Shall we wait longer, master?"
" No," he gruffly replies. "Lock the gate and retire to the harem.
It must be a misunderstanding; she supposed I meant the following
evening. Go!"
The eunuch prostrates himself to the earth, and takes his departure,
gliding stealthily out into the garden. When he feels assured that
no one can see or hear him, be stands still, and laughs mockingly:
"It is a great pleasure to see a grand gentleman now and then
humiliated like the rest of us. He was terribly annoyed; I could
tell it by his voice. Serves him right! I am delighted to see that
grand gentlemen have to put up with disagreeable things sometimes,
too--truly delighted."
With a sorrowful expression of countenance he now walks on down to
the garden-gate, where the other eunuch is waiting, and tells him
his gracious master has made his reckoning without his host, and
that his purchased slave's failure to come has grieved him deeply.
They looked at each other, and the dawning light showed that they
nodded triumphantly, with a malicious, mocking grin. They understood
each other well, without telling in words what they were laughing
about and rejoicing over.
The morning had come in its full splendor, and the town and village
had again awakened to life and activity. The sheik, too, had arisen;
had already turned to the east, and finished his prayers, and
repaired to his daughter's room.
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