was rendered somewhat more so from the fact that her mind was
always full of the prospect of our impending doom. Each jom as it
came and went brought us nearer to that awful time, and the hour was
surely coming when we should be taken to the outer square and to the
top of the pyramid of sacrifice.

Once Layelah sat for some time silent and involved in thought. At
length she began to speak to me.

"Almah," said she, "is very different from us. She loves you and you
love her. She ought to give you up. Almah, you ought to give up
Atam-or, since you love him."

Almah looked confused, and made some reply to the effect that she
belonged to a different race with different customs.

"But you should follow our customs. You are one of us now. You can
easily find another who will take him."

Almah threw a piteous glance at me and said nothing.

"I," said Layelah, "will take him."

She spoke these words with an air of magnanimity, as though putting it
in the light of a favor to Almah; but Almah did not make any reply,
and after some silence Layelah spoke of something else.

Not long after we were alone together, and Layelah returned to the
subject. She referred to Almah's want of sympathy with the manners of
the Kosekin, and asserted that she ought to aim after a separation.

"I love her," said I, with great warmth, "and will never give her up."

"But she must give you up; it is the woman's place to take the first
step. I should be willing to take you."

As Layelah said this she looked at me very earnestly, as if anxious to
see how I accepted this offer. It was for me a most embarrassing
moment. I loved Almah, but Layelah also was most agreeable, and I
liked her very much; indeed, so much so that I could not bear to say
anything that might hurt her feelings. Among all the Kosekin there was
not one who was not infinitely inferior to her in my eyes. Still, I
loved Almah, and I told her so again, thinking that in this way I
might repel her without giving offence.

But Layelah was quite ready with her reply.

"If you love Almah," said she, "that is the very reason why you should
marry me."

This made me feel more embarrassed than ever.

I stammered something about my own feelings--the manners and customs
of my race--and the fear that I had of acting against my own
principles. "Besides," I added, "I'm afraid it would make you
unhappy."

"Oh no," said Layelah, briskly; "on the contrary, it would make me
very happy in