said Horace, "but with
us it is not usual for a man to engage a houri to dance after dinner to
amuse the lady he is proposing to marry. It's the kind of attention
she'd be most unlikely to appreciate.

"Then was one of thy guests the damsel whom thou art seeking to marry?"

"She was," said Horace, "and the other two were her father and mother.
From which you may imagine that it was not altogether agreeable for me
when your gazelle threw herself at my feet and hugged my knees and
declared that I was the light of her eyes. Of course, it all meant
nothing--it's probably the conventional behaviour for a gazelle, and I'm
not reflecting upon her in the least. But, in the circumstances, it
_was_ compromising."

"I thought," said Fakrash, "that thou assuredst me that thou wast not
contracted to any damsel?"

"I think I only said that there was no one whom I would trouble you to
procure as a wife for me," replied Horace; "I certainly was
engaged--though, after this evening, my engagement is at an end--unless
... that reminds me, do you happen to know whether there really _was_ an
inscription on the seal of your bottle, and what it said?"

"I know naught of any inscription," said the Jinnee; "bring me the seal
that I may see it."

"I haven't got it by me at this moment," said Horace; "I lent it to my
friend--the father of this young lady I told you of. You see, Mr.
Fakrash, you got me into--I mean, I was in such a hole over this affair
that I was obliged to make a clean breast of it to him. And he wouldn't
believe it, so it struck me that there might be an inscription of some
sort on the seal, saying who you were, and why Solomon had you confined
in the bottle. Then the Professor would be obliged to admit that there's
something in my story."

"Truly, I wonder at thee and at the smallness of thy penetration," the
Jinnee commented; "for if there were indeed any writing upon this seal,
it is not possible that one of thy race should be able to decipher it."

"Oh, I beg your pardon," said Horace; "Professor Futvoye is an Oriental
scholar; he can make out any inscription, no matter how many thousands
of years old it may be. If anything's there, he'll decipher it. The
question is whether anything _is_ there."

The effect of this speech on Fakrash was as unexpected as it was
inexplicable: the Jinnee's features, usually so mild, began to work
convulsively until they became terrible to look at, and suddenly, with a
fierce howl,