age by all
the young aristocracy of Greece. It was at last conjectured that a young
Athenian, named Nerio, the last descendant of the Frank dukes of Athens,
had made some impression on her heart. He was a gay and spirited young
man, who had behaved very bravely when shut up with the troops in the
Acropolis during the last siege of Athens, and he was an intimate friend
of her brother. I had left Athens about this time, and my travels in the
East had prevented my hearing any thing of my friends in Greece for
years.

There is a good deal of society among the Greek families at Athens for a
few weeks before the Carnival. They meet together in the evenings, and
amuse themselves in a very agreeable way. At one of these parties the
discourse fell on the existence of ghosts and spirits; Michael, who was
present, declared that he had no faith in their existence. With what
groans did he assure me his opinion was changed, and conjured me never
to express a doubt on the subject. All the party present exclaimed
against what they called his free-masonry; and even his sister, who was
not given to superstition, begged him to be silent lest he should offend
the _neraiidhes_, who might punish him when he least expected it. He
laughed and ridiculed Phrossa, offering to do any thing to dare those
redoubted spirits which the company could suggest. Nerio, a far greater
sceptic than Michael, suddenly affected great respect for the invisible
world, and by exciting Michael, gradually engaged him, amidst the
laughing of his companions, to undertake to fry a dozen of eggs on the
tomb of a Turkish _santon_, a short distance beyond the Patissia
gate--to leave a pot of charcoal, to be seen next morning, as a proof of
his valour, and return to the party with the dish of eggs.

The expedition was arranged, in spite of the opposition of the ladies;
four or five of the young men promised to follow at a little distance,
unknown to Michael, to be ready lest any thing should happen. Michael
himself, with a _zembil_ containing a pot of charcoal, a few eggs and a
flask of oil in one hand, and a frying-pan and small lantern in the
other, closely enveloped in his dusky capote, proceeded smiling to his
task. The tomb of the Turk consisted of a marble cover taken from some
ancient sarcophagus, and sustained at the corners by four small pillars
of masonry--the top was not higher than an ordinary table, and below the
marble slab there was an empty space between th