[13] Bonaparte.
Mehemet shook his head and laughed, from which one could see that the proposition was not displeasing to him, whereupon Ali beckoned to the odalisks to fetch the bottles from the cellar.
Eminah, all trembling, bent over him and whispered, imploringly, "Oh, put not wine on thy table; it will be dangerous to thee!"
Ali smiled, and stroked his wife's head. He thought that only religious scruples made her dissuade him from drinking the wine, so he drew her upon his bosom and began to reassure her.
"Say now, my one and only flower, is not Moses a prophet, like unto Muhammad?"
"Of a truth he is. His tent stands beside the tent of Muhammad in the Paradise of the true Believers."
"And yet Moses said: Give wine to them that be sorrowful! Leave the matter then to the two prophets up above there; surely, what passes thorough our lips does not make us sin?"
But that was not the reason why Eminah feared the wine.
They brought the bottles, and the liberated corks popped merrily. At first Mehemet Pasha hesitated, but they filled his glass with fizz and, to prevent the sparkling foam from running over, he sipped a little of it, and quickly drained the glass, maintaining afterwards, with a smile, that it was a similar drink to wine, but much more pleasant.
Ali filled once more the glass of the seraskier, while Eminah tremulously watched his features, which gradually grew darker as he drank. Drink has this effect on some men.