"A guard of the serail answered, his brow in the dust:
"'Lord, the sultana has drowned herself in the Court of Fountains, because of grief that your day of perfect happiness could be passed without her.'
"Then Al-Mamoun drew back his foot and returned to the palace, knowing that from him the golden vase would claim no pearls."
"That is all?" Isabel asked expectantly.
"What more could there be, mademoiselle?"
"There might be a moral," Corrie suggested, leaning his folded arms on the table, his interested eyes fixed upon the story-teller.
"When I read the Arabian Nights, I found out that Oriental tales have no morals," dryly observed Mr. Rose. "A man who had been brought up with the Blarney Stone for a teething-ring once sold me an unexpurgated edition de luxe, with illustrations, so I ought to know."
"I never saw it, sir!"
"No, Corwin B., you did not. You can if you want to, by coming down to my office, where it is still lying in the packing-box it came in. I don't think you want to. Gerard's story isn't there."