"Indeed, Gunilda," I continued, "I believe in that heart's faith which, in England, is called 'love at first sight.'"
"And so do I," she exclaimed, sidling closer to my feet, "and so did my father. One day he took occasion, when all had retired, and left the youthful Circassian watching by his couch alone, to tell her how he loved her, and how devotedly he would watch over her happiness if she would become his bride. The maiden wept, and told him, in return, how reciprocal was her affection; but how insurmountable were the barriers between their union, since she had been purchased as a slave, and destined for the Turk's seraglio. Boldly defined as the forms of these mountains are against the heavens, my father's noble character yielded only to the sensitiveness of his heart; and when the Circassian made known to him her destined abjection, he turned his face away and wept in agony. Listen now to me, and hear the reason why I have been taught to love your countrymen.
"Resident in Sestos, a young Englishman met, by accident, my father a few days after his recovery, and seeing his dejected mien, entered into conversation; and desired, finally, to know if he could aid him in his return to Norway. My father told him he had no wish to see his native land again, since he had seen at Sestos that which an unhappy destiny had rendered dearer than the soil of his nativity.
"'No sorrow,' answered the young Englishman, 'is without alleviation.'
"'But this, sir,' my father said, 'is without remedy.'
"'If you desire money,' observed the Englishman, 'here is my purse; and when I come, some day, to Christiania, you can then repay me.'
"'I desire not gold, sir,' and my father bowed his head in sorrow.
"'You are yet in the prime and vigour of youth,' the Englishman said; 'and, perhaps, you swerve under the infliction of a feeling to which I have not been an entire stranger. You love.'
"My father replied not.
"'I have power in the presence of the Sultan,' replied the young Englishman, 'and doubt not, if you will inform me of your grievances, the sincerity of my desire to mitigate your grief.'