"Come forward," said the girl to her lover,
"I have told the agha all—he knows
everything."

"Glory to Allah!" exclaimed the cavalier,
visibly more at his ease. "You did right to
tell him all, for I should have found it a hard
task myself to do so."

"Attend to what I say," said the president.
"With you two I do not expect to be obliged
to beat about the bush for half a day." To
the cavalier: "Will you marry this woman?"

The cavalier shouted the most decided
"Yes!" that ever was heard under similar
circumstances.

To the woman: "And you; will you take
this man for your husband?"

Ourida sent forth another "Yes!" not
more decided, but certainly shriller than the
former one.

"After your mutually expresed consent, in
the name of Allah, who inspired your love, I
unite you as man and wife. Kadi, draw up
the act of marriage immediately."

"But, Sidi," remonstrated the hook-nosed
kadi, a little out of countenance; "Sidi
Krelil, in the Chapter on the Union of the
Sexes—"

"I am perfectly aware, my friend,"
interrupted the president, "of what Sidi Krelil
says. According to him, I ought to send back
the daughter to her father's custody, that she
may be compelled, in spite of her protestations
and her bodily and mental grievances, to
marry a man old enough to be her grandfather.
But do you know what would happen
then, if I were insane enough to obey his
orders? One of two things: either old
Belasenan would be the death of this poor
girl, or she would run off with the man she
loves, and so cause a great scandal. Is not
that as clear as daylight?"

Here a slight murmur of approbation arose
in the midst of the assembly, penetrating
through the thick stratum of prejudice with
which it was overlaid.

"Now, since by following the law which
you want to invoke, I must cause either an
evil or a crime, and since by violating its
prescriptions I obtain nothing but good, is it
not better to follow the latter course of
conduct?"

"But, Sidi," protested the kadi, evidently
put out of sorts by the extreme novelty, to
him, of the above reasoning; "it is nevertheless
written in the commentaries of Sidi le
Khhal, that—"

"Your Sidi le Khhal certainly does not go
a step further than Sidi Krelil. Those who
make laws and those who write commentaries
on them can only say one thing—namely,
that the law must be obeyed. But remember
this, and mark me all of you, when a law is
not in accordance with the human heart it is
constantly violated, with whatever
punishments it may arm itself to maintain its
ascendency. In laws like yours, which are
daily defied—whose violation is attested by
your manners, your songs, and poets, in case
you should venture to deny the fact—it is
sure to happen that of the law or the heart of
man one of the two must yield. It is the law
which has given way, and why? Because
the law is the work of men, and the human
heart is the work of Allah. But I am sadly
afraid that you do not quite understand this
logic."

"What admirable words! 'tis the spirit of
Allah who speaks by your mouth!" shouted
the chiefs in chorus, nine-tenths of whom
believed that they had been listening to a
speech in the Chinese language.

"Well," said the court to the kadi, "does
your conscience permit you now to draw up
the marriage act in question?"

"By the justice of Allah! " replied the
kadi, in a fit of common-sense to which he
was occasionally subject; "with all my heart.
Nothing but good can come of it."

"Note well, I beg of you, every one who
hears me," said the presiding magistrate.
"I wish that I could see the Arabs less
addicted to lying, theft, and murder, and
more frequently marrying the women whom
they love."

"Sidi Bou Krari! that is something like a
speech!" chorussed the chiefs with radiant
smiles, before whose genial influence the last
coat of misty prejudice seemed ready to fly
off and vanish.

"Yes, certainly," observed Ben Safi, one of
the most kind-hearted and intelligent amongst
their body; "you are quite right in solemnising
this poor girl's marriage. I know her
father well; he is an awkward and stiff-
necked old curmudgeon, who would sell his
child's skin for a silver douro."

"I have not the slightest doubt of it. And,
kadi, as to the act of marriage, there is no
need to mention any dowry to be paid to the
father; for if he comes to claim it here, you
will tell him that the blows bestowed on his
daughter have been set down to balance the
debt."

The kadi went to work at once, to draw up
the blessed document, with all accustomed
gravity, importance, forms, and spectacles.
The precious paper was then presented to
the new-married couple by the chief of the
Arab bureau himself, at the great risk of
being torn to shreds on the spot by their
eagerness to seize possession of it. Glories
to Allah, shouts of joy, benedictions without
number, streamed from their mouths. At
last they took their departure, after having
two or three times mistaken their way out,
in the delirium of their delight. The public,
affected in spite of themselves by the
touching scene they had witnessed, in which
genuine feeling had been displayed in all the
charm of sincerity, appeared decidedly
satisfied with the violation of the law which had
just been committed before their eyes.

The pleasant impression left by this judicial
act was abruptly disturbed by the crier