ial capital, and sent "The Dragon" on to find
a suitable inn for the couple of nights which she knew she would be
compelled to spend in the city. "The Dragon" was successful in his
search, and conducted Jasmine and his wife to a comfortable hostelry in
one of the busiest parts of the town. Having refreshed herself with an
excellent dinner, Jasmine was glad to rest from the fatigues and heat
of the day in the cool courtyard into which her room opened. Fortune and
builders had so arranged that a neighbouring house, towering above the
inn, overlooked this restful spot, and one of the higher windows faced
exactly the position which Jasmine had taken up. Such a fact would not,
in ordinary circumstances, have troubled her in the least; but she
had not been sitting long before she began to feel an extraordinary
attraction toward the window. She did her best to look the other way,
but she was often unconsciously impelled to glance up at the lattice.
Once she fancied she saw the curtain move. Determined to verify
her impression, she suddenly raised her eyes, after a prolonged
contemplation of the pavement, and caught a momentary sight of a girl's
face, which as instantly disappeared, but not before Jasmine had been
able to recognise that it was one of exceptional beauty.

"Now, if I were a young man," said she to herself, "I ought to feel my
heart beat at the sight of such loveliness, and it would be my bounden
duty to swear that I would win the owner of it in the teeth of dragons.
But as my manhood goes no deeper than my outer garments, I can afford to
sit here with a quiet pulse and a whole skin."

The next day Jasmine was busily engaged in interviewing some officials
in the interest of her father, and only reached the shelter of her inn
toward evening. As she passed through the courtyard she instinctively
looked up at the window, and again caught a glimpse of the vision
of beauty which she had seen the evening before. "If she only knew,"
thought Jasmine, "that I was such a one as herself, she would be less
anxious to see me, and more likely to avoid me."

While amusing herself at the thought of the fair watcher, the inn
door opened, and a waiting-woman entered carrying a small box. As she
approached Jasmine she bowed low, and with bated breath thus addressed
her:

"May every happiness be yours, sir. My young lady, Miss King, whose
humble dwelling is the adjoining house, seeing that you are living
in solitude, has sent me