"Oh, but you must go and comfort Zouhra, Nazli, and Hadidjé!"
"They are asleep," she said. "I want to stay a little time here alone with you! Besides," she added, with a little frightened look still lingering on her face, "suppose Barbassou-Pasha has been deceiving you, suppose he is coming to kill you to-night?"
"But once more I tell you, dear, you are mad!"
"Well then, why send me back so soon?"
"Because it is not proper for you to leave the harem," I answered. "Come along, off you go!"
"Oh, just a little longer!—I beg you, dear!" she said, with a kiss.
How could I resist her, my dear Louis? Tell me?
I sat down, watching her moving about and rummaging everywhere. I must tell you that under her feridjié (which she had let down on my entrance into the room), she was dressed in a sort of loose gown of pale blue cashmere, embroidered with lively designs in silk and gold. Her snow-white arms emerged from wide, hanging sleeves. This costume produced a charming picturesque effect in the midst of my room, which, although comfortable, was very prosaic in its style—although to her it seemed wonderful. She touched everything, for she could not be satisfied with seeing only, and her questions never ceased.... At last, after half-an-hour, considering her curiosity to be satisfied, as she was beginning to ransack the books lying on my table, I said once more,
"Come, Kondjé-Gul, you must go."
With these words, I picked up her feridjié, and took her back to the harem. A pale light was shining through the windows of the drawing-room. Hadidjé, Nazli, and Zouhra were still there. To describe the terror which came over their faces directly I appeared, would be impossible. Hearing steps in the night, they made sure their last moments had arrived. At the sound of the door opening, they cried out loud—the three poor miserable things took refuge in a corner.