The vizier, who was well acquainted with the quick and violent disposition of his master, hastened to obey him. He arrived at the house of the ladies, and informed them, with as much politeness as possible, of the orders he had received to conduct them to the caliph; but did not hint at any thing relative to what passed the night before. The ladies immediately put on their veils, and went along with the vizier, who, in passing his own door, called for the calenders. They had just learnt that they had before seen the caliph, and had even spoken to him without even knowing it was he. The vizier brought them all to the palace, and executed his commission with so much diligence, that the caliph was perfectly satisfied. This prince ordered the ladies to stand behind the door-way, which led to his own apartment, in order to preserve a certain decorum before the officers of his household. He kept the three calenders near him, who made it sufficiently apparent, by their respectful behaviour, that they were not ignorant in whose presence they had the honour to appear. When the ladies were seated, the caliph turned himself towards them, and said, “When I inform you, ladies, that I introduced myself to you last night, disguised as a merchant, I shall without doubt cause you some alarm: you are afraid, probably, that you offended me, and you think, perhaps, that I have ordered you to come here only to show you some marks of my resentment; but be of good courage, and be assured that I have forgotten what is past, and that I am even very well satisfied with your conduct. I wish that all the ladies of Bagdad were possessed of as much sense as I have observed in you. I shall always remember the moderation with which you conducted yourselves after the incivility we were guilty of towards you. I was then a simple merchant of Moussoul, but I am now Haroun Alraschid, the seventh caliph of the glorious house of Abbas, which holds the place of our great prophet. I have ordered you here only for the sake of being informed who you are, and to inquire of you for what reason one of you, after having ill-treated the two black dogs, wept with them. Nor am I less curious to learn why the bosom of another became so covered with scars.” Though the caliph pronounced these words very distinctly, and the three ladies understood them very well, the vizier Giafar, as was the custom, did not fail to repeat them. The prince had no sooner encouraged Zobeidè by this speech, which he addressed to her, than she gave him the satisfaction he required, in the following manner. THE HISTORY OF ZOBEIDÈ.