“How did you get out of the scrape, Father Moreno? Let us hear it, for that must be entertaining.”
“Listen,” said the friar, when the merriment had a little subsided. “I became serious, without any appearance of having taken offense, and said in a natural tone: ‘Gentlemen, although they call us barbarians and fanatics, we know how to acknowledge the defects of our legislation. I have traveled a great deal, and have studied the inner constitution of many different forms of society, and I assure you that nothing charms me more than a family consisting of one man and one woman, who have vowed to love each other and to protect the fruit of their love. Neither the heart of man, nor the quiet and security of the family, nor the dignity of woman, can be exalted and strengthened by polygamy. Not even sensual passions are satisfied, for, as you know, sensuality is a sort of moral dropsy, which finally engenders tedium and disgust.’”
“Bravo, Father Moreno!”
“Excellent, and what did they reply?”
“They remained dumbfounded and abashed to hear me express myself in that way. The officer looked at me, his mouth stretched from ear to ear, and what do you think he burst forth with, the rogue, as soon as he recovered his equanimity? He faced me, and said very politely: ‘And you, Aben Jusuf, how many wives have you?’”
His hearers again gave free rein to their laughter.
“What a joke!”
“Ah, he hit the mark.”
“And what did you reply?”
“The truth is, I was slightly confused at first, but an idea came to me like a flash, and you’ll see how I parried his thrust. ‘That gentleman knows my tastes,’ I said, pointing to my friend; ‘I am a man who does not care to sacrifice his fondness for travel and his independence, to the duty of sustaining a wife and family. I want to be free as a bird, and for that reason I long ago resolved never to marry.’”