reamed not that it was the last joy it
would ever experience. I put the money in my pocket, and attempted to
get a good look at the stranger; but he wore a mask, through which dark
eyes darted a formidable look on me.

"I thank you, sir, for your kindness," said I. "What now do you require
from me? But I say to you beforehand that it must not be any thing
wrong."

"Your anxiety is needless," replied he, as he placed the mantle on his
shoulders. "I need your services as a doctor; still, not for a living
patient, but for a dead one."

"How can that be?" cried I, in astonishment.

"I came with my sister from a distant country," began the stranger,
beckoning me at the same time to follow him. "I lived with her here at
the house of a friend. My sister had been ill, and yesterday she died
suddenly. Her relatives will bury her to-morrow. But in accordance with
an old custom in our family, all of its members must be buried in the
tomb of their ancestors. Many who died in foreign lands were embalmed
and brought home. I will permit our relatives here to keep my sister's
body, but I must at least take to my father the head of his daughter,
that he may see her once more."

This custom of cutting off the heads of beloved relatives seemed
horrible to me; still I thought best not to offer any objections, lest
the stranger should feel insulted. I therefore told him that I was
acquainted with the method of embalming the dead, and requested him to
conduct me to the deceased. Still I could not refrain from inquiring
why all this was to be conducted so secretly and at night? He answered
that his relatives, holding his views on this subject to be wicked,
would prevent him from carrying them out by day; but when the head was
once removed, they could say little more on the subject. Of course he
might have brought me the head himself but a natural feeling held him
back from removing it.

In the meantime we had reached a large and magnificent house, which my
companion pointed out to me as the end of our night's pilgrimage. We
passed by the principal gate, entering by a smaller one, which the
stranger closed carefully after him, and ascended a spiral staircase in
the darkness. It led into a dimly lighted corridor, from which he
gained a room which was lighted by a lamp suspended from the ceiling.

In this room was a bed, on which the body lay. The stranger turned his
head away, apparently making an attempt to hide his tears. He pointed