"Dear Layelah," said I, as I sat with her arms around me, and with my own around her slender waist, "I do not want to hurt your feelings."
"Oh, Atam-or! oh, my love! never, never did I know such bliss as this."
Here again I was overwhelmed, but I still persisted in my effort.
"Dear Layelah," said I, "I love Almah most dearly and most tenderly."
"Oh, Atam-or, why speak of that? I know it well. And so by our Kosekin law you give her up; among us, lovers never marry. So you take me, your own Layelah, and you will have me for your bride; and my love for you is ten thousand times stronger than that of the cold and melancholy Almah. She may marry my papa."
This suggestion filled me with dismay.
"Oh no," said I. "Never, never will I give up Almah!"
"Certainly not," said Layelah; "you do not give her up—she gives you up."
"She never will," said I.
"Oh yes," said Layelah; "I will tell her that you wish it."