeen remained behind.

'Who is this man?' said Tancred.

''Tis her affianced,' said the Emir; 'the man who has robbed me of my
natural bride. It is to be hoped, however, that, when she is married,
Besso will adopt me as his son, which in a certain sense I am, having
been fostered by his wife. If he do not leave me his fortune, he ought
at least to take up all my bills in Syria. Don't you think so, my
Tancred?'

'What?' said Tancred, with a dreamy look.

There was a burst of laughter in the distance.

'Come, come,' said Fakredeen, 'see how they are all gathering round the
marriage casket. Even Nassim Farhi has risen. I must go and talk to him:
he has impulses, that man, at least compared with his brother; Mourad is
a stone, a precious stone though, and you cannot magnetise him through
his wife, for she has not an idea; but Madame Nassim is immensely
mesmeric. Come, come, Tancred.'

'I follow.'

But instead of following his friend, Tancred entered one of the marble
pavilions that jutted out from each corner of the terraced roof, and
commanded splendid views of the glittering and gardened city. The moon
had risen over that unrivalled landscape; the white minarets sparkled in
its beam, and the vast hoods of the cupolaed mosques were suffused with
its radiancy or reposed in dark shadow, almost as black as the cypress
groves out of which they rose. In the extreme distance, beyond the
fertile plain, was the desert, bright as the line of the sea, while
otherwise around him extended the chains of Lebanon and of the North.

The countenance of Tancred was more than serious, it was sad, as,
leaning against one of the wreathed marble pillars, he sighed and
murmured: 'If I were thou, most beautiful Damascus, Aleppo should not
rob me of such a gem! But I must tear up these thoughts from my heart by
their roots, and remember that I am ordained for other deeds.'

CHAPTER XLIX.

_A Discussion About Scammony_

AFTER taking the bat