Arethusa

n said. It was indeed not at all likely that a man of the Venetian's temper and

been dyed; its teeth were twenty-eight in number, the wisdom teeth not having yet appeared, and Rustan would wager that Messer Carlo could not find a single pearl in all Constantinople to match one of those eight-and-twenty; its ankles were so finely turned that a woman could span them with her thu

st was never the land of simple, trusting faith between man and man. He would even have wagered that Rustan had nothing in his prison of the sort Pesaro wanted, and at the moment of the interview he would have been quite right. But he was tolerably sure that if he

that night of the beauties he intended to see before at last deciding upon the purchase. Doubtless, there were young Veneti

allowed himself to be betrothed to a sleepy Greek heiress who had conceived an indolent but tenacious admiration for his fighting qualities; but it had pleased the fates that she should die before the wedding-day of a complication of the spleen superinduced by a surfeit of rose-leaf jam and h

out a sigh. Yet it might be thought that although he did not fall in love he might now and then spend careless hours with the free and frail, for he made no profession or show of austerity, and whatever he really might be, he did not aspire to be called a saint. He had been a wild student in Padua once, and had drunk deep and played high, until he had suddenly grown tired of stupid dissipation and had left the dice to play the more exciting game of life

then was that of risking his life recklessly whenever he fancied that a cause was worth it; but this he did not look upon as madness, still less as weakness, and there w

n. Indeed, he had quite forgotten it, till he saw Omobono folding Pesaro's letter in his neat way in order to file it for reference. As the secretary knew what it contained, and had been actively employed in the matter to which it referred, he had thought there could be no great sin of curiosity in reading it carefully while his master was at his toilet. It would have been wrong, he thought, to find out what was in it before Zeno himself had broken

ithout any other attendant or companion. Omobono looked out of the window and watched him as he mounted, innocently envying him his youth and strength. The greatest fighting man of his century moved as such men generally do, without haste and without effort, nev

, which were favourites with the rich Greeks of Constantinople. He was quietly dressed, too; and his bare-legged runner, who cleared the way for him when the streets were crowded, wore a plain brown tunic and

the defence critically, and wondered just how great an inducement would make him take the trouble of getting over it, at the risk of cutting his hands and tearing his clothes. Before any one answered his footman's knock, he had decided that it would be an easy matter to bring his well-broken horse close to the

od beside him. Still bending low he made way and with a wide gesture invited his visitor to enter. But Zeno had no intention

up his face sideways and smiled cunnin

nswered. 'Where is the letter? Ever

aughed Zeno. 'I expected to come at lea

n expression of

Moreover, your Highness would not have been satisfied after all, and would have come at last to the house of your servant Rustan Karaboghazji, surnamed the Truth-speaker and the Just, a

carelessly,

t is not as I say, I entreat your High Mightiness to kick his humble servant from this door to the Seven To

,' observed Zeno. 'Open the

y as he led the way. 'Rustan the Truth-speaker,' he continued, as if t

t his stock of slaves. In an inner apartment they met the negress, resplendent in scarlet velvet and a heavy gold chain, her red hair combed straight out from her head. When Zeno app

o jest with him, by showing him the terrific negress in her finery as the incom

his wife in a caressing tone,

ied the negress, keeping her ha

t hand.' He turned to her. 'Sweet Dove,' he said, 'pray le

rprised at thi

My business is buying and selling; it is her part to keep the merchand

he could not help noting her strong square shoulders, and the swing of her powerful hips, and her firm tread, and he conceived the id

sun, and had half risen as the door opened, her hand resting on one of the arms of the seat. Her eyes met Zeno's, and for a moment no one moved. If Rustan had been present he would have raised the pric

r seat again as she turned her eyes from Zeno's face, forgetting that she had prom

nt as she sat down dispelled his lingering uncertainty. He had entered the room carelessly, still wearing his cap. As Zo? resumed her seat, he took it from hi

ntly, standing a little be

she said, '

covers his head for coo

harp glance and t

slave,' he said, coming a little ne

uld not me

aid. 'I am a slave and any on

rhaps, or in some raid of enemies on enemies. Tell me who you are and how it happened

did not like the turn affairs were taking, and though she had never heard of C

my husband would risk the punishment of a rob

'Only a slave and nothing else. Th

if to shut out something or to drive it away

in a lower tone. 'Do not be

eated, shaking her head. 'But you a

man, he argued that if she were very unhappy she would, of course, shed copious tears the live-long day, like the captive maidens in the tales

the buying and selling of humanity, now came forward and

ved. 'Your Gorgeousness will see at

in her hand, and the girl s

Zeno said sharply

w me,' Zo? answered for he

in a lower tone. 'Do not be

ness much longer,' replie

solution of the problem, as if it were the hardest of all. What should he do with a young and lovely girl in his house, where there were no women, where no woman ever set foot? She would need female attendants, and of course he could buy them for her, or hire them; but he thought with strong distaste of such an establishment as all this would force upon him. Besides, he could not keep the girl for ever, merely because he suspected that she was born a lady and was the victim of some great injustice. She denied that she was. What if she should persist in her denial after he had bought her to set her free? What if she really had no family, no home, no one to whom she could go, or wished to go? He would not turn her out, then; he would not sell her again, and he shoul

n in a shorter time than it has taken me to describe his thoughts, he tur

n he saw her face

hurriedly, and he made for the door in evident anxiety

nto the next room, very much surpr

, overtaking him with difficulty, bu

le with Rust

as she knew, the gold was being counted out that was the price of her young life. In an hour she would be taken away in a closed litter,

d she felt that his blood was gentle, like her own. But that was all, though she was already his property. It was dreadful; or, at le

not judge at a first meeting with a man whether they can gain power over him or not. Moreover, this strength is greatest with men who are most pr