orous adventures of the Caliph of Bagdad,
would find such a romance as mine quite too "strong," simply because the
scene is not laid in Persia, or at Samarcand. Nevertheless, my story is
identical in character, and the most modest young lady might read it
without a frown, if only my name were Hassan instead of Andre.

Would you like to know everything that can agitate the mind of a mortal
in such a position as mine? Listen, then.

When I had succeeded in reducing to some extent my exaltation of spirit,
when I had at last persuaded myself of the reality of this splendid
fairyland, I sat down with my elbows on the window-sill--I felt the need
of a little fresh air. It was just striking midnight. What were _they_
doing? Were they thinking of me, I wondered, as much as I was thinking
of them? I began to examine the four keys which Mohammed had left me.
Each key had a tiny label, with a letter and a name on it--Nazli,
Zouhra, Hadidje, or Kondje-Gul. My eyes were still filled with their
beauty. Although far from artless, I felt embarrassed in spite of
myself, I might almost say shy. After the fascinations of this evening,
I knew that I was in love; I loved with a strange passion suddenly
developed; I loved to overflowing these beautiful beings, without being
able to separate one from another. So completely were they mingled in my
fancy, they might have possessed but one soul between them. By reason of
my certitude of equal possession, Kondje-Gul, Hadidje, Nazli, and Zouhra
constituted in my imagination a single existence, exhaling its
unrivalled perfume of youth, beauty, and love.

All this may appear absurd to you. I daresay you are right, but I am
only analysing for you an enchantment which still influences me like a
dream. While longing for the virginal delights which awaited me, my
tumultuous senses were plunged into certain apprehensions at once
anxious and sweet. How am I to explain it to you? Sultan though I have
been in my life, never before have I come in for such a delightful
windfall of pleasures, my heart having been generally occupied, as you
know, with much less worthy objects. All at once I was overwhelmed by
the idea that they had doubtless misunderstood the reserve which I had
affected in their company. According to their harem traditions, customs,
and laws, I was their legitimate master and husband: was it not quite
likely, then, that they believed me indifferent or even disdainful of
their charms? Troub