CHAPTER XXIV. IMAR'S TALE—PEACE
"Happiness appears to me to resemble the black eagle of the mountains more than the fair dove of the proverb. Restless and swift of wing, it flutters, scarcely long enough for a hover, over any home of ours, and even then too high for us to be sure that we have seen it. Not until it is gone, can we believe that it has been with us; and we know in our hearts that to look for it destroys the chance of seeing it.
"Shamyl was in a rage that Oria dared to pledge her faith to me, without consulting the 'Mountain-lion,' as his flatterers now called him. Whether he hoped to make money of her, or what other reason he may have had, I will not pretend to say. But when by means of my good service, and without the loss of a single man, he secured all those fair prize
