"And, besides, there were three of them; I had only to choose—the very reason, perhaps, why I did nothing of the kind. Yes, my thoughts were always floating from one to the other; I was irresolute, going first to this and then to that one, without coming to any decision. If I could have said to myself—this is the one you love; he is superior to both the others—the matter would have been at an end; I should have been his for life, and should have passed Munza without seeing him. But these gentlemen are too good, they are too much alike, and their very perfections, which I have ever been ready to acknowledge, throw me into a terrible state of embarrassment. To-day I am at all events freed from that. And, yet, that is not quite true. I have just written out on paper a short speech intended for Munza, but how can I repeat by word of mouth what I have written for you? He knows a few words of Arabic, which he once heard from Aboo-Sammit, and, thanks to my prodigious facility for languages, I have picked up the Monbuttoo dialect to a certain extent. But the nervous state I shall be in when I am with him, and his agitation, will both combine to prevent our expressing ourselves clearly. I am afraid I cannot take an interpreter with me, for there are occasions in one's life when an interpreter would be anything but an assistance.
"In the general interest, and for the sake of my own peace of mind, I must speak to the King as soon as possible; but, alas! I do not know even how to get to him. Courage! I will see him to-night. I must see him to-night. As soon as everybody around me has retired to rest, I will make my way towards the Palace, and, then—then I will trust to fortune.
"I leave you, my dear Emily, for I must go and dress—not from any feeling of vanity; Munza and I are far beyond that, but out of deference to his Royal Majesty."
CHAPTER XXXVI.
"As I recorded yesterday, Miss Poles was in a regular mess when Nassar came to fetch me. It was only this morning that I learned what had happened, and I am using these loose sheets for my narrative, because the doings and sayings of our English companion are really so eccentric that I am obliged to put our journal on one side.
Last night Miss Poles, snatched by Nassar and myself from imminent danger, was too excited even to reply to the questions of her saviours. Without saying a word, she rushed precipitately into her tent, and this morning she has not made her appearance. I have been, in consequence, reduced to appeal to our interpreters for information, and they very soon put me au courant with the situation. The blacks know all that takes place amongst their neighbours, and they know it the more easily, because of all doors and windows, where there are any, being left open on account of the heat. The King's residence, being less open to inquisitive eyes than any other buildings, excites all the more curiosity, and every eye is persistently fixed on it. The numerous officers who live in it, the servants of all classes, and the crowds of idle women gabble and chatter, and carry all the court news into the village.
Last night, then, about nine o'clock. Miss Poles, dressed up to the nines, and bedizened like a shrine, but closely veiled—Miss Poles, I say, escaping from our encampment, must needs betake herself to the Palace, where, after managing to effect an entrance, she demanded a private audience of the King.
Munza, in all probability, was considerably disappointed when he saw her enter his room, where, reclining on his mats, he was smoking his long pipe in solitude and in a reverie. He had been told that a white woman desired to see him, and, for a moment, he might have indulged in a hope that it was not Miss Poles.
When she appeared in all her angular leanness before this African, himself a very near neighbour of a tribe which is so in love with embonpoint as to fatten its women as we do our beasts, he must have experienced a certain shock especially when she raised her long arms and removed her veil, as much as to say, "Look and admire." The unhappy man, who, a moment before, had been no doubt dwelling on another image, gave way to silent rage.
She then, without hesitation or ceremony, was daring enough to sit down beside him and address him at great length. What did she say? Nobody knows positively, because at first the tête-à-tête was conducted quietly, but we can draw our own conclusions from what transpired subsequently.