staring, I discovered that,
though the letters were Armenian, the words were English; in about ten
minutes I had contrived to decipher the sense of the letter; it ran
somewhat in this style:--

'MY DEAR FRIEND--The words which you uttered in our last conversation
have made a profound impression upon me; I have thought them over day
and night, and have come to the conclusion that it is my bounden duty
to attack the Persians. When these lines are delivered to you, I
shall be on the route to Ararat. A mercantile speculation will be to
the world the ostensible motive of my journey, and it is singular
enough that one which offers considerable prospect of advantage has
just presented itself on the confines of Persia. Think not, however,
that motives of lucre would have been sufficiently powerful to tempt
me to the East at the present moment. I may speculate, it is true,
but I should scarcely have undertaken the journey but for your
pungent words inciting me to attack the Persians. Doubt not that I
will attack them on the first opportunity. I thank you heartily for
putting me in mind of my duty. I have hitherto, to use your own
words, been too fond of money-getting, like all my countrymen. I am
much indebted to you; farewell! and may every prosperity await you.'

For some time after I had deciphered the epistle, I stood as if rooted to
the floor. I felt stunned--my last hope was gone; presently a feeling
arose in my mind--a feeling of self-reproach. Whom had I to blame but
myself for the departure of the Armenian? Would he have ever thought of
attacking the Persians had I not put the idea into his head? he had told
me in his epistle that he was indebted to me for the idea. But for that,
he might at the present moment have been in London, increasing his
fortune by his usual methods, and I might be commencing under his
auspices the translation of the Haik Esop, with the promise, no doubt, of
a considerable remuneration for my trouble; or I might be taking a seat
opposite the Moldavian clerk, and imbibing the first rudiments of doing
business after the Armenian fashion, with the comfortable hope of
realising, in a short time, a fortune of three or four hundred thousand
pounds; but the Armenian was now gone, and farewell to the fine hopes I
had founded upon him the day before. What was I to do? I looked wildly
around, till my eyes rested on the Moldavia