"What was done with the murderers?" asked Mohammed, fiercely. "Were
they punished, executed?"

She shook her head. "There was no one there to witness the deed,
and, when your father's successor was appointed, they had probably
long since crossed the sea. Their names were not even known, and
your father's blood is unavenged to this day."

"Mother!" exclaimed the boy, fiercely, "I will avenge my father! I
swear it!"

"Poor boy! You avenge him? You do not even know who his murderers
were," said she, gently.

"I will have vengeance on the whole world!" exclaimed the boy. "All
my enemies shall suffer for his death! What did you do, mother, when
you beheld my father's body? You laid your hand on his eyes, and
swore to avenge him, did you not?"

"No, my son. I sank down by your father's body, kissed his hand, and
took leave of him whom alone I had loved. But yet, I did register
one oath! I swore that henceforth I would love nothing but the child
I bore under my heart--his child. I also swore that the veil with
which he had covered my face should never be lifted by another man.
Many a one longed to take Ibrahim Aga's widow to wife, for,
talkative as love and happiness always are, he had told them of his
love and his happiness, and they thought that they, too, might
obtain this through me. But I rejected them, though I was poor and
possessed nothing but this hut to shelter myself and my child, as