“This speech gave me courage, and I said to her, ‘Suffer me then, madam, only to see your face, as a return for the favour you say I have done you. This will repay me, even with usury.’ At these words, she turned herself towards me, and lifting up the muslin which covered her face, she displayed a countenance most wonderfully beautiful. I was so much struck with it, that I could think of nothing to express what I felt at the sight. I was unable to take my eyes off, but she quickly covered her face again, for fear any one should perceive her, and after drawing down her long crape veil, she took up the piece of stuff, and went out from the shop, leaving me in a very different state from what I was in before her arrival. My mind continued greatly troubled, and strongly disordered for some length of time. Before I left the merchant, I asked him if he knew who the lady was; and he told me she was the daughter of an emir, who left her, at his death, an immense fortune.
“I had no sooner returned to the khan of Mesrour, than my people brought up supper; but I was unable to eat the least morsel. Nor could I close my eyes during the whole night, which appeared to me of more than ordinary length. As soon as it was day I got up, with the hopes of again beholding the object who thus disturbed my repose: and with the wish, should I be so fortunate of pleasing her, I dressed myself still nicer than I had done the day before. I then returned to the shop of Bedreddin.
“I had not been there a great length of time before I saw the lady approach, followed by her slave. She was much more magnificently dressed than on the preceding day. Paying no attention to the merchant, she addressed herself only to me. ‘You see, sir,’ she said, ‘that I have kept my word with you very exactly. I promised yesterday to do so, and have now come on purpose to bring you the amount of what you had the goodness to trust me, without knowing any thing of me. This is an act of generosity I shall never forget.’—‘There was not the least necessity, madam,’ I replied, ‘for you at all to hurry yourself.’ I was perfectly easy with respect to my money, and am sorry for the trouble you have given yourself.’—‘It would not, however, have been just in me to have abused your good nature,’ she replied. In saying this, she put the money into my hands, and sat down near me.
“Taking the advantage which this opportunity of conversing with her gave me, I declared the love I felt for her; but she got up and left me so hastily, that I believed she was offended at the confession I made. I followed her with my eyes, as long as I could see her; and when she was quite out of sight, I took my leave of the merchant, and left the bezestein without knowing where I went. I was meditating upon this adventure, when I felt some person pull me behind; I instantly turned round to see who it was, and recognized the young slave belonging to the lady by whom my whole mind was absorbed. This sight delighted me. ‘My mistress,’ said she, ‘who is the young lady that spoke to you in the shop of the merchant, wishes to speak a few words to you, if you will have the goodness to follow me.’ I instantly went with her, and in truth found her mistress waiting for me in the shop of a money-changer.
“She directly invited me to sit down near her, and began the conversation by saying, ‘Be not, my dear sir, surprised that I quitted you just now so abruptly: but I did not think it prudent, before that merchant, to give any thing like a favourable answer to the acknowledgment you made of my having inspired you with sentiments of affection. Far, however, from being offended at the confession, I own to you, it afforded me great pleasure to hear you say, that I was not indifferent to you; and I esteem myself happy in having acquired the regard of a man of your worth and merit. I know not what impression the sight of me may have made upon you, but with respect to myself, I can assure you, that I felt, on the very first moment I saw you, a very great inclination towards you. Ever since yesterday morning I have thought of nothing but what you said, and my haste and anxiety to discover you this morning was so great, that it ought to be sufficient to convince you, that you by no means displease me. ‘Madam,’ I exclaimed, transported with love, and filled with delight, ‘nothing I could possibly hear, could give me half so much pleasure as what you have now had the goodness to say to me. It is impossible for any one to feel a stronger regard than I have done for you, from the first happy moment I set my eyes upon you. They were quite dazzled with so many charms, and my heart yielded without the least resistance.’—‘Let us not then,’ she said, interrupting me, ‘lose any time in useless speeches, I do not doubt your sincerity, and you shall immediately be convinced of mine. Will you do me the honour of visiting my house? Or, if you had rather, I will accompany you.’—‘Madam,’ replied I, ‘I am quite a stranger in this city, and have only lodgings at a khan, which is by no means a proper place to receive a lady of your rank and quality. It will surely be much better for you to have the goodness to acquaint me with your residence; where I shall be delighted to have the honour of waiting upon you.’ The lady consented to this plan. ‘On Thursday next,’ said she, ‘which is the day after to-morrow, come directly after mid-day prayers into the street, called Devotion-street. You have only to inquire for the house of Abon Schamma, surnamed Bercour, and formerly chief of the emirs; at that place you will find me.’ Having said this, we separated, and I passed the whole of the next day with the greatest impatience.
“When Thursday came, I got up very early, and dressed myself in the handsomest robe I had. I put a purse, containing fifty pieces of gold, into my pocket, and I set out mounted upon an ass, which I had ordered the day before, and accompanied by the man of whom I had hired it. When we were come into Devotion-street, I desired the owner of the ass to inquire whereabout the house, which I was seeking after, was: some person immediately pointed it out, and he then conducted me to it. I alighted at the door, rewarded the man very liberally, and dismissed him; desiring him at the same time to observe well the house at which he left me, and not to fail to return for me the next morning, in order to take me back to the khan of Mesrour.
“I knocked at the door; when two little slaves, as white as snow, very neatly dressed, immediately came and opened it. ‘Come in, sir, if you please,’ they said, ‘our mistress has been waiting very impatiently for you. For two whole days she has never once ceased talking of you.’ I went into a court, and observed a pavilion, raised about seven steps from the ground, and surrounded with some trellis-work, which divided it from a very beautiful garden. Besides some trees, which served at the same time both for embellishment and shelter from the rays of the sun, there was an infinite number of others, which were loaded with all kinds of fruit. I was charmed with the warbling of a great many birds, which mingled their notes with the murmurs of a fountain, that threw its water to a vast height, in the midst of a parterre, enamelled with flowers. The fountain also was a very pleasing sight. Four large gilt dragons were seen at the four angles of the reservoir, which was exactly square: and these dragons threw up the water in great abundance, and clearer and more brilliant than rock chrystal. This place was so full of beauties, that it gave me a very high idea of the conquest I had made. The two little slaves desired me to go into a saloon, that was magnificently furnished; and while one of them was gone to inform her mistress of my arrival, the other remained with me, and pointed out all the beauties of the saloon.
“I had not been long in this place, before the lady, whom I was so much in love with, made her appearance, adorned with the finest diamonds and pearls, but she appeared still more brilliant from the lustre of her eyes than from that of her jewels. Her figure, which was now no longer concealed by her walking dress, as when I met her in the city, seemed to me to be the finest and most striking in the whole world. I can never express to you the delight we experienced at again beholding each other; indeed the strongest description would do injustice to our feelings. I can only say, that after the first compliments were over, we both sat down on a sofa, where we conversed together with the greatest satisfaction imaginable. They then served up the most delicate and exquisite dishes. We sat down to table, and after our repast, we recommenced our conversation, which lasted till the evening set in. They then brought us some most excellent wine, and also some dried fruits well adapted to excite a desire for drinking; and we drank to the sound of instruments on which some slaves played, and accompanied at the same time with their voices. The lady of the house also sung herself, and by this completely confirmed her conquest, and rendered me the most passionate of lovers. In short, I passed the whole night in a series of all kinds of delightful pleasures.
“The next morning, having first very slily put the purse with fifty pieces of gold in it, which I had brought with me, under her pillow, I got up and bid her adieu. Before I went, she asked me when I would return again. ‘I promise you, madam,’ I replied, ‘to come back this evening.’ She seemed delighted with my answer, conducted me herself to the door, and, at parting, she conjured me not to forget my promise.
“The same man, who had brought me the day before, was now waiting for me with his ass. I immediately mounted, and returned to the khan of Mesrour. In dismissing the man, I told him I would not pay him, but that he might come again with his ass after dinner, at the hour I fixed.