"'I know you are,' answered the dey.
"'Then your highness probably conjectures the motive of my visit.'
"'No. But you are welcome all the same.'
"'I come to prevent your highness from committing a crime.'
"'A crime! And what crime?' said the dey, taking the pipe from his mouth, and gazing at his interlocutor in the most profound astonishment.
"'I wonder your highness should ask the question,' replied the minister. 'Is it not your intention to cut off Osmin's head?'
"'That is no crime,' answered the dey.
"'Does not your highness purpose throwing Zaida into the sea?'
"'That is no crime,' repeated the dey. 'I bought Osmin for five hundred piasters, and Zaida for a thousand sequins, just as I bought this pipe for a hundred ducats.'
"'Well,' said the minister, 'what does your highness deduce from that?'