e no little resemblance to the great original of Eden, in
a climate that may well be described as heavenly, with a view before him
of similar gardens which swept in all their rich luxuriance over the
slopes in front of him until they terminated on the edge of the blue and
sparkling sea.

While seated there, lost in reverie, he was startled by the sound of
approaching footsteps--very different indeed from the heavy tread of his
friend Peter. A guilty conscience made him glance round for a way of
escape, but there was only one entrance to the bower. While he was
hesitating how to act, an opening in the foliage afforded him a passing
glimpse of a female in the rich dress of a Moorish lady.

He was greatly surprised, being well aware of the jealousy with which
Mohammedans guard their ladies from the eyes of men. The explanation
might lie in this, that Ben-Ahmed, being eccentric in this as in most
other matters, afforded the inmates of his harem unusual liberty.
Before he had time to think much on the subject, however, the lady in
question turned into the arbour and stood before him.

If the word "thunderstruck" did justice in any degree to the state of
mind which we wish to describe we would gladly use it, but it does not.
Every language, from Gaelic to Chinese, equally fails to furnish an
adequate word. We therefore avoid the impossible and proceed, merely
remarking that from the expression of both faces it was evident that
each had met with a crushing surprise.

We can understand somewhat the midshipman's state of mind, for the being
who stood before him was--was--well, we are again nonplussed! Suffice
it to say that she was a girl of fifteen summers--the other forty-five
seasons being, of course, understood. Beauty of feature and complexion
she had, but these were lost, as it were, and almost forgotten, in her
beauty of expression--tenderness, gentleness, urbanity, simplicity, and
benignity in a state of fusion! Now, do not run away, reader, with the
idea of an Eastern princess, with gorgeous black eyes, raven hair, tall
and graceful form, etcetera! This apparition was fair, blue-eyed,
golden-haired, girlish, sylph-like. She was graceful, indeed, as the
gazelle, but not tall, and with an air of suavity that was irresistibly
attractive. She had a "good" face as well as a beautiful, and there was
a slightly pitiful look about the eyebrows that seemed to want smoothing
away.

How earnestly George Foster desir