would have incapacitated any other person from un¬ dertaking any occupation. Lady Hester was busily employed in making up a mule-load of presents for Logmagi. "You see, doctor," said she, "how I act towards those who serve me: this man neglects his business in town for me, and I, in return, try to make him comfortable. I have packed up a few coloured glass ornaments to stick up in his cupboards, and some preserves and sweetmeats to treat his old messmates with, who would eat him out of house and home, I believe, if I did not take care of him. Only think, too, how he beat his breast and cried, and what signs of sorrow he showed at my illness, the last time I saw him!
"I must have that stupid fellow, Osman, in, to talk to him about new roofing the dairy, but I shall stick him behind the curtain. Poor man, his mother is very ill, and I think I must let him go to Sayda. He, Mahjoob, and Seyd Ahmed, may have asses when they go to town, but all those other lazy fellows shall walk: I won’t have one of them ride, unless they have more than eight or ten rotoles in weight to bring back, idle beasts as they are!"
Now Osman’s mother might be ill, and no doubt she was; the dairy, too, might be the ostensible cause of his being called in; but it is also more than probable that, besides all this, she wanted Osman for other
