new abode, when I was staked and lost again.  In short, your highness, in that campaign I was the property of between forty and fifty Russian officers, and what with the fatigue of marching, the badness of provisions, and my constant unsettled state of mind and body, I lost much of my good looks—­so much, indeed, that I found out that instead of being taken as a stake of one thousand sequins, I was not valued at more than two hundred.  I can assure your highness that it is no joke to go through a Russian camp in that way—­to be handed about like a purse of money, out of one man’s pocket into another’s.  I assure you, that before the campaign was over, I had had quite enough of the Russians, and only wished that the Turkish army might rout them, and I could find myself once more in a harem.  It was then that I first lamented over my hard fate, and that of the sultan.  It was then that I first used the expression, when I thought of my condition, and that I said to myself, “The time has been.”

At last the army was ordered to march back, and being then the property of a Cossack, he put me on a pony, and made me keep up with the squadron, driving me before him with his long spear, sometimes sticking the point into the rear of the pony, and sometimes into me, by way of a joke.  But I had not been more than ten days on the retreat, before he sold me, pony, bridle, saddle, altogether, as a bargain, to an infantry officer, who as soon as he had taken possession, made me dismount, while he got in the saddle, desiring me to lay hold of the pony’s tail and follow him.  When they halted, he made me wait upon him, and do everything which he required.  In the morning he mounted again, and I had to walk after him, as before.  This was hard service for one who had been the favourite of the sultan.  For a week I contrived to hobble after him, but it was impossible to go on any longer.  We passed through a town, and as soon as we were clear of the gates and he did not watch me, I let go the tail of the pony, and escaped without his perceiving it.  I regained the town, and faint with hunger and fatigue, sat at the steps of a large house.  A lady, dressed in rich furs and sables, came out, and perceiving that my dress was foreign, stopped, and inquired of me who I was.  I told her in a few words:  she ordered me to be received and taken care of.  A few days afterwards she sent for me, and I then narrated to her my history.  She was kind and generous, and I became her head attendant; I was contented and happy, and hoped to die in her service.  But my misfortunes were not half over.  My mistress was a lady of rank, and much esteemed.  Her house was always full of company:  she was rich, and gave most splendid entertainments.  Her husband had been dead about two years, but she was still very young, and exceedingly beautiful.  One evening, when there was a large party assembled in her rooms, the door was opened, and an officer came up to her and whispered in her ear.  She coloured, trembled, and said that she would be ready in an hour.  I was near her at the time; she beckoned to me, hastened to her room, and burst into a flood of tears.