It was with great difficulty that I tried to persuade him that those letters did not require any answer.
A fortnight of repose and severe diet brought me round towards complete recovery, and I began to walk in the yard of the lazzaretto from morning till night; but the arrival of a Turk from Thessalonia with his family compelled me to suspend my walks, the ground-floor having been given to him.

The only pleasure left me was to spend my time on the balcony overlooking the yard.

I soon saw a Greek slave, a girl of dazzling beauty, for whom I felt the deepest interest.

She was in the habit of spending the whole day sitting near the door with a book or some embroidery in her hand.

If she happened to raise her eyes and to meet mine, she modestly bent her head down, and sometimes she rose and went in slowly, as if she meant to say, "I did not know that somebody was looking at me." Her figure was tall and slender, her features proclaimed her to be very young; she had a very fair complexion, with beautiful black hair and eyes.