tes after the door-keeper again appeared; all eyes were fixed on
the door, and I," said Beauchamp, "shared the general expectation and
anxiety. Behind the door-keeper walked a woman enveloped in a large
veil, which completely concealed her. It was evident, from her figure
and the perfumes she had about her, that she was young and fastidious in
her tastes, but that was all. The president requested her to throw
aside her veil, and it was then seen that she was dressed in the Grecian
costume, and was remarkably beautiful."

"Ah," said Albert, "it was she."

"Who?"

"Haidee."

"Who told you that?"

"Alas, I guess it. But go on, Beauchamp. You see I am calm and strong.
And yet we must be drawing near the disclosure."

"M. de Morcerf," continued Beauchamp, "looked at this woman with
surprise and terror. Her lips were about to pass his sentence of life or
death. To the committee the adventure was so extraordinary and curious,
that the interest they had felt for the count's safety became now quite
a secondary matter. The president himself advanced to place a seat for
the young lady; but she declined availing herself of it. As for the
count, he had fallen on his chair; it was evident that his legs refused
to support him.

"'Madame,' said the president, 'you have engaged to furnish the
committee with some important particulars respecting the affair
at Yanina, and you have stated that you were an eyewitness of the
event.'--'I was, indeed,' said the stranger, with a tone of sweet
melancholy, and with the sonorous voice peculiar to the East.

"'But allow me to say that you must have been very young then.'--'I was
four years old; but as those events deeply concerned me, not a single
detail has escaped my memory.'--'In what manner could these events
concern you? and who are you, that they should have made so deep an
impression on you?'--'On them depended my father's life,' replied she.
'I am Haidee, the daughter of Ali Tepelini, pasha of Yanina, and of
Vasiliki, his beloved wife.'

"The blush of mingled pride and modesty which suddenly suffused the
cheeks of the young woman, the brilliancy of her eye, and her highly
important communication, produced an indescribable effect on the
assembly. As for the count, he could not have been more overwhelmed if
a thunderbolt had fallen at his feet and opened an immense gulf before
him. 'Madame,' replied the president, bowing with profound respect,
'allow me to ask one question; it sha