of any ordinarily pretty lady at a
court presentation at home would have done.

The damsel meanwhile writhed in torments at the feet of the Sultan,
who, having had enough of it himself, covered her with her veil, and
beckoned to the Kislar-Agasi. He raised the damsel, and carried her
behind the curtains that surrounded the throne; the same instant the
two eunuch guards standing beside the throne also disappeared.

The Sultan listened and covered his eyes.

After a few moments of deep silence, it seemed to the sailor as if he
heard a long sigh behind the curtains. The Sultan shivered in every
limb, and immediately afterwards the clocks in the Seraglio began to
strike; they struck eleven.

Then the Sultan arose from his place and said, with a deep sigh:

"'Twas the will of Allah!" Then he descended from the divan and said
to Morrison in the purest Italian, "Thou didst see her; was she not
beautiful?"

Morrison, astonished to hear Italian spoken by the Sultan, who, as a
rule, never spoke a word save through an interpreter, in his amazement
could not find an answer to this question quick enough.

"Come now and see her once more," continued the Grand Signior, and
with these words he went towards the curtains.

Morrison fell back confounded. The rosy-red damsel of a few moments
before lay there pale, lifeless, at full length, her lips and eyes
closed, her bosom motionless. A thin red line was visible round her
beautiful white neck--the mark of the silken cord!

"But this is brutal!" exclaimed the sailor, beside himself with
indignation.

The Sultan coldly replied, "Whenever a Christian man beholds the face
of one of our women, that woman must die." He then signified to the
sailor that he was dismissed.

Morrison hastened from the room, immediately hoisted his anchor, and
the same night sailed out of the Golden Horn, everywhere pursued by
the memory of the beautiful Sultana, whom he had killed with a glance
of his eyes.

* * * * *

"Behold, behold!" cried the Sultan, pressing the cold, murdered limbs
to his bosom; "the _dzhin_ told the truth. Mahmoud loved thee to the
death, and yet Mahmoud slew thee!"

These words he repeated two or three times to the dead woman, and
then, descending the steps of the throne, rent his garments across his
breast, and looking up to heaven with tearful eyes, exclaimed:

"And now let the rest come too!"

And the rest did come. It came from the e