Margota understood from this that her
charge would steal out alone, or with one of
the slave girls, to satisfy her wish; and with
many grumblings began to get ready, first
putting on a veil as thick as a towel, then an
ample gown of yellow silk, and then a black
cloak like a domino. Afterwards she wanted
to take all off again to don her yellow boots
in greater comfort; but Lisa, who had
disguised herself in five minutes, would not
allow such delay, and calling to Zarifeh, the
slave girl, went down into the court.
Margota followed, grumbling at her
wilfulness; and so they went forth into the
narrow streets, and proceeded in the direction of
the sea.

Instead of going down to the port, always
full of noisy Greek and Arab sailors, they took
a circuitous direction, and reached the water's
edge about a mile outside the town. " It is
a beautiful evening," said Lisa. " Very cold,"
quoth Margota, shivering; and indeed a
sea-breeze was blowing gently in their faces, and
making their silk garments flutter as it passed.
The water, however, far out, seemed as placid
as the blue heavens above; whilst near at hand
small waves, or rather ripples, came creeping
up the sandy beach a few inches, and then
retreating to return again with a rustling sound.
Lisa took off her shoes—she had no stockings
—and ran out to try and catch what seemed
to her floating diamonds—star-fish that were
poising themselves near the surface, now
expanding, now contracting, and ever leaping
out of reach of her hand.

Thus they proceeded slowly until they came
to a ledge of rock that jutted some hundred
feet into the sea. By this time the wind had
freshened a little, and a cloud of spray
occasionally played about the extreme end of the
point. Margota voted for a return, and tried
to force a cough; but Lisa insisted on running
out along the ledge, and away she went. Her
guardian, tired and annoyed, sat down on the
sand to wait for her return with Zarifeh; both
remained looking lazily at the sun, which,
with vastly enlarged circumference, was just
poising itself near the cloudless horizon—a
globe of fire in a sea of light.

The time seemed long, and Margota at last
said to Zarifeh, " My sight is weak, and I do
not descry Lisa on the rock." The slave
girl turned her sharp eyes in that direction,
and rousing from her apathy, cried: " She is
not there! " So, she ran forward, while
Margota, whose boots were full of sand,
followed slowly. The black girl arrived soon,
and standing on the rock, shaded her eyes
from the sun and looked around. "Where is
the child?" cried Margota. "Out on the
sea," was the reply. " She is going away!"

On reaching with much difficulty the
summit of the rock, Margota to her dismay saw
at some distance out on the purple waters,
moving towards the golden wake of the sun, a
boat impelled by a small sail, and thought she
distinguished two persons in it. " Ha!"
exclaimed Zarifeh, with a meaning smile, "Lisa
has a boatman friend, and he is taking her
away. See how the sail swells and bends. But
she is not afraid. She stands up clapping her
hands; her veil is fluttering; and the stranger
is worshipping her face."

Margota could see nothing of all this; but
began wringing her hands, for she knew how
terrible would be the anger of the father when
he heard of what had taken place. The matter,
however, was not so serious as she and Zarifeh
had at first feared. Lisa, on going out along
the rocks, had seen a boat floating near the
other side, with a young man seated in it. In
the East, when once the formal rules of
propriety are disregarded, nature shows itself in
its utmost simplicity. Without meaning any
harm, Lisa called out, " O, young boatman!
this is the first time that I have seen the sea;
and I long to ride for one half-hour on its
bosom. Take me with thee."

Koja—for it was he—looked up listlessly.
He had been sailing about all day,
endeavouring to divert his thoughts from themes
which trouble youth, and when the wind had
fallen, had suffered his boat to float where it
listed, just giving now and then a sweep with
the oar, more from habit than design. Thus
he found himself in that place; and was
brought face to face with Lisa. He complied
mechanically with her request, wondering
who this maiden might be who was thus out
by herself, against all the customs of the
country. His fancy suggested that it might
be a spirit. She stepped lightly on board
when the boat floated up to a projecting ledge;
and when the little mast was shipped, and she
began to feel the tiny craft glide away from
shore, everything was forgotten but the
delight of the moment—Margota, and Zarifeh,
and prudence, and her father's displeasure—
everything was forgotten but the delight of
thus passing along like a shadow over the
purple waters in the light of the setting sun.
Perhaps, too, company so new to her, a
handsome youth, who gazed upon her with a
bewildered look of admiration, and who seemed
silently to entreat her not to notice that the
breeze had unveiled her, and that she, whom
no strange man ever beheld, was pouring love
into his heart—perhaps this was the chief
cause of her forgetfulness. Love at first
sight is common in the East—where beauty
can rarely be marked for a longer space of
time than a falling star takes to shoot across
one quarter of the heavens. Before the shrill
cry of Zarifeh came from the shore, Koja
loved Lisa, and Lisa loved Koja, and the
destiny of the one became indissolubly united
with that of the other.

When Zarifeh called out in the strange
wailing voice common to her people, Lisa
said to her lover, " We must return; and we
must part. This is the flowertime of our lives;
afterwards will come the withering sun of
adversity." Koja took her hand and placed
in it a ring, and said, "If we must part, keep