lar beauty, and still, in his mind, there
was a force that contrasted the decay of the body. Sir Philip had never
met with an intellect more powerful and more corrupt. The son of a
notorious usurer, heir to immense wealth, and endowed with the talents
which justify ambition, he had entered upon life burdened with the
odium of his father's name. A duel, to which he had been provoked by
an ungenerous taunt on his origin, but in which a temperament fiercely
vindictive had led him to violate the usages prescribed by the social
laws that regulate such encounters, had subjected him to a trial in
which he escaped conviction either by a flaw in the technicalities of
legal procedure, or by the compassion of the jury;(1) but the moral
presumptions against him were sufficiently strong to set an indelible
brand on his honour, and an insurmountable barrier to the hopes which
his early ambition had conceived. After this trial he had quitted his
country, to return to it no more. Thenceforth, much of his life had been
passed out of sight or conjecture of civilized men in remote regions and
amongst barbarous tribes. At intervals, however, he had reappeared in
European capitals; shunned by and shunning his equals, surrounded by
parasites, amongst whom were always to be found men of considerable
learning, whom avarice or poverty subjected to the influences of
his wealth. For the last nine or ten years he had settled in Persia,
purchased extensive lands, maintained the retinue, and exercised more
than the power of an Oriental prince. Such was the man who, prematurely
worn out, and assured by physicians that he had not six weeks of life,
had come to Aleppo with the gaudy escort of an Eastern satrap, had
caused himself to be borne in his litter to the mud-hut of Haroun the
Sage, and now called on the magician, in whose art was his last hope, to
reprieve him from the--grave.

He turned round to Sir Philip, when the latter entered the room, and
exclaimed in English, "I am here because you are. Your intimacy with
this man was known to me. I took your character as the guarantee of his
own. Tell me that I am no credulous dupe. Tell him that I, Louis Grayle,
am no needy petitioner. Tell me of his wisdom; assure him of my wealth."

Sir Philip looked inquiringly at Haroun, who remained seated on his
carpet in profound silence.

"What is it you ask of Haroun?"

"To live on--to live on! For every year of life he can give me, I will
load these floo