She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the old woman said to the man, "However the secret must not go beyond us three, to wit me, thee and her; and there is no help but thou be lavish of thy money to boot." He replied, "Though my life were the price of her favours 'twere no great matter." "So it was agreed" (continued the man of Upper Egypt), "that I should pay her fifty dinars and that she should come to me; whereupon I procured the money and gave it to the old woman. She took it and said, 'Make ready a place for her in thy house, and she will come to thee this night.' Accordingly I went home and made ready what I could of meat and drink and wax candles and sweetmeats. Now my house overlooked the sea and 'twas the season of summer; so I spread the bed on the terrace roof. Presently, the Frank woman came and we ate and drank, and the night fell dark. We lay down under the sky, with the moon shining on us, and fell to watching the shimmering of the stars in the sea: and I said to myself, 'Art thou not ashamed before Allah (to whom belong Might and Majesty!) and thou a stranger, under the heavens and in presence of the deep waters, to disobey Him with a Nazarene woman and merit the torment of Fire?' Then said I, 'O my God, I call Thee to witness that I abstain from this Christian woman this night, of shamefastness before Thee and fear of Thy vengeance!' So I slept till the morning, and she arose at peep of day full of anger and went away. I walked to my shop and sat there; and behold, presently she passed, as she were the moon, accompanied by the old woman who was also angry; whereat my heart sank within me and I said to myself, 'Who art thou that thou shouldst refrain from yonder damsel? Art thou Sarн al-Sakatн or Bishr Barefoot or Junayd of Baghdad or Fuzayl bin 'Iyбz?'[FN#31] Then I ran after the old woman and coming up with her said to her, 'Bring her to me again;' and said she, 'By the virtue of the Messiah, she will not return to thee but for an hundred ducats!' Quoth I, 'I will give thee a hundred gold pieces.' So I paid her the money and the damsel came to me a second time; but no sooner was she with me than I returned to my whilome way of thinking and abstained from her and forbore her for the sake of Allah Almighty. Presently she went away and I walked to my shop, and shortly after the old woman came up, in a rage. Quoth I to her, 'Bring her to me again;' and quoth she, 'By the virtue of the Messiah, thou shalt never again enjoy her presence with thee, except for five hundred ducats, and thou shalt perish in thy pain!' At this I trembled and resolved to spend the whole price of my flax and therewith ransom my life. But, before I could think, I heard the crier proclaiming and saying, 'Ho, all ye Moslems, the truce which was between us and you is expired, and we give all of you Mahometans who are here a week from this time to have done with your business and depart to your own country.' Thus her visits