e contented himself with pursuing
the contest in colloquy, as more convenient for the time.

"Thy words" he said, "O Nazarene, might create anger, did not thy
ignorance raise compassion. Seest thou not, O thou more blind than any
who asks alms at the door of the Mosque, that the liberty thou dost
boast of is restrained even in that which is dearest to man's happiness
and to his household; and that thy law, if thou dost practise it, binds
thee in marriage to one single mate, be she sick or healthy, be she
fruitful or barren, bring she comfort and joy, or clamour and strife,
to thy table and to thy bed? This, Nazarene, I do indeed call slavery;
whereas, to the faithful, hath the Prophet assigned upon earth the
patriarchal privileges of Abraham our father, and of Solomon, the wisest
of mankind, having given us here a succession of beauty at our pleasure,
and beyond the grave the black-eyed houris of Paradise."

"Now, by His name that I most reverence in heaven," said the Christian,
"and by hers whom I most worship on earth, thou art but a blinded and
a bewildered infidel!--That diamond signet which thou wearest on thy
finger, thou holdest it, doubtless, as of inestimable value?"

"Balsora and Bagdad cannot show the like," replied the Saracen; "but
what avails it to our purpose?"

"Much," replied the Frank, "as thou shalt thyself confess. Take my
war-axe and dash the stone into twenty shivers: would each fragment be
as valuable as the original gem, or would they, all collected, bear the
tenth part of its estimation?"

"That is a child's question," answered the Saracen; "the fragments of
such a stone would not equal the entire jewel in the degree of hundreds
to one."

"Saracen," replied the Christian warrior, "the love which a true knight
binds on one only, fair and faithful, is the gem entire; the affection
thou flingest among thy enslaved wives and half-wedded slaves is
worthless, comparatively, as the sparkling shivers of the broken
diamond."

"Now, by the Holy Caaba," said the Emir, "thou art a madman who hugs
his chain of iron as if it were of gold! Look more closely. This ring
of mine would lose half its beauty were not the signet encircled and
enchased with these lesser brilliants, which grace it and set it off.
The central diamond is man, firm and entire, his value depending on
himself alone; and this circle of lesser jewels are women, borrowing
his lustre, which he deals out to them as best suits his pleasur