You are returning once more, my dear Louis, to your favourite occupation

of knocking down skittles which you have set up yourself, and are trying

to exercise your humorous spirit at my expense.

You tell me that my Oriental system of life crumbles away upon contact

with the hard world, and with those sentiments which I venture to class

among the antiquated prejudices of a worn-out civilisation.

You do not perceive, you subtle scoffer, that every one of your

arguments can be turned against you to establish the superiority of the

customs of the harem. Can't you see that all these mishaps, these

troubles, and these outbursts of jealousy, which you have intentionally

magnified, originate solely in Kondjé-Gul's emancipation from the harem,

and that none of them would have occurred if I had not departed from

Turkish usages? Consider on the one hand the tranquillity of my amours

with Zouhra, Nazli, and Hadidjé, my easy life with them, as a poet and a

sultan, secure from all annoying rivalries, and on the other hand look

at these difficulties and contests arising all at once out of our social

conventionalities.

I do not really know why I should waste any more time discussing the

question with you.

Being now confident that after the declaration which Madame Murrah would

next day make to my aunt, Kondjé-Gul would be freed henceforth from the

importunities of Count Kiusko, I soon recovered my peace of mind. I

entertained no doubts as to the effect which such a decisive answer

would produce upon Daniel. I knew that he was too deeply in love not to

feel the blow severely.

I expected, accordingly, to hear that he was mourning in some secluded

retreat over his lost hopes. For him to see Kondjé-Gul again after such

an unqualified refusal would only revive his sorrows and cause him more

suffering. More than this, it would place her in an uncomfortable

position since his declaration of love to her. But while I was

convincing myself as to this necessity for him to break off his

relations with her, great was my surprise at seeing him reappear among

us the following day as calm as ever, and just as if no unpleasant

incident had befallen him. Time went on, and still there was no change

in this respect. One might even have said, to judge from his easy

demeanour and from a certain increase of assurance in his manner, that

he felt confident in the future success of his endeavours, and was only

waiting for the happy moment when his aspirations would be realized.




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