ergone. At the end of this time, when I was
again able to be out of bed, my father tried to gain my confidence,
and I concealed not the smallest circumstance of my last adventure.

"'O Heaven!' said he, 'you are united, my son, to a monster of cruelty
and injustice.'

"'Do not say so, father!' exclaimed I: 'my wife, I must confess, was
cruel, but she thought she had reason to complain, and I was wanting
in my duty to her, even when she loaded me with kindness and
affection. I find that I still adore her, and that my love is
increased by the consciousness of my fault, and by the fear of a
final separation. Ah! would that I were admitted to be the lowest of
her slaves!'

"'You have not the feelings of a man,' said my father: 'know the
dignity of your sex. I cannot determine to what kind of a being you
have been united by the ceremony of a contract. I should suppose it
entirely whimsical, if so strong proofs, and particularly the last,
had not been given us of its reality. Be ashamed, that a man like you,
who are well descended, and who might have aspired to a connection
with the best families in Bagdad, has been hurried away by a foolish
passion to so extraordinary and unequal a connection as that which you
have now formed. Forget your disgraceful passion.'

"Every word which my father uttered, by way of invective against my
marriage and my wife, was a dagger to my heart.

"'I shall one day discover this abominable creature,' added he. 'I
will bring an information against her before the Caliph, who will put
it out of her power to make further victims.'

"Instead of seconding my father's resentment, my heart revolted
against his plans of revenge, and placed itself betwixt him and my
cruel but charming spouse.

"This disposition of mind, in spite of the assistance of medicine,
soon injured my health, and deranged my understanding. I became
thoughtful and melancholy, refused every means of consolation, grieved
my too affectionate parents, and was a torment to all the domestics.
Nothing could be prepared to my taste, and I constantly blamed the
unskilfulness of the cooks.

"One of them came one day to justify his conduct.

"'See,' said I, overturning the table, and treading the dishes under
my feet, 'there is the estimation in which I hold your skill and
diligence!'

"As he wanted to make a reply, I threw myself upon him to give him a
hearty beating. His cries and screams soon brought my mother, who
wished to te