French and Oriental Love in a Harem

I apologise, my dear Louis, for having left you a month without a letter

from me, as you reproach me somewhat severely. You are not afraid, I

should hope, that my friendship for you has cooled. The real cause of my

silence is that I have had nothing to tell you. The even tenor of my

existence permits only of daily repetitions of the same very simple

events. My affections being divided between my harem and my uncle

Barbassou, I revel in the tranquillity of the fields and woods, which

afford to my mind that quiet freedom which is always more or less

disturbed by the excited atmosphere of city life.

Do not imagine, however, that we have been living like monastics,

disdaining all worldly distractions: the governor is not the man to

lead the existence of a Carthusian monk. He is as much on horseback as

on foot. In the daytime we make hunting excursions; he visits his

"god-children" and my estates: you may rely upon it, I have got an

active steward in him! In the evening we receive our friends at the

château--the vicar, the Morands, father and son, and, twice a week, the

notary. We play whist at penny points, and very lively games of

piquet--only the latter not so often, as my uncle cheats at it. About

eleven o'clock the carriages are got ready to take these people home. I

then accompany my uncle to his room, and we talk over business matters,

and about my fiancée; for, of course, my marriage with his

"god-daughter" is an understood thing, and we have not even a notion of

discussing the question. Finally, when he gets sleepy, he goes to bed,

and I go off to El-Nouzha.

Besides these occupations we have another very serious one, namely,

rummaging among the mass of curios which he heaped up together in the

lumber-room of the château.

"Ah, André!" my uncle said to me one day, with the reproachful accent of

a faithful steward, "you have a lot of fine things up there which you

are very foolish to leave in that lumber-hole. If I were you, I would

have them all out!"

"Let us get them all out then at once, uncle," I answered.

Thereupon we set to work sorting them out, and you have no idea of the

things we found--valuable paintings, works of art, rare old furniture,

and arms of all countries. You will see what a museum they constitute,

if you make an excursion down here, as you have promised. Really, for an

artist of your genius, this alone would be worth the journey.