Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 9.djvu/78

60 transgression against her honour.” Quoth she, “In this intent may God deliver thee! Indeed compassion for thee hath taken hold upon my heart.” Then she called her maid and said to her, “Go to Shejeret ed Durr and say to her, ‘Thy sister salutes thee and bids thee to her; so favour her by coming to her this night, according to thy wont, for her breast is straitened.’” So the maid went out and presently returning, told her mistress that Shejeret ed Durr said, “May God bless me with thy long life and make me thy ransom! By Allah, hadst thou bidden me to other than this, I had not hesitated; but the Khalif’s meagrims constrain me and thou knowest my rank with him.” But the other said to her maid, “Return to her and say, ‘Nothing will serve but thou must come to my mistress, upon a privy matter between her and thee.’”

So the maid went out again and presently returned with the lady, whose face shone like the full moon. Her sister met her and embraced her; then said she, “Ho, Aboulhusn, come forth to her and kiss her hands.” Now I was in a closet within the apartment; so I came out; and when my mistress saw me, she threw herself upon me and strained me to her bosom, saying, “How camest thou in the Khalif’s clothes and his ornaments and perfumes? Tell me what hath befallen thee.” So I related to her all that had befallen me and what I had suffered for fright and so forth; and she said, “What thou hast endured for my sake is grievous to me, and praised be God who hath appointed the issue to be safety, and the fulfilment of safety is in thy entering my lodging and that of my sister.” Then she carried me to her own apartment, saying to her sister, “I have made a covenant with him that I will not foregather with him unlawfully; but, as he hath ventured himself and incurred this great peril, I will be even as