The joyful tumults excited at first, now sunk into sadness; trouble and apprehension took possession of that breast which so lately seemed filled with an eternity of happiness, and reclining his head on his hand, the sorrowful Sebastian sat thinking away the hours of night in cheerless solitude. Aziek had settled that Babec (the dove was so called,) should remain in his care till after the arrival of Benzaide’s brother-in-law, and that then the pretty messenger was to be dispatched with news to his impatient mistress: Sebastian was to journey with his purchaser to the house of Benzaide, from whence it would not be difficult to manage an interview with Kara Aziek. These were all the arrangements Aziek had yet made, at least all that she had written down; for in her heart were multitudes of contrary wishes, fantastic plans, seducing hopes, which she meant to communicate to her lover when they met. She was indeed meditating a full avowal to her father, whose sanction alone could reconcile such opposite affections; this project however, required infinite consideration, as El Hader might not easily give credit to the royal dignity, and base injuries of his former slave, or if he did, might deem it an act of conscience to betray him into the hands of his own sovereign: at any rate a Mussulman’s antipathy to a Christian would cost much pains to overcome. After the lapse of a few days, Benzaide’s brother appeared at Riffa; the Hadgé instantly recollected in him the merchant whom his slave had succoured, and welcomed him, as he did all strangers, with benevolent hospitality: but when he proposed purchasing his benefactor, and so returning his goodness by the gift of freedom, Tefza turned pale, stammered out some encomiums upon his gratitude, and refused the request; a look of indignation from Sebastian made him cast down his eyes. The traveller ventured to name a decided sum of money, and receiving no answer, doubled its amount; the Hadgé replied by a short angry negative: again the traveller redoubled his offer, and again Tefza refused it; the whole day was wasted in fruitless proposals on the one side, and firm denials on the other. Meanwhile Sebastian watched with breathless anxiety the countenances of each; the letter Kara Aziek had sent him by Benzaide’s brother increased this anxiety, as it contained an account of her father’s heightened danger, warning him to prepare for many fresh obstacles if he were not free at the moment of his death to snatch her from the power of her relations. Tefza’s obstinacy almost irritated him to utter bitter invectives against that bigotted religion by which it was dictated: never before had he expressed himself so violently.