The governor’s orders were immediately put in execution: the jeweller was punished as he deserved. Then the governor, having ordered all the company to withdraw, said to me, My son, tell me without fear how this necklace fell into your hands --conceal nothing from me. Then I told him plainly all that had passed, and declared I had chosen rather to pass for a thief than to reveal that tragical adventure. Good God! said the governor, thy judgments are incomprehensible, and we ought to submit to them without murmuring. I receive, with an entire submission, the stroke thou hast been pleased to inflict upon me. Then, directing his discourse to me, My son, said he, having now heard the cause of your disgrace, for which I am very much concerned, I will give you an account of the disgrace that befell me. Know, then, that I am the father of those two young ladies you were speaking of but now. The first lady, who had the impudence to come to your house, was my eldest daughter. I had given her in marriage, at Cairo, to one of her cousins, my brother’s son. Her husband died, and she returned home, corrupted with all manner of wickedness which she had learned in Egypt. Before I took her home, her youngest sister, who died in that deplorable manner in your arms, was a very prudent young woman, and had never given me any occasion to complain of her conduct. But after that, the eldest sister grew very intimate with her, and insensibly made her as wicked as herself. The day after the death of the youngest, not finding her at table, I asked her eldest sister what was become of her; but she, instead of answering, fell to crying bitterly, from whence I formed a fatal presage. I pressed her to inform me of what I asked her. Father, said she, sobbing, I can tell you no more than that my sister put on her best clothes yesterday, and her fine pearl necklace, and went out, and has not been heard of since. I made search for my daughter all over the town, but could learn nothing of her unhappy fate. In the mean time the eldest, who doubtless repented of her jealous fury, took on very much, and incessantly bewailed the death of her sister; she denied herself all manner of food, and so put an end to her deplorable days. Such, continued the governor, such is the condition of mankind! --such are the unlucky accidents to which they are exposed! However, my son, added he, since we are both of us equally unfortunate, let us unite our sorrow, and not abandon one another. I give you in marriage a third daughter I have still left; she is younger than her sisters, and in no respect imitates their conduct; besides, she is handsomer than they were, and I assure you is of a disposition calculated to make you happy. You shall have no other house but mine; and after my death, you and she shall be heirs to all my property.