His docility and his dejection, but above all, that dignity which the divine hand had stamped upon his lineaments, interested the Hadgé; he would frequently endeavour to draw him into conversation about his past life and condition, and would often urge on him what he believed the only true religion: but Sebastian contrived to elude his questions, and silence his arguments. A month had not elapsed, when Tefza informed his slave that they were on the point of commencing a long journey; he had a brother in Fez, dying of a lingering disorder, who had sent to beg he would come and close his eyes; he was therefore about to set forward on the morrow. What a tumult of sweet and maddening remembrances did not the prospect of this journey awaken!--Fez had been the scene of Sebastian’s principal misfortune; it was once the residence of Kara Aziek; he was going again to tread that ground, bathed in the blood of his bravest warriors, and sacred to the memory of Stukeley; he was going to revisit as a slave, the place which he had left only two or three months back, with love and a kingdom before him!--How would the worthy Tefza have been amazed, could he have seen all the movements of that heart, which to him was so mysteriously reserved! Accompanied by Barémel, sometimes travelling on camels or on mules, the Hadgé and his companion quitted the territory of Tarradunt, crossed the range of Atlas, and journeying over the plains of Morocco, penetrated through the passes of the Green Mountains into the kingdom of Fez; directing their course westward, they came at length to the dwelling of the Hadgé’s brother, a solitary house near the town of Riffa. Death had already sealed the eyes of the sick man; but as his property devolved to the nearest relative, after providing for his widows, the good Hadgé resolved upon spending the remnant of his own days in his native place: they returned therefore no more to Tarradunt. Days and weeks now revolved in the same wearisome round of trifling employments and complete retirement; Sebastian almost wished for laborious tasks which might distract his attention by fatiguing his body; his attention alas! was occupied with past events. Regret assuming the form of remorse, preyed on him incessantly, reminding him of the worthless woman for whose sake he had slighted happiness when he might have secured it with Kara Aziek. With this regret was mixed some repining at the hard destiny which had never presented him to Aziek but under circumstances of humiliation; he wished she had seen him in his prosperous days, surrounded by pomps and pleasures, yet disdaining their caresses, and emulous only of fame! he wished she had beheld the man she loved in the full plenitude of power; his preference then, might have appeared a distinction!