I called out to him to stop, and seconded my words by drawing my sword,
and putting myself in an attitude to seize his bridle as he passed.
Embarrassed by the burden behind him, he was unable either to use
his sword or the gun slung at his back, so he excited his horse to an
increased speed, hoping thus to ride over me; but I stood my ground, and
as I made a cut with my sabre, the horse bounded from the road with so
sudden a start that the frightened woman lost her hold and fell off.
The horseman, free of his incumbrance, would now have used his gun; but,
seeing mine already aimed at him, he thought it most prudent to continue
his road, and I saw nothing more of him.

'I ran to the assistance of the fallen woman, whom by her dress, I
discovered to be an Armenian. She was stunned and severely bruised: her
outward veil had already disengaged itself, and in order to give her
air, I immediately pulled away the under veil, which hides the lower
part of the face (common to the Armenians), and, to my extreme surprise,
beheld the most beautiful features that imagination can conceive. The
lovely creature whom I supported in my arms was about fifteen years
of age. Oh! I shall never forget the thrill of love, delight, and
apprehension, which I felt at gazing upon her. I hung over her with all
the intenseness of a first passion; a feeling arose in my heart which
was new to me, and, forgetting everything but the object immediately
before me, I verily believe that I should have been for ever riveted to
that spot had she not opened her eyes and began to show signs of life.
The first words she spoke went to my very soul; but when she discovered
where she was, and in the hands of an utter stranger, she began to cry
and bewail herself in a manner that quite alarmed me. Little by little,
however, she became more composed; and when she found that I was one of
her own nation and religion, that I was, moreover, her deliverer, she
began to look upon me with different feelings: my vanity made me hope
that, perhaps, she was not displeased, at the interest she had awakened
in me. One thing, however, she did not cease to deplore, and to upbraid
me with,--I had withdrawn her veil;--there was no forgiveness for
me--that indulgence which even a husband scarcely ever enjoys, that
distinguishing emblem of chastity and honour, so sacred in the eyes of
an Armenian woman,--every sense of decency had been disregarded by me,
and I stood before her in the