a speedy and grateful termination
to my fondest hopes." He then added with conceited vanity,--"And I
marvel how else an affair of this nature could terminate? Theodora was a
lovely woman, a woman in affliction; but she was a woman still, and
could not be expected to continue eternally in the same mind. Constancy
in any thing is against the very nature of woman; perseverance is a foe
she could never successfully withstand."

To this sapient observation the renegade made no reply. A glance of
scorn was the only sign by which he evinced his value of the chiefs
opinion. He allowed him a free range to his hopes, and when the vain
Moor had satisfied himself with aerial happiness, the renegade in a
bitter bantering tone wished him joy of his conquest, and hurried away
to certify upon what basis were founded the expectations of the Moor.

Caneri retired to his couch, when to his waking dreams succeeded those
of night, which though not wilder in their nature, were still by their
flattering prospects the source of unspeakable satisfaction. He rose,
therefore, the next morning if possible in greater exhilaration of
spirits than before, and immediately sent for his confidant the
renegade; but his confidant came not, and Caneri was in absolute
necessity of a person to whom he might communicate his hopes and his
plans. Malique was accordingly ordered into his presence.

"Malique, where is Alagraf?" inquired the chief.

"Alagraf!" exclaimed the astonished Malique; and he remained for some
time as if struck by a thunderbolt.

"Alagraf!"

"Alagraf! yes Alagraf," repeated impatiently Caneri. "What means this
confusion? speak. Where is the renegade?"

"The renegade is gone," answered the trembling Malique.

"Gone!" echoed Caneri with superadded agitation.--"Gone! where? when? to
what purpose?--gone! without my knowledge!"

"The purport of his mission," replied Malique, "I know not; nor was I
made acquainted with his departure until this morning. The guards of the
night allowed him to pass. Possessed as Alagraf was of your secrets and
unbounded confidence, it was naturally supposed that he acted under your
instructions: his egress from the town therefore caused neither surprise
nor alarm."

"My instructions!" cried fiercely the chief; "I gave him no
instructions; it is an act of insubordination. That man was ever too
proud; his accursed Christian blood still remained in his veins, when
his mouth pronounced a recantation of his