Page:Tales of Today.djvu/109

Rh, which, to say the least, equaled those of the princess Ayesha, even if they did not surpass them, and he was astonished to see how blind Mahmoud-Ben-Ahmed was; had it not been that he feared to violate the sacred laws of friendship he would gladly have made, the young slave his wife. Still, however, Leila, without suffering any loss of beauty, grew paler and paler day by day; her great eyes were suffused with languor, and the roseate hues of dawn upon her cheeks were displaced by the pallor of the moonlight. One day Mahmoud-Ben-Ahmed perceived that she had been weeping and asked of her the reason.

"Oh! dear master," she said, "how can I tell it? I, the poor slave, received and sheltered by your compassion, have dared to love you; but what am I in your eyes? I know that you have made a vow to love none but a peri or sultana: others might be content to have the sincere love of a pure young heart without longing for the daughter of the caliph or the queen of the genii. Look at me; I was fifteen years old yesterday, and it may be that I am as beautiful as that Ayesha whose name you are constantly mentioning in your dreams; it is true that my brow is not adorned by the magic ruby or by the aigrette of heron-plumes, I am not accompanied in my walks by soldiers bearing muskets inlaid with silver and coral. I can sing, however, I can improvise airs upon the guzla, and I dance like Emineh herself. I am to you as a devoted sister; what, then, is wanting to enable me to reach your heart?"

Mahmoud-Ben-Ahmed felt a disturbance in the region of his heart as he listened to these words of the fair Leila; he said nothing, however, and seemed