o and fetch another?' 'You must!' said the
girl, resolutely.

"From that hour forth she was the queen in the house. Kariades returned
to the slave-market, but, strange to say, could find no clew to the fate
of Zoe, although he offered double her price to the dealer. It was
believed that she had been bought by a stranger merely passing through
Cairo, and making no stay; for the public crier was employed to go about
the streets and proclaim that whoever would produce the girl should
receive whatever he demanded. All was in vain. Time passed on; and the
active grief of the Silver-Voice sobered down into steadfast melancholy.
She continued living as the daughter or rather as the mistress of the
house, knowing no want but that of her sister, and enchanting every one
with the magnificence of her singing, until she reached the age of
sixteen years.

"One day Kariades said to her, 'My child, I must seek a husband for thee
among the merchants of my people.' But she firmly refused, declaring
that there could be no joy for her unless she knew that her sister was
not living in wretched thralldom in the house of some cruel Turk.

"'But,' said he, 'what if death have overtaken her?'

"'We promised, as we lay folded in each other's arms the night before we
were parted, to be happy or sorrowful together--to laugh at the same
time, to weep at the same time--and if one died, the other was never to
cease grieving. I remember that, as they were dragging Zoe away, she
turned her pale face, all sparkling with tears, toward me, and cried,
_forever_!'

"'Meaning that you were parted forever?'

"'No; but that we were to be faithful to our vow forever. I never shall
forget the agonizing expression of that face. How can I? I see it every
night in my dreams; and painful though it be, I rush into sleep as
eagerly to behold it as if I were going into Paradise. No: I will never
marry while that face threatens to interpose between my husband and me.'

"'Then this vision torments thee?'

"'Ah, father!' and she shuddered, and bent her head.

"It was evident that her mind was weakened by too much contemplation of
one idea.

"Kariades yielded before a will stronger than his own, and nothing more
was said either about marriage or the lost Zoe for nearly a year. At the
end of this time, Silver-Voice appeared before the good old man, and
said, 'Father, give me money; I have thought of a means by which I may
find my sister Zoe.' He looked sadly at