For three years I remained in the harem of Abdallah, and, if not happy, was resigned to my fate.  He was devotedly attached to me, and, if I could not return his love, I was not deficient in gratitude.  At last a second war broke out between the Turks and Russians, and Abdallah was ordered to put himself at the head of his troops, and drive the invaders back to their regions of frost and snow.  As was the custom with Turkish commanders, all his harem accompanied him, and after travelling about from one territory to another, sometimes in pursuit of, and at others retreating before the enemy’s forces, we were shut up in the fortress of Ismael, with orders to defend it to the last.

I shall not weary your highness with a detail of what occurred.  I shall only say, that after the town had been nearly reduced to ashes, by the shells and shot, which had set fire to it at least one hundred times, it was taken by storm, with immense slaughter.  We sat in our apartments, listening with terror to the alternate shouting and shrieking—­the noise of the bursting of the shells, the whizzing of the balls, the cries of the wounded, and the terrific roaring of the flames, which were now consuming the whole town in their fury.  At last our doors were burst open, and the enemy entered.  We screamed, and would have fled, but in vain.  What became of the rest I know not, but I was dragged over the dead and the dying, through smoke and through flame, until I fainted away with terror and exhaustion.  When I recovered, I found myself in a hut, lying on a small bed, and attended by two bearded monsters, whom I afterwards discovered were Cossacks.  They were chafing my limbs with their rough hands, without the least regard for decorum.  As soon as I opened my eyes, one of them poured a little spirits down my throat, and wrapping me up in a horse-cloth, they left me—­to meditate upon my misfortunes.

I discovered that evening that I had, by the fortune of war, become the property of a Russian general, who had no time for making love.  With him it was all ready made, as a matter of course.  Still he was a handsome man, and when not tipsy, was good-humoured and generous; but the bivouacs, even of a general, were very different from the luxuries to which I had been accustomed.  I lived badly, and was housed worse.  It so unfortunately happened, that my protector was a great gambler, as indeed are all Russians; and one morning, to my surprise, a handsome young officer came into the tent and the general very unceremoniously handed me over to him.  My beauty had been made known in the camp, and the Russian general, having the night before lost all his money, had staked me for one thousand sequins, and had lost.  My new master was a careless, handsome youth, a colonel in the army; I could have loved him, but I had not time; for I had not been in his tent more than three weeks, before I was again gambled away, and lost to a major.  I had hardly time to make myself comfortable in my