here is some sort of
secret understanding; now what is it? I know nothing about it, but
however innocent this mystery may be, I see too much danger about it not
to caution you. Mademoiselle Murrah is not one of those drawing-room
dolls with whom it is safe for a man to risk a little of his heart in
the game of flirtation; no, the man who once falls in love with her
will love her for ever, body and soul, he will be bewitched."

"Why, then, she must be Circe herself," I exclaimed: "it's a terrible
look-out for me!"

"Oh, you need not laugh," she continued: "your lofty philosophical
contempt would not serve you in the least. A beautiful sorceress like
that girl is all the more dangerous because her own heart is liable to
be kindled by the flames of her incantations. In her heart slumber
passions which will devour her some day, both her and the man she loves.
That is why I am reading you this lecture, with the object of warning
you in time, before your youthful recklessness has carried you too far
in this affair; especially as you are already betrothed to another."

Notwithstanding the semi-jocular manner which my aunt had preserved
throughout this lecture, I could easily perceive that she was seriously
alarmed on my behalf. I therefore abandoned my jesting tone, assuring
her that neither my imagination nor my heart were in the smallest danger
with Mademoiselle Kondje-Gul Murrah, and that "no change whatever would
be made in our present relations." This jesuitical reply appeared to
satisfy her.

"In that case," she continued, "I may set to work to get her married?"

"Get her married?" I exclaimed in astonishment.

"Certainly. Did I not tell you, before I began questioning you, that I
had an important commission to discharge? My young cousin Kiusko adores
her, he has begged me to see Madame Murrah on his behalf, and I expect
to call on her this very day, to set this important business in train."

Although I might have long ago foreseen the consequences of emancipating
Kondje-Gul from her harem life, and the conflict which it would involve
me in with our social customs, I must admit that this revelation of my
aunt's intentions caused me no small anxiety. Kondje's remarkable beauty
created too much sensation in the world for me to hope that rivals would
not turn up in large numbers, against whom I should have to defend
myself. Her personal independence, the wealth which her mother's
establishment indicated, and her yo