nce everywhere. So! 'tis well. These saloons I
have clearly passed through before. Could I but reach the private portal
by the river side, unseen or undetected! 'Tis not impossible. Here are
many dresses. I will disguise myself. Trusty scimitar, thou hast done
thy duty, rest awhile. 'Tis lucky I am beardless. I shall make a capital
eunuch. So! a handsome robe. One dagger for a pinch, slippers powdered
with pearls,66 a caftan of cloth of gold, a Cachemire girdle, and a
pelisse of sables. One glance at the mirror. Good! I begin to look like
the conqueror of the world!'

It was twilight: a small and solitary boat, with a single rower, glided
along the Tigris, and stopped at the archway of a house that descended
into the river. It stopped, the boatman withdrew the curtains, and his
single passenger disembarked, and ascended the stairs of the archway.

The stranger reached the landing-place, and unfastening a golden grate,
proceeded along a gallery, and entered a beautiful saloon of white and
green marble, opening into gardens. No one was in the apartment; the
stranger threw himself upon a silver couch, placed at the side of
a fountain that rose from the centre of the chamber and fell into a
porphyry basin. A soft whisper roused the stranger from his reverie, a
soft whisper that faintly uttered the word 'Honain.' The stranger looked
up, a figure, enveloped in a veil, that touched the ground, advanced
from the gardens.

'Honain!' said the advancing figure, throwing off the veil. 'Honain! Ah!
the beautiful mute returned!'

A woman more lovely than the rosy morn, beheld an unexpected guest. They
stood, the lady and the stranger, gazing on each other in silence.
A man, with a light, entered the extremity of the hall. Carefully
he closed the portal, slowly he advanced, with a subdued step; he
approached the lady and the stranger.

'Alroy!' said the astonished Honain, the light fell from his hand.

'Alroy!' exclaimed the lady, with a bewildered air: she turned pale, and
leant against a column.

'Daughter of the caliph!' said the leader of Israel; and he advanced,
and fell upon his knee, and stole her passive hand. 'I am indeed that
Alroy to whom destiny has delivered the empire of thy sire; but the
Princess Schirene can have nothing to fear from one who values above
all his victories this memorial of her goodwill;' and he took from his
breast a rosary of pearls and emeralds, and, rising slowly, left it in
her trembling han