m lay a human form, the long, yellow hair still
clinging to the head. It was more a mummy than a skeleton. Around, upon
the bed, lay mouldering fragments of the once white sheets that covered
it. On the fingers of the left hand glistened two rings which drew our
attention. One held a diamond of great price, the other was composed of
sapphires and diamonds most curiously arranged. We stood a moment in
silence, gazing sadly upon the figure.

"Poor woman," I said, "left thus to die alone."

"It is more probable," said Nofuhl, "she was already dead, and her
friends, departing perhaps in haste, were unable to burn the body."

"Did they burn their dead?" I asked. "In my history 't was writ they
buried them in the earth like potatoes, and left them to rot."

And Nofuhl answered: "At one time it was so, but later on, as they
became more civilized, the custom was abandoned."

"Is it possible?" I asked, "that this woman has been lying here almost
a thousand years and yet so well preserved?"

"I, also, am surprised," said Nofuhl. "I can only account for it by
the extreme dryness of the air in absorbing the juices of the body and
retarding decay."

[Illustration: In the Mouldering Chamber]

Then lifting tenderly in his hand some of the yellow hair, he said:

"She was probably very young, scarce twenty."

"Were their women fair?" I asked.

"They were beautiful," he answered; "with graceful forms and lovely
faces; a pleasure to the eye; also were they gay and sprightly with
much animation."

Thereupon cried Lev-el-Hedyd:

"Here are the first words thou hast uttered, O Nofuhl, that cause me
to regret the extinction of this people! There is ever a place in my
heart for a blushing maiden!"

"Then let thy grief be of short life," responded Nofuhl, "for
Mehrikan damsels were not of that description. Blushing was an art
they practised little. The shyness thou so lovest in a Persian maiden
was to them an unknown thing. Our shrinking daughters bear no
resemblance to these Western products. They strode the public streets
with roving eyes and unblushing faces, holding free converse with men
as with women, bold of speech and free of manner, going and coming as
it pleased them best. They knew much of the world, managed their own
affairs, and devised their own marriages, often changing their minds
and marrying another than the betrothed."

"Bismillah! And men could love these things?" exclaimed Lev-el-Hedyd
with much feeling.