s of the _most_ revered of priests. I can only say that Leila
seemed ignorant of the love she permitted. But she had enveloped my
whole being in the poison of sensuality. I could not exist without her,
and I trembled at the thought of losing her.

"Leila seemed absolutely devoid of what we call moral sense. You
must not, however, think that she was either wicked or cruel. On
the contrary, she was gentle and compassionate. Nor was she without
intelligence, but her intelligence was not of the same nature as ours.
She said little, and she refused to reply to any questions that were
asked her about her past. She was ignorant of all that we know. On the
other hand, she knew many things of which we are ignorant.

"Educated in the East, she was familiar with all sorts of Hindoo and
Persian legends, which she would repeat with a certain monotonous
cadence and with an infinite grace. Listening to her as she described
the charming dawn of the world, one would have said she had lived in the
youth of creation. This I once said to her.

"'It is true, I am old,'" she answered smiling.

M. Safrac, still standing in front of the fireplace, had for some time
bent towards me in an attitude of keen attention.

"Continue," he said.

"Often, my father, I questioned Leila about her religion. She replied
that she had none, and that she had no need of one; that her mother and
sisters were the daughters of God, but that they were not bound to Him
by any creed. She wore a medallion about her neck filled with a little
red earth which she said she had piously gathered because of her love
for her mother."

Hardly had I uttered these words when M. Safrac, pale and trembling,
sprang forward, and, seizing my arm, _shouted_:

"She told the truth! I know now. I know who this creature was, Ary! Your
instinct did not deceive you. It was not a woman. Continue, continue, I
implore."

"My father, I have nearly finished. Alas, for Leila's love, I had broken
my solemn plighted troth, I had betrayed my best friend. I had affronted
God. Paul, having heard of Leila's faithlessness, became mad with grief.
He threatened her with death, but she replied gently:

"'Kill me, my friend; I long to die, but I cannot.'

"For six months she gave herself to me; then one morning she said that
she was about to return to Persia, and that she would never see me
again. I wept, I moaned, I raved: 'You have never loved me!'

"'No, my friend,' she replied gently. 'And