I shall imagine myself one of those dark-eyed houris, who dwell in the bowers of paradise and welcome the souls of the brave." "That is no inappropriate comparison," said he; "but you must not believe me an Eastern satrap, Gabriella, who dares not enter his wife's apartment without seeing the signal of admittance at the door.

Here is another room opening into this; and pressing a spring, a part of the dividing walls slid back, revealing an apartment of similar dimensions, and furnished with equal elegance.
"This," added he, "was arranged by the master of the mansion for his own accommodation.

Here is his library, which seems a mass of burnished gold, from the splendid binding of the books.

By certain secret springs the light can be so graduated in this room, that you can vary it from the softest twilight to the full blaze of day." "The Arabian Nights dramatized!" I exclaimed.

"I fear we are walking over trap-doors, whose secret mouths are ready to yawn on the unsuspecting victim." "Beware then, Gabriella,--I may be one of the genii, whose terrible power no mortal can evade, who can read the thoughts of the heart as easily as the printed page.