lord send for his slave to insult her! My blood is as water,
at the dreadful thought!--Dishonour the harem!--Min Allah! God
forbid!--Would not the eunuch be ready and the sack?"

"Yes, they would, I acknowledge; but still it must be done."

"It shall not be done," replied the lady:--"Has my lord been visited by
Heaven? or is he possessed by the Shitan?"--And the lady burst into
tears of rage and vexation as she quitted the apartment.

"There's obstinacy for you--women are nothing but opposition. If you
wish them to be faithful, they try day and night to deceive you; give
them their desires and tell them to be false, they will refuse. All was
arranged so well, I should have cut off all their heads, and had a fresh
wife every night until I found one who could tell stories; then I should
have rose up and deferred her execution to the following day."

Mustapha, who had been laughing in his sleeve at the strange idea of the
pacha, was nevertheless not a little alarmed. He perceived that the
mania had such complete possession, that, unless appeased, the results
might prove unpleasant even to himself. It occurred to him, that a
course might be pursued to gratify the pacha's wishes, without
proceeding to such violent measures. Waiting a little while until the
colour, which had suffused the pacha's face from anger and
disappointment, had subsided, he addressed him:--

"The plan of your sublime highness was such as was to be expected from
the immensity of your wisdom; but hath not the Prophet warned us, that
the wisest of men are too often thwarted by the folly and obstinacy of
the other sex? May your slave venture to observe, that many very fine
stories were obtained by the caliph Haroun, and his vizier Mesrour, as
they walked through the city in disguise. In all probability a similar
result might be produced, if your highness were to take the same step,
accompanied by the lowest of your slaves, Mustapha."

"Very true," replied the pacha, delighted at the prospect, "prepare two
disguises, and we will set off in less than an hour--Inshallah, please
the Lord, we have at last hit upon the right path."

Mustapha, who was glad to direct the ideas of the pacha into a more
harmless channel, procured the dresses of two merchants (for such, he
observed, were the usual habiliments put on by the caliph and his vizier
in the Arabian Nights), and he was aware that his master's vanity would
be gratified at the idea of imitatin