on the upper story. In this room were some fine pictures, but also some offensive ones, indescribable. On one of the softly stuffed, handsome seats sat a bearded Mussulman, tuning a guitar, and sitting near him a young woman beating a drum, the gold bracelets on her arms keeping time therewith, and in two large mirrors hanging on the side wall the two people reflected were also performing these operations. In a side room a young man sat reading a novel, and through the open doorway watched the young woman's proceedings. As he screwed the pegs of the guitar the bearded one fingered its strings, and when, in his opinion, the strings and the drum were in tune with each other, from amidst the darkness of that beard some snow-white teeth appeared as he began to sing in a deep-toned voice. The teeth took part in many contortions of the visage, which, with the accompanying motions of the bee-black beard, made an amusing spectacle. The young woman, urged by these contortions, began to sing, mingling her sweet voice with the other's full, deep tones, the slender and the strong voices uniting like the blending of gold and silver threads.
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