Page:Tales from the Arabic, Vol 1.djvu/55

35 O Commander of the Faithful,” answered Mesrour.] Quoth the Lady Zubeideh, laughing from a heart full of wrath, “Wilt thou not leave thy jesting? Is it not enough that Aboulhusn is dead, but thou must kill my slave-girl also and bereave us of the two and style me little of wit?” “Indeed,” answered the Khalif, “it is Nuzhet el Fuad who is dead.” And Zubeideh said, “Indeed he hath not been with thee, nor hast thou seen him, and none was with me but now but Nuzhet el Fuad, and she sorrowful, weeping, with her clothes torn. I exhorted her to patience and gave her a hundred dinars and a piece of silk; and indeed I was awaiting thy coming, so I might condole with thee for thy boon-companion Aboulhusn el Khelia, and was about to send for thee.” The Khalif laughed and said, “None is dead but Nuzhet el Fuad;” and she, “No, no, my lord; none is dead but Aboulhusn.”

With this the Khalif waxed wroth, and the Hashimi vein started out from between his eyes and he cried out to Mesrour and said to him, “Go forth and see which of them is dead.” So Mesrour went out, running, and the Khalif said to Zubeideh, “Wilt thou lay me a wager?” “Yes,” answered she; “I will wager, and I say that Aboulhusn is dead.” “And I,” rejoined the Khalif, “wager and say that none is dead save Nuzhet el Fuad; and the stake shall be the Garden of Pleasance against thy palace and the Pavilion of Pictures.” So they [agreed