“Who dares to begin that music,” cried he, “when your prince is alone and thoughtful? Is this a time to fill the palace with your senseless tumult and rejoicing?”--The slaves fell with their faces on the ground, and said, “Let not the anger of our sovereign lord and prince fall upon us; for, if a fault has been committed, the blame rests wholly on Alhafiz. He has just now arrived with his galley in the harbour, and has brought a veiled lady into the palace, telling every one that she was the long-wished-for damsel, whom the grand emir valued more than all the diamonds and pearls of the East. Hereupon we shouted for joy, and the music played to welcome her arrival.” “If this indeed be true,” said Nurreddin, “then for the future Alhafiz shall be clad in cloth of gold and purple; nor shall he only possess the third of my treasures which was promised him, but shall sit at my left hand at the banquet-table, and ride next me in the battle-field. Should he not, however, have brought that inestimable gem, but come hither to disturb my repose by lying boasts, there shall be no want of wild beasts to tear him limb from limb, and scatter his bones to the four winds of heaven!” Ere the prince ended his speech, lo! the cedar-wood door turned slowly on its silver hinges, and there came into the hall a tall female figure simply attired, with a long veil; on her left hand a frightful Moorish woman, and on her right the grinning Alhafiz. “Here, great prince,” said Alhafiz, “I have come to fulfil my promise; the damsel is yours, and the black slave was my best assistant. I recommend her to your favour, and hope also that you will now as faithfully remember your engagements to me.” The emir made him a signal to be silent. “Thou hast an untuneable voice, Alhafiz,” said he, “and thy unmannerly demands on me prove the meanness of thine own spirit. Disturb me not then in these moments, which are to me sacred and solemn: thou hast indeed fulfilled more than I had believed to be possible, and more than I can yet well understand. Know then that thou shalt not be the first man, to whom, through his whole life, Nurreddin has remained a debtor.” Hereupon Alhafiz and the black slave nodded triumphantly to each other, while the prince rose from his couch, came respectfully towards the damsel, and said, “I feel in mine inmost heart, noble lady, that Alhafiz has not deceived me, and that you are that unequalled gem and paragon of beauty after whom I have so long and ardently longed. Now then I appeal to your benign goodness. Do not let me be withheld longer from the sight of a countenance which doubtless is the most beautiful that in this world has ever been beheld.” “Your flatteries,” answered the damsel, “would never have lifted up the veil which I now wear; but since Heaven has permitted that I should thus fall into your power, and because it is not forbidden to a Christian maiden that she should walk forth without a mask or veil before all the world, so I shall act