not; but this I recollect, that I turned my head
on one side as I passed, and buried my face as well as I could in the
combined shade of my beard, great turban, and furred pelisse.

My visits succeeded better than I could have expected. Whatever might
have been the motives of my wife's brothers, they behaved to me with
marked civility, and indeed flattered me into the belief that I had
conferred an honour on their family in taking their sister off their
hands. Merchants as they were, their conversation turned principally
upon trade, and I made my best endeavours to talk up to the character
I had assumed, and convinced them of the extent of my undertakings in
commerce. But, at the same time, great was my circumspection not to
commit myself; for when they began to question and cross-examine me upon
the trade of Bagdad and Bassorah, the relations of those cities and of
Arabia in general with India and China, and to propose joint concerns in
their various articles and produce, I immediately reduced my speech
to monosyllables, entrenched myself in general terms, and assented to
proposals which led to nothing.

Having completed my visits, I felt that one duty was still left, which
was, to make the good old Osman a partaker of my happiness, to inform
him of my marriage, and to invite him to our ensuing entertainment. But,
shall I own it? so much did I feel that I was acting a false part, and
so fearful was I of being detected, that I dared not trust even him,
taciturn as he naturally was, with my secret, and therefore determined
for the present to have no communication with him, or, in fact, with any
of my countrymen, until I could feel myself so securely fixed in my new
situation as to be fearless of being displaced.

[Illustration: Hajji curses Shekerleb and her relations. 37.jpg]

CHAPTER LXX

His desire to excite envy lays the foundation of his disgrace--He
quarrels with his wife.

The entertainment went off with the greatest success, and there was
every reason to suppose that I fully succeeded in making my guests
believe I was really the personage whom I pretended to be. I therefore
began to feel secure in my new possessions, and gave myself up to
enjoyment, associating with men of pleasure, dressing in the gayest
attire, and, in short, keeping a house that was the talk and envy of
the city. 'Tis true that I almost daily felt the inconvenience of being
indebted to my wife for such good fortune; for, notwith