"Ah! excellency, you are too generous, too kind-hearted, to detain
me here against my wishes. I know this by the gentle and considerate
care I have already received at your hands."

"You mistake, you mistake," repeated the Sultan, earnestly; "that
was because I loved you so well, Komel. I saw in you, not only the
transparent beauty with which Heaven has endowed your race, but a
soul and intelligence that won my heart. Your infirmity, now so
suddenly removed, demanded for you every consideration, but now
aroused by the opposition that circumstances seem to have woven
around me, other feelings are fast becoming rooted in my breast.
Shall such as I am be thwarted in my wish by an humble mountaineer
of the Caucasus?"

As the monarch spoke thus he laid aside the mouth-piece of his pipe,
and leaning upon his elbow amid the yielding cushions, covered his
face with his hand and seemed lost in silent meditation.

The beautiful slave regarded him intently while he remained in this
position. His uniform kindness to her for so long a period had led
her to regard him with no slight attachment, but she knew that Aphiz
was at that very moment under close confinement within the palace
walls for his faithfulness in following and seeking her, and as she
was wholly his before, this but endeared him more earnestly to her.
All the splendor that Sultan Mahomet could offer her, the rank and
wealth, were all counted as naught in comparison with the tender
affection which had grown up with her from childhood.

She awaited in silence the monarch's mood, but resolved to appeal to
his mercy, and beg him to release both Aphiz and herself, that they