"Oh, I'm not the least alarmed!"
"That's quite clear!—Well, you admit that you find her most charming and beautiful. Let us proceed. What is your present position with regard to her? Tell me the whole truth, and mind don't keep anything back."
I had found time to recover my self-possession.
"Take care," I said, laughing in my turn; "this question of yours may lead us much further than you imagine."
"That's all nonsense. Don't try to turn off my questions with jokes, and please leave my dog's ear alone! If you pull it about like that, you'll make it grow crooked. There, that'll do! Now, answer me seriously, and with all the respect which you ought to feel in speaking of a young lady like Kondjé-Gul Murrah."
I was inspired with the brilliant idea of making game of her.
"Must I tell you the whole truth?" I replied. "Do you really require to know it?"
"I demand it," she said, "in its naked, unsophisticated reality."
"All right, aunt! you shall have it;" I said, in a confident tone. "I suppose you know that Mademoiselle Kondjé-Gul is a Circassian. Well, she belongs to my harem; I bought her at Constantinople eight months ago."
My aunt split her sides with laughter.