Bey himself received her, and, showing her the
dead body of her son, bade her begone. She
burst forth in a torrent of reproaches and
bitter lamentations, which so enraged him that,
drawing his sword, he killed her too. By his
orders, the corpses were flung into the Nile,
close by, after small black crosses, such as the
Copts wear, had been hung round their necks
to divert suspicion. Next morning the bodies
were found, and were buried in the Coptic burial-
ground by a priest, on the supposition of their
being Christians. The disappearance of Suleiman
caused some wonder, but it was soon forgotten,
and it was no more talked of, until the viceroy's
mother gave a fantasia at the marriage of
some slave-girl in her hareem, when Zeeneb was
summoned with other gazialis, or singing-women.
When it was her turn to sing, she rose, burst
into tears, and, falling at the Validè Khanoum's
feet, declared she could not sing, and implored
justice. The princess stopped the fête, and
inquired what she meant. Zeeneb then related
that Suleiman, her husband, had had an intrigue
with Hassan Bey's wife, had gone one day
against his wish to her hareem, and had never
returned; that his mother had gone to make
inquiry for him, and had never been seen since; and
that she suspected foul play. The Validè
Khanoum promised that justice should be done, and
kept her word; for the viceroy summoned Hassan
Bey before the council, interrogated him, and
sentenced him to banishment at Fazoglou (the
Egyptian Cayenne). Since then, nothing has
been heard of Hassan Bey's wife. Whether she
was killed by his orders or by Ismail Pasha's,
or is still alive, imprisoned in some distant
hareem, is a mystery; but it is improbable that
Hassan Bey would have dared to touch a woman
who came out of the vice-regal hareem.

The second tale is more tragic and touching.
Osman Bey, so we will name him, had two
daughters, Fatmé and Elmass, whose mother
had died young; the Bey had not married again,
and left the two girls very much to the care of
their old nurse. A young Turk, living close by,
had seen Fatmé as a child in the doorway with
the eunuchs, and had observed her pretty face;
he by chance caught a glimpse of her at the
open musharibiëh, and demanded her in
marriage of her father. Osman Bey answered that
he was honoured by Shaheen Bey's proposal; but
although there was nothing to object to in point
of fortune, or so forth, yet he declined to give
him his daughter, as he lived much with infidel
dogs, and was therefore no true Mussulman.
"Piqué au jeu," and deeply smitten with Fatmé's
charms, Shaheen Bey contrived to bribe the old
nurse, who introduced him into the hareem
dressed in woman's clothes. No Turk, it should
be observed, can enter his own hareem when
a lady is there on a visit; and even should he
have strong reason to suspect the visitor to
be a man in disguise, he would never dare
to touch the seeming lady. Woe betide him
should he unveil a woman! and he can, of
course, never be sure of his suspicions. Fatmé,
of the mature age of fifteen, was much delighted
at the impression she had produced, and soon
her love for Shaheen Bey became as strong as
his passion for her; but Elmass grew jealous,
and threatened to tell her father, quoting at the
same time an old Turkish proverb: " Whoever
does not beat his daughter will one day strike
his knees in vain." Fatmé in great alarm took
counsel with her old nurse, who suggested that
Shaheen Bey should bring his younger brother
to amuse Elmass, and that, being then equally
culpable with her elder sister, she would say
nothing. The two brothers paid frequent visits
to the hareem, and all went well for some
time, until Shaheen Bey committed the
extreme imprudence of going into the hareem
undisguised. Coming out, he met Osman Bey,
who recognised him in spite of his efforts to
cover his face; a tremendous struggle ensued,
in the course of which the old father was thrown
down; and Shaheen Bey got away. By dint of
threats, Osman Bey made the eunuchs confess
that they had long suspected the sex of the two
visitors, and by a vigorous application of the
whip he got the whole truth out of the
nurse. In a towering passion he went directly
to the viceroy's secretary, who, more
civilised than the Turks usually are, tried to
persuade the Bey to hush up the whole thing,
and marry the two young couples. Osman Bey
would listen to nothing, and insisted on the
affair being laid before Ismail Pasha, who
condemned the two brothers to be sent to Fazoglou.
The youngest, luckily for himself, died soon after
passing Thebes. The two girls and their nurse
were sentenced to death. Horrified by so severe
a decree, Osman Bey threw himself at the
Effendina's feet, and after many prayers
obtained a commutation of his daughters' sentence
to imprisonment for life among the female
galley-slaves.

To keep order in the numerous hareems, it is
necessary to strike terror into the hearts of
the women who are shut up, without interest,
education, or occupation. Doubtless many
events quite as sad as the foregoing occur
within the high walls of the hareems, of which
we Europeans have no idea.

TABERNACLE LODGE.

THERE are mysteries that may be guessed;
mysteries that may be guessed at; and, finally,
mysteries that will never be guessed at all.
The interpretation of many a dark enigma that,
in its time, moved the hearts of thousands with a
curiosity almost painful, lies buried in the secret-
keeping earth, the component elements
indistinguishable dust. Nothing, perhaps, remains
but the recollection of a sort of confused drama,
played in snatches, out of earshot, by very-
much-in-earnest actors, till the curtain ceased
to rise, and there was only silence, and a taste
of tears.

It was — unless we accept the one solution
which will be offered at the end — a mystery of
this last description that, nearly a century ago,