"Am I a brute? Did ever woman lay her head on my breast perforce?"
The Count replied, firmly:
"Such a condition would be against us both alike."
The Sultan struggled with himself a moment.
"Be it so," he rejoined. "The wager is my proposal, and I will go through with it. Take the condition, Emir. If I win, she shall come to me of her free will or not at all."
"A wife, my Lord?"
"In my love first, and in my household first—my Sultana."
The animation which then came to the Count was wonderful. He kissed Mahommed's hand.
"Now has my Lord outdone himself in generosity. I accept. In no other mode could the issue be made so absolutely a determination of Heaven."
Mahommed arose.