men most live and long for, are mine to satiety; and
yet, as I look back and count the joms of my life to see in how many
I have known happiness, I find that in all they amount to just seven!
Oh, Atam-or, what a comment is this on the vanity of human life!"

To this I had no answer ready; but by way of saying something, I
offered to kill him on the spot.

"Nay, nay, Atam-or," said he, with a melancholy smile, "do not tempt
me. Leave me to struggle with temptations by myself, and do not
seek to make me falter in my duty. Yes, Atam-or, you behold in me a
melancholy example of the folly of ambition; for I often think, as
I look down from my lofty eminence, that after all it is as well to
remain content in the humble sphere in which we are placed at birth;
for perhaps, if the truth were known, there is quite as much real
happiness among the rich and splendid--among the Athons and Meleks."

On this occasion I took advantage of the Chief Pauper's softer mood
to pour forth an earnest entreaty for him to save Almah's life, or at
least to mitigate her miseries. Alas! he was inexorable. It was like
an appeal of some mad prisoner to some gentle-hearted governor in
Christendom, entreating him to put some fellow-prisoner to death, or
at least to make his confinement more severe.

The Chief Pauper stared at me in horror.

"You are a strange being, Atam-or," said he, gently. "Sometimes I
think you mad. I can only say that such a request is horrible to me
beyond all words. Such degradation and cruelty to the gentle and
virtuous Almah is outrageous and forever impossible; no, we will not
deprive her of a single one of those blessings which she now enjoys."

I turned away in despair.

At length one jom the Chief Pauper came to me with a smile and said,

"Atam-or, let me congratulate you on this joyous occasion."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You are to have your ceremony of separation."

"Separation!" I repeated.

"Yes," said he. "Almah has given notice to us. She has announced her
intention of giving you up, and separating from you. With us the
woman always gives the announcement in such cases. We have fixed the
ceremony for the third jom from this, and I hope you will not think
it too soon."

This strange intelligence moved me greatly. I did not like the idea of
a ceremony of separation; but behind this there rose the prospect of
seeing Almah, and I felt convinced that she had devised this as a mode
of holding communi