d has changed, and the Rose of the World is
better,' replied the lady laughing.

Honain touched her pulse.

'Irregular,' said the physician.

'Like myself,' said the lady. 'Is that a new slave?'

'A recent purchase, and a great bargain. He is good-looking, has the
advantage of being deaf and dumb, and is harmless in every respect.'

''Tis a pity,' replied the lady; 'it seems that all good-looking people
are born to be useless. I, for instance.'

'Yet rumour whispers the reverse,' remarked the physician.

'How so?' inquired the lady.

'The young King of Karasme.'

'Poh! I have made up my mind to detest him. A barbarian!'

'A hero!'

'Have you ever seen him?'

'I have.'

'Handsome?'

'An archangel.'

'And sumptuous?'

'Is he not a conqueror? All the plunder of the world will be yours.'

'I am tired of magnificence. I built this kiosk to forget it.'

'It is not in the least degree splendid,' said Honain, looking round
with a smile.

'No,' answered the lady, with a self-satisfied air: 'here, at least, one
can forget one has the misfortune to be a princess.'

'It is certainly a great misfortune,' said the physician.

'And yet it must be the only tolerable lot,' replied the lady.

'Assuredly,' replied Honain.

'For our unhappy sex, at least.'

'Very unhappy.'

'If I were only a man!'

'What a hero you would be!'

'I should like to live in endless confusion.'

'I have not the least doubt of it.'

'Have you got me the books?' eagerly inquired the Princess.

'My slave bears them,' replied Honain.

'Let me see them directly.'

Honain took the bag from Alroy, and unfolded its contents; the very
volumes of Greek romances which Ali, the merchant, had obtained for him.

'I am tired of poetry,' said the Princess, glancing over the costly
volumes, and tossing them away; 'I long to see the world.'

'You would soon be tired of that,' replied the physician.

'I suppose common people are never tired.' said the Princess.

'Except with labour;' said the physician; 'care keeps them alive.'

'What is care?' asked the Princess, with a smile.

'It is a god,' replied the physician, 'invisible, but omnipotent. It
steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes
away the appetite, and turns the hair grey.'

'It is no true divinity, then,' replied the Princess, 'but an idol we
make ourselves. I am a sincere Moslem, and will not worship it. Tell me
some news, Honain.'

'The y