ldren that their residence should be fixed in the
outskirts of the city, some delay was experienced in finding a permanent
abode; but at the end of a month they considered themselves fortunate in
engaging a house "infinitely beyond the usual run," in the most healthy
and cheerful quarter, for which the rent demanded by the landlady, (who
bore the picturesque name of Lalah-Zar, or _Bed of Tulips_,) was only L.12
per annum. The arrangement of the apartments was nearly as described by Mr
Lane in his account of the private houses in Cairo--(_Modern Egyptians_,
i. p. 11:) on the ground-floor a court, open to the sky, round which were
the rooms appropriated to the male inhabitants, while a gallery, running
round the first floor, conducted to the hareem, consisting of two
principal apartments, and "three small marble paved rooms, forming _en
suite_ an antechamber, a reclining chamber, and a bath. Above are four
rooms, the principal one opening to a delightful terrace, considerably
above most of the surrounding houses, and on this we enjoy our breakfast
and supper under the clearest sky in the world." But scarcely had the
establishment been removed into this new residence, when it became evident
that something was _not right_. The two maid-servants, Amineh and Zeyneb,
disappeared one after the other without giving warning--strange noises
were heard, which were at first ascribed to the wedding rejoicings of a
neighbour, but an explanation was at last elicited from the doorkeeper.
The house was haunted by an 'Efreet, (ghost or evil spirit,) in
consequence of the murder of a poor tradesman and two slave girls by the
previous owner, who had bequeathed it to Lalah-Zar, with reversion
(perhaps in hope of expiating his crimes) to a mosque. One of the victims
had perished in the bath, and like Praed's[17] Abbess of St Ursula, who

"From evensong to matins,
In gallery and scullery,
And kitchen and refectory,
Still tramp'd it in her pattens,"

the angry spirit stalked at night, apparently in heavy clogs like those
worn in the bath, knocking at the doors, and uttering unearthly sounds,
which allowed no sleep to the inmates. In vain had poor Lalah-Zar
endeavoured to appease this unwelcome intruder, which had driven tenant
after tenant from the house, by distributing bread to the poor at the
tomb of the late owner; the annoyance continued undiminished--pieces of
charcoal were left at the doors, equivalent to the imprecation, "May y