The freed-woman only replied by desiring the arabajhe to drive to the quarter inhabited by the _sèkèljhes_, or sweetmeat-makers; the finest race of men in Constantinople. When they entered it, she began to look about her with more earnestness than she had hitherto exhibited; but even here she was in no haste to come to a decision; and although she passed many a stately Musselmaun whom she would not have refused in the brightest days of her youth, she “made no sign” until she arrived opposite to the shop of a manufacturer of _alva_, a sweet composition much esteemed in the East; where half a dozen youths, bare-legged, and with their shirt sleeves rolled up to their shoulders, were employed in kneading the paste, previously to its being put into the oven. “_Inshallàh_—I trust in God! He is here—” said the lady, as she stopped the carriage; “See you not that tall stripling, with arms like the blossom of the seringa, and eyes as black as the dye of Khorasan?” “He who is looking towards us?” exclaimed her companion in astonishment; “The Prophet have pity on him! Why, he is young enough to be your son.” The answer of the freed-woman was an angry pull at her yashmac, as she drew more closely together the folds of her feridjhe. The young and handsome sèkèljhe was summoned to the side of the araba, and found to improve upon acquaintance; upon which he was informed of the happiness that awaited him, and received the tidings with true Turkish philosophy; and in a few days the bride removed into a comfortable harem, of which the ground-floor was a handsome shop, fitted up with a select stock of sweetmeats at the expence of the Sultan; and those who desire to see one of the principal actors in this little comedy, need only enter the gaily-painted establishment at the left-hand corner of the principal street leading into the Atmeidan, to form an acquaintance with Suleiman the sèkèljhe. Another occurrence, equally authentic, and still more recent, is deserving of record, as being peculiarly characteristic of the rapid progress of enlightenment and liberality. An Emir of the city, celebrated for his sanctity and rigid observance of all the laws of Mahomet, had a fair daughter who sometimes indulged, in the solitude of the harem, in softer dreams than those of her austere father. Unfortunately for the stately priest, a guard-house, tenanted by a dozen armed men, under the command of an officer whose personal merits exceeded his years, was established not a hundred yards from his house; and, as the youthful commander paced slowly to and fro the street to dispel his ennui, it so chanced that he generally terminated his walk beneath the windows of the Emir’s harem.