"I know not," she replied, "whether you are he or not; but tell me, did you sit at the Tumbolee's shop this morning for some time, smoking a hooka?" "I did, my pretty maiden," said I; "and what of that? there is nothing so unusual in it as to attract attention." "Ah, no!" said the girl archly; "but one saw you who wishes to see you again; and if you will now follow me, I will guide you." "And who may this person be?" I asked; "and what can be his or her business with a traveller?" "Your first question I may not answer," said the girl; "and as to the second, I am ignorant; but, by your soul, follow me, for the matter is urgent; and I have most express commands to bring you if I possibly can." "I follow you," said I; "lead on." "Then keep behind me at some distance," she said; "and when you see me enter the house, step boldly in after me, as if you were the master." I followed her. But ah! Sahib, observe the power of destiny. I might have sat in my tent, and denied myself to the girl, who, something told me, had come to seek me when I first saw her approach. I might, when I did advance to meet her, have passed on indifferently; and, even when she spoke to me, I might have denied that I was the person she was sent after, or I might have refused to accompany her; but destiny impelled me on, nay, it led me by the nose after a slave-girl, to plunge into an adventure I fain would have avoided, and which my heart told me must end miserably. Sahib, there is no opposing Fate; by the meanest ends it works out the greatest deeds, and we are its slaves, body and soul, blindly to do as its will works! I say not Thugs only, but the whole human race. Is it not so? It appears to me, Ameer Ali, said I, that poor Destiny has the blame whenever your own wicked hearts fixed themselves on any object and you followed their suggestions. Nay, but I would have avoided this, cried the Thug; and have I not told you so? Alla knows I would not have entered into this matter; but what could I do? what were my weak resolves compared with his will! and yet you will not believe me. Sahib, I do not tell a lie. I dare say not, said I; but the beautiful eyes were too much for you; so go on with your story. The Thug laughed. They were indeed, said he, and accursed be the hour in which I saw them. But I will proceed. The slave preceded me; at some distance I followed her through the village and its bazars, and saw her enter the house before which I had sat in the morning. I too entered it, leaving my slippers at the door, and with the confident air of a man who goes into his own house. I had just passed the threshold, when the slave stopped me. "Wait a moment," said she; "I go to announce you;" and she pulled aside the temporary screen and went in.