"What!" cried Jussuf, "your lord already arrived? Where is the impostor? Let me in, that I may confront him."
Both porters opposed him, because he tried to force his way in.
"Do you not know your lord," asked Jussuf, full of indignation, "that you thus oppose him?"
They assured him that they had not been long in Assad's service, and did not know Jussuf; but they had been told that he was arrived.
"Yes," cried Jussuf, "he is arrived, but not yet in his palace; he will soon be in."
With these words he pushed the nearest on one side, threw him to the ground, and then the other also. He pressed forward quickly into the splendid hall, unopposed by the numerous servants, to whom he seemed to come from the passage into the hall. He placed himself in the midst, and cried with great earnestness,
"Who dares here to usurp Jussuf's place? Who dares here to pass for Jussuf's wife? I am Jussuf, who was thought lost! Where is the impostor? Let him come here, that he may receive the just reward of his treachery."
Whilst he spoke a richly-dressed man, but unknown to him, approached, and said,
"You speak of deceit! Nobody here passes for Jussuf but yourself. We expected him, because we have sure knowledge that he has landed to-day. You may be the expected one. Now for the proof: what word will your lips breathe on this talisman?" He held to him Modibjah's talisman. Jussuf looked astonished and surprised, for the spark had disappeared.
"Haschanascha!" he cried, with a sigh. The spark shone out clear, and a veiled lady walked forth from the circle of numerous assembled guests, and asked, as she threw her veil back, "Do you remember Haschanascha, your betrothed?" But he looked at her with marks of astonished joy. There were indeed the beautiful features of her face, the mild look of her soft eyes, the happy seriousness that reigned in Haschanascha's forehead; but her dark complexion had disappeared, and in its place played a soft blush, like the first breath of dawn, on her cheeks.