French and Oriental Love in a Harem

At last, after a great many hesitations, Zouhra, who is the bravest of

them all, ventured to go out with me, buried in the recesses of a

brougham, and protected by a very thick kind of mantilla, which after

all was hardly any less impenetrable than a yashmak. Then they grew

bolder, and impelled by curiosity, their coquetry getting the better of

their bashful timidity, they took a drive one day in a landau to the

Bois with Mohammed. I mounted on horseback and met them, without

appearing to know them. Everything went off as well as could be.

The carriage which I had purchased is severely simple in style, as is

suitable for a foreigner of distinction. In his European disguise

Mohammed maintains that expression of serene dignity which so

excellently suits his part of a father escorting his three daughters.

There is, in short, nothing about the latter to excite attention. If a

dark pair of eyes is sometimes distinguishable through the embroidered

veils, the fashion, at any rate, permits the features to be sufficiently

disguised to conceal the beauty of my sultanas from over-bold glances.

Of course poor Kondjé-Gul, still living away from the others, does not

take part in these frolics; but we thus gain some hours of liberty. On

the second day, while my wives were driving in the Bois, we took our

opportunity of going out, like true lovers, arm in arm; it was most

delightful!

We went on foot to the Boulevards. You may guess what raptures

Kondjé-Gul was in each step we took. It was the first time she had been

out with me alone, the first time she had felt herself free and released

from the imprisonment of the harem. Many an inquisitive fellow, seeing

us pass, and struck with her dignified manner, stopped of a sudden, and

tried to distinguish her features through the veil. We quietly laughed

at his disappointment.

When we arrived at the Rue de la Paix, we went into some of the

well-known jewellers' shops. At the sight of so many marvels, you may

guess how she was dazzled. She felt as if in a dream. We spoke in

Turkish; and the puzzled shop-keepers gazed in astonishment upon this

strange display of Asiatic charms, which they had evidently met with for

the first time. All this amused us; and it is unnecessary to add that I

quitted these haunts of temptation with a considerably lighter purse

than when I entered them.

We have already had several of these little sprees, and nothing can be

more fascinating than Kondjé-Gul's childish delight; everything is new

to her. Transported, as if by magic, from her monotonous existence at

El-Nouzha into the midst of these splendours, this free life, and this

animated world, she feels like one walking in a dream; the whole

atmosphere intoxicates her.