the pages of certain
extraordinary Oriental tales which one time had fallen to his lot to
read.

This supper (which in itself might successfully have tempted the taste
of a Sybarite) was further enhanced by several wines and cordials
which, filling the room with the aroma of the sunlit grapes from which
they had been expressed, stimulated the appetite, which without them
needed no such spur. The lady, who ate but sparingly herself,
possessed herself with patience until Jonathan's hunger had been
appeased. When, however, she beheld that he weakened in his attacks
upon the dessert of sweets with which the banquet was concluded, she
addressed him upon the business which was evidently entirely occupying
her mind.

"Sir," said she, "you are doubtless aware that everyone, whether man
or woman, is possessed of an enemy. In my own case I must inform you
that I have no less than three who, to compass their ends, would
gladly sacrifice my life itself to their purposes. At no time am I
safe from their machinations, nor have I anyone," cried she,
exhibiting a great emotion, "to whom I may turn in my need. It was
this that led me to hope to find in you a friend in my perils, for,
having observed through my agents that you are not only honest in
disposition and strong in person, but that you are possessed of a
considerable degree of energy and determination, I am most desirous of
imposing upon your good nature a trust of which you cannot for a
moment suspect the magnitude. Tell me, are you willing to assist a
poor, defenseless female in her hour of trial?"

"Indeed, friend," quoth Jonathan, with more vivacity than he usually
exhibited, with a lenity to which he had heretofore in his lifetime
been a stranger--being warmed into such a spirit, doubtless, by the
generous wines of which he had partaken--"indeed, friend, if I could
but see thy face it would doubtless make my decision in such a matter
the more favorable, since I am inclined to think, from the little I
can behold of it, that thy appearance must be extremely comely to the
eye."

"Sir," said the lady, exhibiting some amusement at this unexpected
sally, "I am, you must know, as God made me. Sometime, perhaps, I may
be very glad to satisfy your curiosity, and exhibit to you my poor
countenance such as it is. But now"--and here she reverted to her more
serious mood--"I must again put it to you: are you willing to help an
unprotected woman in a period of very great danger to