“Let us not break our bond of friendship for a woman!” he said, “for one who may not deserve such a triumph: rather let us deal frankly with each other. I will confess that the tone in which I first spoke of your gallantry, had the harshness of a censor, not the kindness of a friend: austerity is the fault of my nature; as such forgive me. Now tell me in return, whether the lady I met in the gardens, and who fled away at seeing me, has not passed the night here.--I would warn you for your own safety not to encourage an amour which may end disastrously: the lady’s mien bespoke her of high birth, and in Persia the irregularities of women of quality are punished with death. Make me your confidant; if your love is honorable, my sympathy at least,--dare you trust me with her name?”-- Sebastian interrupted him, “You are not serious Prince in expecting me to make a confidence of this kind!--do you think it possible for a man of honour to betray the weakness even of a woman he contemned?--however, be satisfied; I have no confidence of the sort to repose in you: it is true the lady was here; I may not deny it; but on the faith of a Portuguese, a soldier, and”----Sebastian hastily stopt, and confused by the word which in his fervour he was about to use, he turned away, glowing and disordered. Prince Abbas, who saw in this embarrassment only the sign of insincerity, exclaimed with an air of angry chagrin, “what a contemptible passion is this love! or rather, what a degrading passion when illicit, since it palsies the tongue of truth, and makes ingenuous souls tread the path of falsehood! Say no more Sir Knight! I esteem you still too much not to regret that in future I must not esteem you so highly.” By a violent effort which respect for Abbas’s principles alone produced, the impetuous Sebastian reined in his vehement feelings, and said, in the breathless tone of restrained wrath, “on the faith of a Portuguese, a soldier, and a Christian, that lady visited me to night, for the first, and I firmly believe, for the last time: she was with me only a short period; her veil was but partly put aside for a single moment during her discourse; and love had no share in it.” “Love had no share in it!” repeated Prince Abbas, stopping hastily, as he walked to and fro, “in the name of Heaven, then, what errand could bring a Persian woman at the dead of night to the solitary lodging of a stranger?”