"Thank you," I said; "now you may leave me."
He obeyed, saluted me without a word, and went out.
As soon as I found myself alone, not intending to restrain my feelings
any more, I began to march about the drawing-room like a madman, and
gave free vent to the outburst of a joy which overwhelmed me. I picked
up from the carpet a ribbon dropped there by Kondjé-Gul, I pressed it to
my lips with avidity; next some scattered flowers, with which Hadidjé
and Zouhra had played.
Louis, I hope you do not expect me to analyse for your benefit all the
extraordinary sensations which I experienced at that moment. The events
which befel me verged upon the supernatural--the supernatural cannot be
described--and I know not any legend, romance, or novel, relating to
this world, which has ever treated such an astounding situation as that
of which I was the hero. Those severe middle-class parents who give
their daughters, for New Year's presents, M. Galland's "Arabian Nights,"
with illustrations of the amorous adventures of the Caliph of Bagdad,
would find such a romance as mine quite too "strong," simply because the
scene is not laid in Persia, or at Samarcand. Nevertheless, my story is
identical in character, and the most modest young lady might read it
without a frown, if only my name were Hassan instead of André.
Would you like to know everything that can agitate the mind of a mortal
in such a position as mine? Listen, then.
When I had succeeded in reducing to some extent my exaltation of spirit,
when I had at last persuaded myself of the reality of this splendid
fairyland, I sat down with my elbows on the window-sill--I felt the need
of a little fresh air. It was just striking midnight. What were they
doing? Were they thinking of me, I wondered, as much as I was thinking
of them? I began to examine the four keys which Mohammed had left me.
Each key had a tiny label, with a letter and a name on it--Nazli,
Zouhra, Hadidjé, or Kondjé-Gul. My eyes were still filled with their
beauty. Although far from artless, I felt embarrassed in spite of
myself, I might almost say shy. After the fascinations of this evening,
I knew that I was in love; I loved with a strange passion suddenly
developed; I loved to overflowing these beautiful beings, without being
able to separate one from another. So completely were they mingled in my
fancy, they might have possessed but one soul between them. By reason of
my certitude of equal possession, Kondjé-Gul, Hadidjé, Nazli, and Zouhra
constituted in my imagination a single existence, exhaling its
unrivalled perfume of youth, beauty, and love.