glittering halls.'

'Who waits without there?'

'Caleb.'

'Caleb!'

'My lord.'

'Go tell my uncle that I will presently join the banquet. Leave me a
moment, Miriam. Nay, dry those tears.'

'Oh, Alroy! they are not tears of sorrow.'

'God be with thee! Thou art the charm and consolation of my life.
Farewell! farewell!

'I do observe the influence of women very potent over me. 'Tis not
of such stuff that they make heroes. I know not love, save that pure
affection which doth subsist between me and this girl, an orphan and my
sister. We are so alike, that when, last Passover, in mimicry she twined
my turban round her head, our uncle called her David.

'The daughters of my tribe, they please me not, though they are passing
fair. Were our sons as brave as they are beautiful, we still might dance
on Sion. Yet have I often thought that, could I pillow this moody brow
upon some snowy bosom that were my own, and dwell in the wilderness,
far from the sight and ken of man, and all the care and toil and
wretchedness that groan and sweat and sigh about me, I might haply lose
this deep sensation of overwhelming woe that broods upon by being. No
matter! Life is but a dream, and mine must be a dull one.'

Without the gates of Hamadan, a short distance from the city, was
an enclosed piece of elevated ground, in the centre of which rose an
ancient sepulchre, the traditionary tomb of Esther and Mordecai.[3] This
solemn and solitary spot was an accustomed haunt of Alroy, and thither,
escaping from the banquet, about an hour before sunset, he this day
repaired.

As he unlocked the massy gate of the burial-place, he heard behind him
the trampling of a horse; and before he had again secured the entrance,
some one shouted to him.

He looked up, and recognised the youthful and voluptuous Alschiroch, the
governor of the city, and brother of the sultan of the Seljuks. He
was attended only by a single running footman, an Arab, a detested
favourite, and notorious minister of his pleasures.

'Dog!' exclaimed the irritated Alschiroch, 'art thou deaf, or obstinate,
or both? Are we to call twice to our slaves? Unlock that gate!'
'Wherefore?' inquired Alroy.

'Wherefore! By the holy Prophet, he bandies questions with us! Unlock
that gate, or thy head shall answer for it!'

'Who art thou,' inquired Alroy, 'whose voice is so loud? Art thou some
holiday Turk, who hath transgressed the orders of thy Prophet, and
drunken aught but water?