possession of his soul, but it soon gave place to fierce and uncontrollable anger. His eyes flashed fire, and the blood mounted into his forehead. He approached noiselessly, for he had put off his sandals ere ascending the steps, and when within reach of the culprit drew his cimeter. The sound of the weapon in starting from its sheath caused the wretch to turn. Horror was depicted upon his countenance when he found himself in the presence of his angry master; he would have entreated, his lips had parted, but no sound issued from them. The arm of the prince descended quickly, and ere a word was uttered, the shining steel had encircled his neck. The blade was sharp and trenchant, and dexterously applied upon the neck of the unhappy man, for the arm that wielded it was well accustomed to the work, and a wild whirlwind of fierce passions had lent to it a strength even greater than its own. Yet, for a brief moment, the blow seemed to have failed of its effect, and Giafar read in the convulsed and still upright countenance of the slave, all that despair and agony can imprint upon human features. One instant, and the tall form of the hapless wretch stood erect before the flashing eye of his master, the head 2 still resting as in life upon his shoulders; the next, a thrill, a shudder, a fearful spasm, passed across that ghastly face, and the slave fell heavily to the floor; the head then parting from the shoulders, rolled to the very feet of the young prince, while from the shorn and palpitating trunk the dark blood spouted forth in streams, staining

with its crimson those walls which had been so long held sacred to love and pleasure.

"So, Hassan, is it thou?" said the prince, as he looked down upon the face of the dead slave, which he had turned upward with the point of his cimeter. Life had not yet entirely deserted the head, and its features seemed to shrink at the frown of Giafar. This emotion exhausted the last remains of fleeting vitality, and death settled quickly upon the countenance, binding its lineaments in fixed and awful rigidity.

"The drama has commenced," continued the prince. "Where will it end, and what victims are yet to fall? Thou art the first, and justly so. Who can have tempted thee to this? Can gold have bribed thee to betray thy master? I cannot credit it. An hour ago I would have deemed my life as safe with thee as in the hands of a brother. Yet wherefore should I wonder? Am not I a traitor? is not my plighted word broken? is not the pledge to my master forfeited, and am not I trembling even this instant lest vengeance overtake me? Yet have I not some excuse for my fault? If I have wandered, are not the eyes bright and the smiles sweet that have lured me from my path? and by this right hand, I would so wander again to be so repaid."

After this soliloquy, Giafar stooped to wipe his cimeter upon the garments of the dead slave, and having returned it to its sheath, proceeded to search his person for some token which might reveal the author of the treason. In his bosom he found a purse containing a few sequins, together with some

ornaments which appeared to have been the property of a female. Among them he discovered a turquoise ring. As though he had gazed upon a basilisk, his looks for a few moments became fixed upon the jewel. He knew it. It had been his own gift. He started hastily to his feet, his countenance darkened, and biting his lips in anger, he exclaimed,

"In mine own harem! Traitress! but she shall dearly rue her falsehood. By the right hand of the Prophet! she shall pay for it with her life. Yet can she have stooped so low?" he continued, after a momentary silence; "can she have descended thus to the vilest slave's affection? Yes, 'tis plain! 'tis plain! It was not gold that tempted Hassan from his duty. It was not these jewels. No! no! I see it now. I thought a richer treasure, one more enticing, must have lured him to this treachery. I can almost forgive him. But that she, whom I esteemed so innocent and pure, whom I have kindly treated and favoured, nay, almost loved, to dishonour me! and with a slave! She shall die!" he exclaimed, stamping with his foot in fury-" she shall die ere morning dawns!"

Giafar was unable to regain immediately that composure with which he wished to appear before the princess, for his bosom was rent by passion. He descended from the balcony into the garden, and lingering a while in the open air, strove to repress his agitation. When he had acquired some degree of calmness, he again sought the presence of his wife.

CHAPTER IV.

This is above all strangeness!

Lear.

THE princess had been awaiting his return with an anxiety that she could ill subdue; and as his stay was more and more prolonged, her suspense became almost insupportable. When, however, Giafar entered with a pale and frowning countenance, when she saw stains of blood upon his caftan, and upon his hands, her fears overcame her. She had sufficient strength to throw herself into his arms, but the words which she would have framed died away upon her lips. Even in the agitation of his bosom, torn as it was by anger, jealousy, and wounded pride, Giafar found words of comfort for her. "Fear not! dearest life," he said; "all has gone well. The danger is past."

"What means this?" exclaimed Abassa, when she could find words, pointing as she spoke to the blood upon his garments. "What hast thou done?"

"Done!" replied the prince, with difficulty suppressing his anger-"'tis nothing. I have chastised a prying slave-believe me! nothing more."

"I fear thou hast been rash in this, Giafar-thou art over hasty in thine anger."

"Hasty!" replied the prince, setting his teeth

firmly together; "think not so. Had he a hundred lives, they had all been forfeited. Yet I should have punished them together."

"Whom?" inquired Abassa.

"The traitor and the traitress, both by the same ignoble death. 'Twas ill done, to defile my cimeter with blood so base."

"Whom dost thou speak of?" interrupted the princess-comes not this danger from my father?"

"No, the falsehood exists in mine own palace, within the walls of my very harem. I meant not to tell thee of it, for it concerns that which I would myself forget, and which may-yet it cannot-disturb and displease thee." Giafar then related to the princess his discovery of Hassan's treachery, and the token by which he traced the origin of his unfaithfulness to a once favourite inmate of the harem. He spoke with some hesitation of his transient interest in the young Khatoun, but recounted more fully her apparent devotion, innocence, and simplicity; then, with compressed lip and bent brow, he imparted to her his suspicions, that through jealousy and desire of revenge she had betrayed his honour to a slave, and expressed his firm determination to punish her guilt with death, and ended by pointing with his finger significantly to the Tigris.

The countenance of the princess reddened for a moment as she listened, but became deadly pale again, as this mute threat escaped the prince, "Oh! be not guilty of such cruelty !" she exclaimed.