from the depths of the chest
and consigned to Hades his book, and all the men and women of Arabia
Petraea.

"Fatima!" cried the husband, "if you would save your life, answer
me--Where is the traitor?"

Terrified at the tempest which she had roused, Fatima threw herself at
her husband's feet, and trembling beneath the point of his sword, she
pointed out the chest with a prompt though timid glance of her eye. Then
she rose to her feet, as if in shame, and taking the key from her girdle
presented it to the jealous Arab; but, just as he was about to open the
chest, the sly creature burst into a peal of laughter. Faroun stopped
with a puzzled expression, and looked at his wife in amazement.

"So I shall have my fine chain of gold, after all!" she cried, dancing
for joy. "You have lost the _Diadeste_. Be more mindful next time."

The husband, thunderstruck, let fall the key, and offered her the
longed-for chain on bended knee, and promised to bring to his darling
Fatima all the jewels brought by the caravan in a year, if she would
refrain from winning the _Diadeste_ by such cruel stratagems. Then, as
he was an Arab, and did not like forfeiting a chain of gold, although
his wife had fairly won it, he mounted his horse again, and galloped
off, to complain at his will, in the desert, for he loved Fatima too
well to let her see his annoyance. The young woman then drew forth the
philosopher from the chest, and gravely said to him, "Do not forget,
Master Doctor, to put this feminine trick into your collection."

"Madame," said I to the duchess, "I understand! If I marry, I am bound
to be unexpectedly outwitted by some infernal trick or other; but I
shall in that case, you may be quite sure, furnish a model household for
the admiration of my contemporaries."

PARIS, 1824-29.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Physiology of Marriage, Complete, by
Honore de Balzac

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