The San Francisco call., 1908-03-22

ella and Yulia bound. healthy.
never having been tortured or
Ssr SsindfS black easn sys. aad and IS tssSh. sss
trained to wait lady. and
speaking ineligible Greek. be-
sides barbarors dialect OF
their own. warranted docfle,
and given TO stealing; ar 20
ducats each .-.--....-.-...--- DucatS ~
In all ............ Ducats 40
GuIiabi GuIbenkjan. the son Of Daddirjan.
Merchant: twitnessl-Senastiaa Omooono' OF
Omobono observed that the receipt
acknowledged 40 ducats as the price OF
the two girls instead Of "a.
"Gullabi Gu1benkjan, surnamed the
Truth-speaker. does not sell slaves at
IL ducats" answered the Armenian
with dignity. Moreover. your employer
will see that he has paid 40 and you
can justly keep the is ducats for your
SELF
THAT would not be honest" pro-
tested Omobono, shaking his neat gray
beard.
Gullabi smiled in a plying way.
You Venetians do not really under
stand business" he said. tightening the
strings to a canvas bag into which he
had swept the gold and knotttns them
as he rose.
A few minutes later Omobono was
trudging along after the two palan-
quins, wondering much at certain
ing the last "a hours and less. For he
was curious. as you know. and IL irrt-
tated him 90 feel that something was
going on in the world all about him
and near him OF which he could not
even guess the nature. manifesr1ng IT.
self in such nonsensical phrases aS
-four toes and fve toes" and "over the
water" which nevertheless produced
such truly astonishing results. Since
the previous afternoon he had met four
persons who knew those absurd words
the negress, her Armenian husband,
the sacristan to Saints Sergius and
Baechus, and Greek slave girl, whom
he was far from recognizing as the
beautiful creature he had seen yester-
day in the ruined house in the beggars
quarter. She was so closely veiled to-
day that he coulA not IN the least
guess what her face was like
Since she not only knew the first
password but had whispered the SEQ
ond TO him, he wondered why she had
not used her knowledge to get her
freedom. 1t was Incredible that the
people who knew the words should not
be banded together in some secret
brotherhood: but if they were brethren,
how could they sell one another into
slavery? OmobOno was so much inter
ested in these problems that he did not
see where he was till the leading pa
lanquin entered Zeno's gate.
Zeno himself was not TO be seen. The
servant at the door gave Omobono a
slip of cotton paper on which the mer-
chant had written an order The secre-
tary was to take his charges to what
was now the women's apartments and
leave them there. Zoe obeyed Ono
bono's directions in silence +,
This is the Kokona's apartment" !"
Omobono said. standing aside to let
Zoe pass. "If the Kokona desires any
maids to me. am the masters secre-
tary.'
He instinctively treated her and
spoke to her as if she were his super
ior. She nodded her thanks now, but
said nothing. and he went away. She
looked after him and listened, but no
key was turned after the door was
closed. and she heard only his retreat
ing steps on the marble stairs. Then
she turned to the window, which was
open, and she threw aside her veil and
looked out upon the Golden Horn.
The two little maids at once began a
minute examination of the rooms,
which occupied more than half the up
per story Of the house. and We're. if
anything, too crowded with rich furni-
ture. with divans. carved tables. hang
ing lamps, cushioned seats and pillows
Of every size, shape and color. There
were handsome wordrObes. too. full OF
girls touched everything and talked by
signs lest they should disturb zoe's
meditations- They told each other
that the master Of the house must be
highly pleased with his slave, since he
. surrounded her with beautiful things
and that these things were all new
which was a sign that there was no
other woman IN the house.
Meanwhile Zeno sat in his balconied
room. He was preoccupied and chose
10 be alone. so he dismissed his secre-
tary with fnjunctions to rest after the
labor of installing the new arrival.
which had not been light. and he
walked up and down his room in deep
; thought He had acted on an impulse
I altogether against his own Judgment.
and now he was faced by the unpleas-
ant necessity of justifying his conduct
in his own eyes.
One thing was not quite clear: so
? long as he did not draw from the house
of Corner the money which Marco Pc
, saro had sent to the banker for the
: commission, the merchandise was his
l property. since he had paid for il. But
: he must make up his mind whether he
meant to call it his own or not. II he
3 decided to keep Arethusa he must at
once set about finding another slave
/ for Marco Pesaro. or else write TO say
: that he declined TO execute the commits
! sion.
In that case Arethusa remained his.
: The reason why he had so suddenly
: determined to buy her was that he
I fancied she was a girl Of good family
whom some great misfortune had
D brought into her present distress. But
she had calmly declared that she was
a slave. and expected nothing better
u than to be sold
I II this were true he had paid 400
I ducats for foolish fancy. She was
e perhaps the child OF some beautiful
slave and had been carefully educated
< by her mothers owner. and the latter
needing money sperhaps. had sent her
u 10 the market. or perhaps. he had died
and his heirs were selling his property
All this was very unsatisfactory. II
q she was slave born Zeno's best ccu~ss
: was to send Arethusa TO Pesar0 as soor
e as the Venetian ship sailed. for he hac
q not the least intention OF wasting
d money in futile attempt to free
5 slaves whom the law regarded as borr
: to their condition To ZenO. who was
L a man Of his own times. IL seemed
:, quite as absurd that every one should
ii be born free as IL would seem TO you
n that everybody should be born an Eng.