"Not only so, but I find it very handsome, and I appreciate your
antiquarian passion for rare and choice objects; only there is a want of
life about it. What are those great vases, may I ask, whose enormous
mouths stand empty to receive the dust?"
"Those Mandarins!" said my uncle; "they come from the palace of the
Emperor of China."
"Oh, the men, the men!" exclaimed my aunt with a laugh: "if they were in
Paradise they would forget to contemplate the Eternal! Now, captain, my
lord and spouse, pray tell me of what use to you are beds full of
flowers, if you never rejoice your eyes with the sight of them?"
The luncheon went off charmingly and merrily. As she chatted with us, my
aunt signalled to Francis and gave him her instructions for those
innumerable comforts which a woman only can think of. My uncle, as if by
enchantment, found everything ready to hand; before he had time to ask
for anything to drink, he found his glass filled. We had not been
accustomed to this kind of service. When we left the table my aunt said, "Let us take a turn in the grounds."
She took my arm and we started off. I won't trouble you with a
description of this walk, in the course of which my aunt and I succeeded
in improving our acquaintance. We soon grew to understand each other
thoroughly. With supreme tact, and without apparent design on her part,
she had led me on by discreet questions to give her, before a quarter of
an hour had passed, a complete catalogue from A. to Z. of all my
studies, my tastes, and my pursuits, including of course my youthful
escapades, which made her smile more than once.
In this outpouring I excepted, as you may be sure, the revelations of my
career as a pasha. My uncle walked close to us, but left us to talk
together. One might have thought that he was resuming his marital
duties, interrupted only the evening before, without their course having
been disturbed by any appreciable incident. All at once, we arrived at
the foot-path which leads to the Turkish house.
"Ah! let us go into Kasre-El-Nouzha!" said my aunt.
At this I glanced at my uncle with an air of distress; he, without
wincing in the least, said: "The communicating door is walled up. Kasre-El-Nouzha is let."
"Let!" she exclaimed; "To whom?"
"To an important personage, Mohammed-Azis, a friend of mine from
Constantinople. You do not know him."