"But at length," said the favorite, "you comforted your self?" "Alas! madam," replied Selim, "I thought I never should; but this one thing I have learnt by it, that there is no grief eternal." "Well," said Mirzoza, "let me hear no more of the men: there they are all. That is to say, Signor Selim, that this poor Cydalisa, whose history has moved us to compassion, and whom you have so much regretted, was a great fool to rely on your oath; and that, while Brama perhaps chastises her severely for her credulity, you pass your time pleasantly enough in the arms of another." "Pray, madam," replied the Sultan, "calm your self: Selim loves again, Cydalisa will be revenged." "Sir," answered Selim, "your highness may possibly be misinformed. Ought I not to have learnt, once for my whole life, by my adventure with Cydalisa, that true love was too prejudicial to happiness?"--"Without doubt," interrupted Mirzoza, "and yet I would lay a wager, notwithstanding your philosophical reflections, that you actually love another more ardently than--" "More ardently," replied Selim, "I dare not assert: these five years past I am attached, but attached from my heart to a charming woman. It was not without difficulty, that I made her listen to me, for she had always been of a virtue!"--"Virtue!" cried the Sultan; "courage, my friend, I am charmed, when one talks to me of the virtue of a court lady." "Selim," said the favorite, "continue your story:" "and always believe, as a good mussulman, in the fidelity of your mistress," added the Sultan. "Ah! prince," replied Selim with vivacity, "Fulvia is faithful to me:" "faithful, or not," answered Mangogul, "what is that to your happiness? You believe it, and that is sufficient?" "Oh then! 'tis Fulvia that you are now in love with," said the favorite. "Yes, madam," answered Selim. "So much the worse, my friend," added Mangogul: "I have not a grain of faith in her. She is perpetually beset by Bramins, and these Bramins are terrible fellows: besides, I find she has little Chinese eyes, with a turn'd up nose; and an air thoroughly inclining to the side of pleasure. Between us, is this true?" "Prince," answered Selim, "I believe she has no aversion to it." "Well," replied the Sultan, "every thing gives way to that charm: which you ought to know better than I, or you are not"--"You are mistaken," replied the favorite, "a man may have all the sense in the world, and not know that. I wager"--"Always wagers," interrupted Mangogul: "I am out of all patience; those women are incorrigible. Pray, madam, win your castle, and lay wagers afterward."