while, Sir, to tarry a moment."

"Is that his fine quadriga in front of the high garden gate yonder?"

"Those are the Pannonian horses he brought with him, as swift as
lightning and as.... But look! Ah, now they have disappeared behind
the hedge; but you, high up on your dromedary, must be able to see them.
The little maid by his side is the widow Susannah's daughter. This
garden and the beautiful mansion behind the trees belong to her."

"A very handsome property!" said the Arab.

"I should think so indeed!" replied the Memphite. "The garden goes down
to the Nile, and then, what care is taken of it!"

"Was it not here that Philommon the corn-merchant lived formerly?" asked
the old man, as though some memories were coming back to him.

"To be sure. He was Susannah's husband and must have been a man of fifty
when he first wooed her. The little girl is their only child and the
richest heiress in the whole province; but she is not altogether grown up
though she is sixteen years old--an old man's child, you understand, but
a pretty, merry creature, a laughing dove in human form, and so quick and
lively. Her own people call her the little water-wagtail."

"Good!--Good and very appropriate," said the merchant well pleased.
"She is small too, a child rather than a maiden; but the graceful,
gladsome creature takes my fancy. And the governor's son--what is his
name?"