"Why, then, she must be Circe herself," I exclaimed: "it's a terrible
look-out for me!"
"Oh, you need not laugh," she continued: "your lofty philosophical
contempt would not serve you in the least. A beautiful sorceress like
that girl is all the more dangerous because her own heart is liable to
be kindled by the flames of her incantations. In her heart slumber
passions which will devour her some day, both her and the man she loves.
That is why I am reading you this lecture, with the object of warning
you in time, before your youthful recklessness has carried you too far
in this affair; especially as you are already betrothed to another."
Notwithstanding the semi-jocular manner which my aunt had preserved
throughout this lecture, I could easily perceive that she was seriously
alarmed on my behalf. I therefore abandoned my jesting tone, assuring
her that neither my imagination nor my heart were in the smallest danger
with Mademoiselle Kondjé-Gul Murrah, and that "no change whatever would
be made in our present relations." This jesuitical reply appeared to
satisfy her.
"In that case," she continued, "I may set to work to get her married?"
"Get her married?" I exclaimed in astonishment.
"Certainly. Did I not tell you, before I began questioning you, that I
had an important commission to discharge? My young cousin Kiusko adores
her, he has begged me to see Madame Murrah on his behalf, and I expect
to call on her this very day, to set this important business in train."
Although I might have long ago foreseen the consequences of emancipating
Kondjé-Gul from her harem life, and the conflict which it would involve
me in with our social customs, I must admit that this revelation of my
aunt's intentions caused me no small anxiety. Kondjé's remarkable beauty
created too much sensation in the world for me to hope that rivals would
not turn up in large numbers, against whom I should have to defend
myself. Her personal independence, the wealth which her mother's
establishment indicated, and her youth, all seemed to leave the field
open to sanguine hopes, and to attempts to win her hand, to the open
acknowledgment of which no obstacle appeared. Nevertheless, well
prepared as I was for such attempts, and fully expecting to witness
them, I was very much affected by the news that Kiusko was my rival. It
was impossible for me to doubt that his determination to marry
Kondjé-Gul was the result of reflection as well as of love, and that it
would be only strengthened by any obstacle. Of a calm and energetic
nature, endowed with an iron will, and accustomed to see everything
submit to his law, he had also preserved that freshness of the
affections which would be intensified by the impulses of a first love.