She had bronchial catarrh: there were no morbid cardiac sounds; and she had Malarial fever. I enquired as to the history of the illness, and the habits of the patient, and heard that she was accustomed to inhale tobacco-smoke from the chillim pretty much all day; and that in order to procure sleep she was accustomed to take sixty grains of chloral nightly!
I advised the cessation of smoking for a time, and the Sultana laughed.
After about an hour, I asked permission to retire. I prescribed quinine and a cough mixture; but in the evening, to my horror, I was called upon to weigh out the usual dose of chloral, tie down the cork of the bottle, and seal it with my own seal. Sleep! of course I did not sleep. If a lie had been told me about the dose, the Sultana would be found dead in the morning.
Meanwhile the Amîr was distinctly better that day, though of course he was still very ill. The temperature was normal: the vesical irritability had disappeared: there was no difficulty in swallowing; and the pain in the joints was less.
The next morning the Sultana was somewhat better. The relief to my mind cannot be described: I will not attempt it. In my visit to the Sultana that day I again urged upon her the advisability, if she wished to get rid of her cough, of ceasing to smoke,—at any rate for a time. She would not listen.
The Innocent Plot.
I explained to the Amîr my difficulty with Her Highness, and he arranged a plan in which she could be beguiled into smoking less. I weighed out a little less chloral that evening.
I visited the Amîr every two or three hours during the day, examining his condition. He still had some pain, though vastly less than he had had, and the cough was better.
At two in the morning I was sent for by the Sultana. She detailed to me the whole of the innocent plot that had been arranged to draw her from the chillim, and laughed at me for thinking she could be so easily beguiled.
I concluded there were certain in the Amîr’s court who brought minute details of what occurred there to the Harem Serai.