house, he found Selima ; clothed in the
very commonest style, engaged in making
divan cushions. She was a marvellously
beautiful girl, and the heart of the merchant
at once began to yearn towards her : yet he
endeavoured to restrain himself, and said,
" This beautiful thing is not for me." But the
woman cried out, " Selinia, wilt thou consent
to love this old man ? " The girl gazed in his
face awhile, and then, folding her hands across
her bosom, said, " Yes ; for there is goodness
in his countenance." Fadlallah wept with
joy ; and, returning to the city, announced his
approaching marriage to his friends.
According to custom, they expressed civil
surprise to his face ; but, when his back was
turned, they whispered that he was an old
fool, and had been the dupe of a she-
adventurer.

The marriage took place with ceremonies
of royal magnificence; and Selima, who
passed unmoved from extreme poverty to
abundant riches, seemed to merit the position
of the greatest lady in Beyrout. Never
was woman more prudent than she. No one
ever knew her previous history, nor that of
her mother. Some said that a life of misery,
perhaps of shame, was before them, when this
unexpected marriage took place. Selima's
gratitude to Fadlallah was unbounded; and
out of gratitude grew love. The merchant
daily offered up thanks for the bright diamond
which had come to shine in his house.

In due time a child was born; a boy
lively as his mother; and they named him
Halil. With what joy he was received,
what festivities announced the glad intelligence
to the town, may easily be imagined.
Selima and Fadlallah resolved to devote
themselves to his education, and determined
that he should be the most accomplished
youth of Bar-er-Shâm. But a long succession
of children followed, each more beautiful than
the former — some boys, some girls; and every
newcomer was received with additional
delight and still grander ceremonies; so that
the people began to say, " Is this a race of
sovereigns ? "

Now, Halil grew up to the age of twelve—
still a charming lad; but the parents, always
fully occupied by the last arrival, had not
carried out their project of education. He
was as wild and untamed as a colt, and spent
more of his time in the street than in the
company of his mother; who, by degrees, began to
look upon him with a kind of calm friendship
due to strangers. Fadlallah, as he took
his accustomed walk with his merchant friends,
used from time to time to encounter a ragged
boy fighting in the streets with the sons of
the Jew butcher; but his eyes beginning to
grow dim, he often passed without
recognising him. One day, however, Halil, breathless
and bleeding, ran up and took refuge
beneath the skirts of his mantle from a crowd
of savage urchins. Fadlallah was amazed, and
said, " O, my son — for I think thou art my
son—what evil hath befallen thee, and wherefore
do I see thee in this state ? " The boy,
whose voice was choked by sobs, looked up
into his face, and said, " Father, I am the son
of the richest merchant of Beyrout, and
behold, there is no one so little cared for as I."

Fadlallah's conscience smote him, and he
wiped the boy's bleeding , face with the corner
of his silk caftan, and blessed him; and, taking
him by the hand, led him away. The
merchants smiled benignly one to the other, and,
pointing with their thumbs, said, " We have
seen the model youth!"

Whilst they laughed and sneered, Fadlallah,
humbled, yet resolved, returned to his house,
leading the ragged Halil, and entered his
wife's chamber. Selima was playing with her
seventh child, and teaching it to lisp the word
"Baba" — about the amount of education
which she had found time to bestow on each
of her offspring. When she saw the plight of
her eldest son she frowned, and was about to
scold him; but Fadlallah interposed, and said,
"Wife, speak no harsh words. We have not
done our duty by this boy. May God forgive
us; but we have looked on those children
that have bloomed from thee, more as
playthings than as deposits for which we are
responsible. Halil has become a wild out-of-
doors lad, doubting with some reason of our
love. It is too late to bring him back to the
destiny we had dreamt of; but he must not
be left to grow up thus uncared for. I have a
brother established in Bassora; to him will I
send the lad to learn the arts of commerce,
and to exercise himself in adventure, as his
father did before him. Bestow thy blessing
upon him, Selima (here the good old man's
voice trembled), and may God in his mercy
forgive both thee and me for the neglect
which has made this parting necessary. I
shall know that I am forgiven if, before I go
down into the tomb, my son return a wise
and sober man; not unmindful that we gave
him life, and forgetting that, until now, we
have given him little else."

Selima laid her seventh child in its cradle
of carved wood, and drew Halil to her bosom;
and Fadlallah knew that she loved him still,
because she kissed his face, regardless of the
blood and dirt that stained it. She then
washed him and dressed him, and gave him a
purse of gold, and handed him over to his
father; who had resolved to send him off by
the caravan that started that very afternoon.
Halil, surprised and made happy by unwonted
caresses, was yet delighted at the idea of
beginning an adventurous life; and went
away, manfully stifling his sobs, and
endeavouring to assume the grave deportment of a
merchant. Selima shed a few tears, and then,
attracted by a crow and a chuckle from the
cradle, began to tickle the infant's soft double
chin, and went on with her interrupted lesson,
' Baba, Baba!"

Halil started on his journey, and having
passed through the Valley of Robbers, the