I must tell you that Kondje-Gul, who is really a very intelligent girl, had begun to study with great ardour, and it naturally followed that she benefited more from her lessons than the others, who treated them rather as an amusement. In three months she learnt French tolerably well--she it was who translated the novels to them. Hence arose a superiority on her side, which must in any case have produced a good deal of envy among the others. On the top of this came her famous excursion to the chateau, concerning which the silly creature gave them marvellous accounts, in order to pose as favourite. I should add that Kondje-Gul, being of an extremely jealous nature, often gave way to violent fits of passion. Hadidje, for some reason or other, more especially excited her suspicions. Hadidje has an excitable temperament. Between them, consequently, a considerable coolness arose: this, however, created nothing worse than a few clouds on my fine sky. For the passive domesticities of the harem, I had substituted love; for its obedience, the free expansions and impulses of the heart. I must add, however, that while rising to purer conceptions of truth, my houris retained too much of their native instincts not to get their heads turned somewhat by the novelty of their situation. Having equal rights, they claimed the same rank in my esteem. From this it resulted that Hadidje, Nazli, and Zouhra at last took umbrage at the success of Kondje-Gul, who was wrong in trying to outstrip them. "Kondje-Gul," they proclaimed, "wishes to act the _savante_. Kondje-Gul gives herself the airs of a legitimate Sultana." I must confess that the said little coquette was only too careful to impress them with her successes, of which she was rather proud. One evening she sat down to the piano, and, with a careless air, played part of a waltz, which she had learnt on the sly in order to surprise me. You may guess what the effect was. This triumph put the finishing touch to their provocation, and the evening was spent in sulky murmurs. Finally, one day when I arrived at the harem I found Kondje-Gul shut up in her own room, bathed in tears. The storm which had been impending so long had burst over her proud head--Hadidje, Zouhra, and Nazli had beaten her.