De Morin, who appeared to read Munza's heart as if it were a book, hastened to reply—
"She is jealous of your harem, but not of these creatures. So long as they do not belong to you, nothing further is needed."
The King smiled once more; but he remarked to our interpreter that he could not get rid of these women in any other way than by putting them to death, the law enacting that the wives of a reigning sovereign could not under any circumstances become the property of his subjects.
"Your subjects!" replied de Morin, quickly. "Be it so. But we are not your subjects."
"Do you want me to give you my wives?" asked Munza, in astonishment.
"We want you to give them to our sister as slaves."
"Oh!" exclaimed the King, apparently delighted. "She wants to torture them by way of revenging herself on them?"
"Possibly so," replied de Morin, quietly.
I confess that at this moment neither Delange nor I understood his drift one bit. We imagined that he was compromising Madame de Guéran to too great an extent, and that he had entered into too serious an engagement with Munza; but we had given him full power, and we were bound to let him act as he thought best.
The African King, after having reflected for a moment, said to de
Morin—