I am very cordially welcomed by the whole house, and you may imagine
what interminable discussions the doctor and I carry on. Having been
formerly a professor in the School of Medicine at Montpellier, he was
led by his researches in physiology to a very pronounced materialism.
Now that he has read my spiritualistic articles, he tries hard to break
down my arguments. On the third side, my uncle, as a Mahometan, wants to
convert him to deism; you may judge from this how much harmony there is
between us; you might take us for an Academy!
At El-Nouzha the same life goes on still; but I must take this
opportunity of correcting a dangerous mistake you appear to have fallen
into, to judge from the tone of your letters. In everything that
concerns my harem, you really speak as if you had in mind the fantastic
and tantalising experiences of a second blessed Saint Anthony, exposed
to the continual provocations of the most voluptuous beauties of the
Court of Satan. Indeed, one might say (between you and me and the post),
that your Holiness was less scared than inquisitive regarding these
terrible scorchings. You old sinner! The real truth is that everything
becomes a habit after a while, and that, now the first effervescence of
passion is over, this life grows much more simple than you imagine. You
must not believe that we lead a riotous existence of continual lusts and
orgies. Such notions, my dear fellow, are only the fruit of ignorance
and of prejudice.
Let me tell you that my harem is to me at the present time a most
tranquil home, and that, but for the fact that I have four wives,
everything about it has permanently assumed the every-day aspect of a
simple household. Our evenings are spent in conversation round the
drawing-room table with music and dancing, conducted in a thoroughly
amiable and cheerful spirit, and all set off by the accomplishments of
my sultanas. I combine in my conjugal relations the dignified oriental
bearing of a vizir with the tender sentimentalities of a Galaor, and in
this I have really attained to an exquisite perfection.
In fact, it would be the Country of Love in the Paradise of Mahomet, but
for a few clouds which, since my uncle's return, have obscured the
bright rays of my honeymoon. I have had some trouble with Hadidjé and
Nazli, who seem determined to make a trip over to the château as
Kondjé-Gul had done; for, as might have been foreseen, as soon as her
alarms had subsided, this silly creature, with the view no doubt of
exciting their jealousy, and posing as the favourite, had taken care to
relate to them all the wonders of this, to them, forbidden place. Of
course I refused at once to permit such an irregularity, contrary as it
was to all harem traditions. This refusal was the signal for a scene of
tears and jealous passions, which I subdued, but which only gave way to
the tender reproaches of slighted affections. Well, I try to jog along
as well as I can, as all husbands have to do, but I have a vague
presentiment of troubles still in the air.