eglect, and studied attentions to her. I was
piqued, and revenged myself--for I am but a woman. I was wrong in so
doing, but having told the truth, I was right in not retracting what I
had said. Now that you have degraded me--now that you have rendered me
unworthy of you, you ask me to forgive you."

"And again I implore it, my dearest Zara!"

"There are my jewels, my lord. I have no other property but what I have
received, and cherished as presents from you. Your treasurer well knows
that. Take my jewels, my lord, and present them to her, they will make
her more beautiful in your sight--to me they are now worthless. Go to
her, and in a few days you will forget that ever there was such a person
as the unhappy, the neglected, the disgraced, and polluted Zara." And I
burst into tears, for even with all his ill usage, I was miserable at
the idea of parting with him; for what will not a woman forgive to a man
who has obtained her favour and her love?

"What can I do to prove that I repent?" cried the sultan. "Tell me,
Zara. I have supplicated for pardon, what more can I do?"

"Let my lord efface all traces and memory of my degradation. Was not I
struck by two vile slaves, who will babble through the city? Was not I
held down by an executioner? These arms, which have wound round the
master of the world, and no other, polluted by his gripe."

The sultan clapped his hands, and the kislar aga appeared. "Quick,"
exclaimed he, "the heads of the slaves and executioner who inflicted the
punishment." In a minute the kislar aga appeared; he perceived how
matters stood, and trembled for his own. He held up the three heads,
one after another, and then returned them to the sack of sawdust in
which they had been brought.

"Are you satisfied now, Zara?"

"For myself, yes--but not for you. Who was it that persuaded you to
descend from your dignity, and lower yourself, by yielding to the
instigations of malice? Who was it that advised the _bastinado_? As a
woman, I am too proud to be jealous of her; but as one who values your
honour, and your reputation, I cannot permit you to have so dangerous a
counsellor. Your virgins, your omras, your princes, will all be at her
mercy; your throne may be overturned by her taking advantage of her
power."

The sultan hesitated.

"Sultan, you have but to choose between two things; if she be alive
to-morrow morning, I am dead by my own hand. You know I never lie."

The sulta