The latter thrust him aside with a glance of contempt. “I came here,” he said, “to make a purchase to the amount of nineteen thousand piastres.” “Twenty thousand is her price,” observed the seller. “I offer twenty-five thousand for her,” he replied, throwing the veil over the figure of Baïla. The merchant bent himself; the khashadar, though pale with rage, restrained himself, for he had recognized in his rival Ali-ben-Ali, surnamed _Djezzar_, or the Butcher, the pacha of Shivas. Thus the young girl having been once sold by her father, was again sold by her brother-in-law. Djezzar Pacha, whom a slight difficulty with the divan had called for a short time to the capital of the empire, took his beautiful slave back with him to his usual residence, and she at once occupied the first place in his heart. The joy which she felt at seeing herself elevated above all her rivals, was not confined to a feeling of pride; she thought she loved Djezzar. Although he was no longer in his first youth, and the severity of his glance sometimes inspired Baïla with a feeling of terror rather than of love, yet the first look she had cast on him in the bazaar of Constantinople, the comparison she had then made between him and the old khashadar, had been so much to his advantage, that she thought him young and handsome. He had since shown himself to be so generous, so much in love, had complied with her caprices and fancies with such tender indulgence, that closing her ears to the stories in circulation about him, she thought him good and patient. If, however, she is first in the love of the pacha, she is not alone; Djezzar does not pique himself on an unalterable fidelity. At this very time a daughter of Amasia has entered the harem; and the women of Amasia are regarded as the most beautiful in Turkey. Who knows whether the scepter of beauty is not about to change hands? May not another inspire in Djezzar a love still stronger than that he has shown for Baïla? Such were the ideas that so sadly preoccupied the young Odalisk, when walking in the garden, she cast by stealth those jealous looks toward the building with gilded lattices which contained her new rival.