"You are a Christian; I am a Mussulman. How, then, shall you bring up
my children?"

"Fear nothing. I do not want to keep them for myself; I mean rather to
get them such positions as will enable them to rise to the utmost
distinction. I would place them with some leading pasha, perhaps with
the Padishah himself, or, at any rate, with one of his Viziers, all of
whom have a great respect for Circassians."

"Thank you. Midas, thank you; but I don't mean to give them up."

"Prithee, prithee, call me not Midas; that is an ominous name which I
do not understand. You might have learned any time these ten years,
when I first came to buy pelts from you, that my name is Leonidas
Argyrocantharides, and that I am a direct descendant of the hero
Leonidas, who fell at Thermopylae with his three hundred valiant
Spartans. One of my great-great-grandfathers, moreover, fell at Issus,
by the side of the great Alexander, from a mortal blow dealt to him by
a Persian satrap. If you do not believe me, look at this ancient coin,
and at these others, and at this whole handful which are in my purse,
all of which were struck under Philip of Macedon, or else under Michel
Kantakuzenos or Constantine Porphyrogenitus, all of whom were powerful
Greek emperors in Constantinople, which now they call Stambul, and
built the church of St. Sophia, where now the dervishes say their
prayers; and then look at the figures which are stamped on these
coins, and tell me if they do not resemble me to a hair. It is so.
No, you need not give me back the money; give me rather the two
little children."

The Circassian, who had taken the purse with the simple intention of
comparing the figures on the coins with the face of the merchant, drew
the strings of the purse tight again at this offer, and thrust it back
into the merchant's bosom.

"Thank you," said he, dryly. "I deal in the skins of goats, not in the
skins of men."

The face of the merchant showed surprise in all its features. Not
every man possesses the art of controlling his countenance so quickly,
especially when his self-command is put to so sudden and severe a
test. The Georgians, more to the south, were a much more manageable
race of men. With them one could readily drive a bargain for their
daughters and give them a good big sum on account for their smallest
children. One could purchase of them children from two to three years
of age at from ten to twenty golden denarii a head, and sell them in