"Oh, _there_ you are!" he said irritably. "Where on earth have you been all this time?" "Nowhere on earth," was the bland reply; "but in the regions of the air, seeking to promote thy welfare." "If you have been as brilliantly successful up there as you have down here," retorted Horace, "I have much to thank you for." "I am more than repaid," answered the Jinnee, who, like many highly estimable persons, was almost impervious to irony, "by such assurances of thy gratitude." "I'm _not_ grateful," said Horace, fuming. "I'm devilish annoyed!" "Well hath it been written," replied the Jinnee:-- "'Be disregardful of thine affairs, and commit them to the course of Fate, For often a thing that enrages thee may eventually be to thee pleasing.'" "I don't see the remotest chance of that, in my case," said Horace. "Why is thy countenance thus troubled, and what new complaint hast thou against me?" "What the devil do you mean by turning a distinguished and perfectly inoffensive scholar into a wall-eyed mule?" Horace broke out. "If that is your idea of a practical joke----!" "It is one of the easiest affairs possible," said the Jinnee, complacently running his fingers through the thin strands of his beard. "I have accomplished such transformations on several occasions." "Then you ought to be ashamed of yourself, that's all. The question is now--how do you propose to restore him again?" "Far from undoing be that which is accomplished!" was the sententious answer. "What?" cried Horace, hardly believing his ears; "you surely don't mean to allow that unhappy Professor to remain like that for ever, do you?" "None can alter what is predestined." "Very likely not. But it wasn't decreed that a learned man should be suddenly degraded to a beastly mule for the rest of his life. Destiny wouldn't be such a fool!" "Despise not mules, for they are useful and valuable animals in the household." "But, confound it all, have you no imagination? Can't you enter at all into the feelings of a man--a man of wide learning and reputation--suddenly plunged into such a humiliating condition?" "Upon his own head be it," said Fakrash, coldly. "For he hath brought this fate upon himself." "Well, how do you suppose that you have helped _me_ by this performance? Will it make him any the more disposed to consent to my marrying his daughter? Is that all you know of the world?" "It is not my intention that thou shouldst take his daughter to wife." "Whether you approve or not, it's my intention to marry her." "Assuredly she will not marry thee so long as her father remaineth a mule." "There I agree with you. But is that your notion of doing me a good turn?" "I did not consider thy interest in this matter." "Then will you be good enough to consider it now? I have pledged my word that he shall be restored to his original form. Not only my happiness is at stake, but my honour."