But miserable tongues--may God wither them!--told Achmet of my
presence. And though I was free, and not a bondswoman, he broke upon my
sleep. . . ."
Mahommed's eyes blazed, his dark skin blackened like a coal, and he
muttered maledictions between his teeth. ". . . In the morning there was
a horror upon me, for which there is no name. But I laughed also when I
took a dagger and stole from the harem to find him in the quarters beyond
the women's gate. I found him, but I held my hand, for one was with him
who spake with a tone of anger and of death, and I listened. Then,
indeed, I rejoiced for thee, for I have found thee a road to honour and
fortune. The man was a bridge-opener--" "Ah!--O, light of a thousand
eyes, fruit of the tree of Eden!" cried Mahommed, and fell on his knees
at her feet, and would have kissed them, but that, with a cry, she said:
"Nay, nay, touch me not. But listen. . . . Ay, it was Achmet who sought
to drown thy Pasha in the Nile. Thou shalt find the man in the little
street called Singat in the Moosky, at the house of Haleel the
date-seller.
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