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206 ago, he paid the dower to the father of this woman." The fifth merchant said: "I am an ignorant man, and speech does not come readily to my lips. But may I never enter the Christian paradise if this is not the shining one of Nassim's harem, and if she has not bought many pounds of spices and sugar in my poor shop."

The sixth merchant said : "May my right hand wither as does the thirsty date-tree when the well dries up, if I do not speak the truth; verily I declare that this is the well-beloved favorite woman of Nassim's household! She is a Bedawin, and according to the custom of the tribesmen she came here unveiled; but she obeyed her master's wishes, and I am the merchant who sold to her the first black and gold Egyptian veil, to hide her chaste features from the impudent glance of the multitude."

Such was the testimony of the six Giaour merchants, and the kadee was puzzled; and though he knew in the inmost chamber of his heart that Khassoum was speaking the truth, he did not know how to prove it.

He thought and thought and thought, O you chil-