But Thaddeus felt no inclination to move without speaking a word more of farewell; and old Kahija, having vented some of her wrath; and not being, in reality, ill-natured; saw it was useless opposing an affair, which was, indeed, no business of hers. She therefore turned away for a few minutes, during which time Thaddeus snatched a parting embrace from his mistress, drawing a promise from her to meet him again on the next day. When the old nurse returned, the intruder, much to her satisfaction, was gone. Ina then entered the anderoon, when Zara, throwing aside the embroidery she was engaged on, sprang forward to meet her. "Dear Ina," she exclaimed, "I feared some other danger had befallen you, that you returned not before." "No danger could happen to me where I went," answered Ina; "I was safe from every harm. So lovely an evening to wander out!" she added, with a little pardonable deceit. "I wonder you can bear to be so shut up." "I, too, should like to wander out to breathe the air of evening," answered Zara; "but old Kahija will not hear of it." "What is that you say?" said the old nurse entering. "What! are you trying to teach Zara to follow your own wild customs? But you will not succeed; she is too good a girl to wish to do any thing of the sort. When she marries young Alp Beg, she may do what she can; but she will be shut up close enough then; and so will you, Ina, if you marry a true believer, instead of one of these heathen countrymen of ours." Happy were the slumbers of Ina that night as she laid her face upon her pillow. She dreamed that again she trod the sacred grove with him she loved--that again she heard his voice speaking those magic words which changed her very being--she felt the pressure of his hand in hers--and she saw the moon rise amidst the trees, the witness of their love. Volume 3, Chapter VI. Perfect tranquillity reigned in the valley of Abran Bashi, far removed from the loud tocsin of war which hung round the borders, though news occasionally arrived of skirmishes with the Moscov, and sometimes a wounded warrior would come to be recovered by the care of his family. At times, too, wailing and weeping was heard, when a family received intelligence of some dear relation having fallen in the fight; or a sad train would pass through the valley, accompanying the corpse of some noble, borne on his war-steed, who had lost his life in one of the many useless attacks which were at that time made on the Russian lines; more for bravado, and for the sake of exhibiting bravery and fearlessness of consequences--the characteristic of the Circassian warrior--than for any advantage to be gained.