"Ah, ah!" said the kind old soul; "I know your business as well as if you had told it to me; and you need not have huffed me off so, for I can keep a secret." Then, rubbing her hands, and laughing, "We shall be grand folks in our old days I know we shall, for I have dreamt so three times." So saying, she trotted round to the end of the cottage, and pointed out to the horseman her husband in the distance; who, with Narina and his dog at his side, was seated upon the bank of a little brook under a palm tree. Away rode the messenger, and Sherzaran returned to her household work, and the nursing of her thoughts of their future greatness.

"Ben Hafiz," said the courier, after leaping the brook, and coming close to him, "you are commanded by the great king who arrived here yesterday, my master, to go to the court of the King of Persia, and to take with you the child that was standing at your side when his majesty passed under the cliffs upon leaving the sea-shore." "Who is this great king?" replied Ben Hafiz; "and what can he want with a poor shepherd and his child?" "All this you will hear when you come into my lord's presence." "But how are my poor legs to carry me to such a distance, when it would take some hours to ride there?" "That labour will be spared you; for, in about an hour from this time, a chariot from the king, your master, will come to your cottage to convey you both before my lord. You must, therefore, return home and prepare for your journey." So saying, the messenger turned his horse's head, and rode back the way he came.

Ben Hafiz and his little companion now bent their steps towards the cottage, hand in hand, for the purpose of being properly equipped, and in attendance when the royal chariot

should come to carry them before the stranger-king. The old shepherd had never been without the ring and the dagger; and, as he had more than once found the benefit of attending to the instructions he had received from the heavenly visiter, he still determined that they should accompany him. He also resolved that Narina, in case of danger, should go in her silver-feathered shoes. "I will go in them, dear Ben Hafiz,” said she, "to please you, but I shall not want them." The confident tone of this speech, so different from any he had ever before heard from his darling, surprised the old man, and set him thinking.

The grand carriage now came for them, and the kind old Sherzaran bustled about the doorway, now and then humming a low tune; and then trotting in-doors to hasten the travellers; at one time clapping her hands, when she thought of what she hoped would come to pass; and at another, twitching some part of her dress to make it sit with propriety, as she appeared before the king's coachman and the royal attendants; and, lastly, as they drove from the door, following them with her blessings.

In due time the couple arrived at the gates of the palace, where a page was prepared to receive them, who led them through a number of galleries and apartments till they arrived at a particular one, when he took his leave, requesting them to remain till his lord should come. He had scarcely closed the door, when another on the opposite side of the room was opened, and the same tall, handsome, and sorrowful figure appeared before them whom they had observed, and who had so particularly noticed them, the day before. Immediately upon his entrance he fixed his eyes upon the child, and sud

denly walked towards the window, where he remained for a considerable time in silence. At length, taking a deep breath, he turned round, and walking towards the two, he said," Ben Hafiz, I have already inquired respecting you, and have learned that this child is not your own, but that you rescued her from peril, and with your good wife have protected and fostered her. Is it not so? Did you not also receive with her certain rare and precious articles that have been especially serviceable to you in cases where danger threatened the babe? Confess to me freely."

"Great king! and my lord," said the unflinching old shepherd, as he looked steadily in his face, "I also have heard much of you, and (pardon the boldness of an old man who has bound himself to perform a sacred duty), before I make known the whole history of this dear babe, I must be assured that your thoughts concerning one whom I shall not name, are altered, and that you are prepared both to receive and cherish her memory. When I feel that to be the case, I shall be able to set your heart at rest, and render you in all respects the father of your child. I am now her father; I have been her father; and, again I say, great king, pardon the boldness of one so humble in life compared with him to whom he is thus talking, her father I shall remain, till I discover one more worthy than myself to claim that title. I speak it not in boast, my lord, but I am so armed in honesty, resolution, and powerful weapons entrusted to me for her defence, that I fear no human attempts to force her from my protection."

"Excellent old man!" said the king; "would that I had had such a friend at my side when my mind was poisoned against her of whom I was unworthy, and whom I now believe