eliness,
forming a tiny cape as it projects towards the opposite continent
and separates the bay from the Sea of Marmora; its palaces buried in
soft foliage, out of which gleam gilded cupolas and gay balconies
and a myriad of brilliant and glittering domes. And then their eyes
ran down the silvery link between the two seas, where lay fifty
valleys and thirty rivers, while an imperial palace rests on each of
the loveliest spots, the entire length, from the Black Sea to
Marmora.

Such was the beautiful and classic scenery that lay outspread before
the two young persons who had seated themselves on the summit of
Bulgarlu, and if its charms had power over the casual observer, how
much more beautiful did it appear to these two who saw it through
each other's eyes. A closer observation would have shown that one of
the couple was a female, for some purpose seeking to disguise her
sex; he by her side was evidently her lover, to meet whom, she had
hazarded this exposure beyond the city walls at so early an hour.

"Ah, dearest Zillah'," said he who sat by the maiden's side, "I
would that we lived beyond the sea from whence, come those ships
that bear the stars and stripes, for I am told that in America,
religious belief is no bar to the union of heart, as it is in the
Sultan's domains."

"Nor should it be so here, Capt. Selim," she answered, "did our
noble Sultan understand the best good of his people. May the Prophet
open his eyes."

"Though I love thee far better than all else on the earth, Zillah,
still I cannot abjure my Christian faith, and, like a hypocrite,
pretend to be a true follower of Mahomet. At best, we can be but a
short time here on earth, and if I was unfaithful in my holy creed,
how could I hope at last to meet thee, dearest, in paradise?"

"I do love thee but the more dearly," she replied, "for thy
constancy to the Christian faith, and though my father has reared me
in the Mussulman belief, still I am no bigot, as thou knowest."

Zillah was a child in years--scarcely sixteen summers had developed
their power in her slight but beautiful form, and yet it was rounded
so nearly to perfection, so slightly and gracefully full, as to
captivate the most fastidious eye. Like every child of these Turkish
harems, she was beautiful, with feature of faultless regularity, and
eyes that were almost too large and brilliant.

He who was her companion, and whom she had called Capt. Selim, was
the same young officer who