You are returning once more, my dear Louis, to your favourite occupation
of knocking down skittles which you have set up yourself, and are trying
to exercise your humorous spirit at my expense.
You tell me that my Oriental system of life crumbles away upon contact
with the hard world, and with those sentiments which I venture to class
among the antiquated prejudices of a worn-out civilisation.
You do not perceive, you subtle scoffer, that every one of your
arguments can be turned against you to establish the superiority of the
customs of the harem. Can't you see that all these mishaps, these
troubles, and these outbursts of jealousy, which you have intentionally
magnified, originate solely in Kondjé-Gul's emancipation from the harem,
and that none of them would have occurred if I had not departed from
Turkish usages? Consider on the one hand the tranquillity of my amours
with Zouhra, Nazli, and Hadidjé, my easy life with them, as a poet and a
sultan, secure from all annoying rivalries, and on the other hand look
at these difficulties and contests arising all at once out of our social
conventionalities.
I do not really know why I should waste any more time discussing the
question with you.
Being now confident that after the declaration which Madame Murrah would
next day make to my aunt, Kondjé-Gul would be freed henceforth from the
importunities of Count Kiusko, I soon recovered my peace of mind. I
entertained no doubts as to the effect which such a decisive answer
would produce upon Daniel. I knew that he was too deeply in love not to
feel the blow severely.
I expected, accordingly, to hear that he was mourning in some secluded
retreat over his lost hopes. For him to see Kondjé-Gul again after such
an unqualified refusal would only revive his sorrows and cause him more
suffering. More than this, it would place her in an uncomfortable
position since his declaration of love to her. But while I was
convincing myself as to this necessity for him to break off his
relations with her, great was my surprise at seeing him reappear among
us the following day as calm as ever, and just as if no unpleasant
incident had befallen him. Time went on, and still there was no change
in this respect. One might even have said, to judge from his easy
demeanour and from a certain increase of assurance in his manner, that
he felt confident in the future success of his endeavours, and was only
waiting for the happy moment when his aspirations would be realized.