Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 2.djvu/21
fect a Deſign I have in my Mind; I have caus’d an Edifice to be built, which is now finiſhed, ſo as one may dwell in it: You will not be diſpleas’d if I ſhew it you. But firſt you are to promiſe me upon Oath that you will keep my Secret, according to the Confidence repoſe in you.
The Love and Familiarity that was between us would not allow me to refuſe him any thing. I very readily took the Oath he required of me: Upon which he ſays to me, Stay here till I return, I will be with you in a Moment; and accordingly he came with a Lady in his Hand, of a ſingular Beauty, and magnificently apparall’d: He did not diſcover who ſhe was, neither did I think it was Manners in me to make inquiry. We ſat down again with this Lady at Table, where we continued ſome time, entertaining our ſelves with Diſcourſes upon indifferent Subjects; and now and then a full Glaſs to drink one another’s Health. After which the Prince ſaid, Couſin, we muſt looſe no time, therefore pray oblige me to take this Lady along with you, and conduct her to ſuch a Place, where you will ſee a Tomb newly built in form of a Dome; you will eaſily know it, the Gate is open, go in there together, and tarry till I come, which will be very ſpeedily.
Being true to my Oath, I made no further Inquiry, but took the Lady by the Hand, and by the Directions which the Prince, my Couſin, had given me, I brought her to the Place, by the Light of the Moon, without miſſing one Step of the Way. We were ſcarcely got thither, till we ſaw the Prince following after, carrying a little Pitcher with Water, a Hatchet, and a little Bag with Plaiſter.
The Hatchet ſerv’d him to break down the empty Sepulchre in the middle of the Tomb; he took away the Stones one after another, and laid them in a Corner: when all this was taken away, he digg’d up the Ground, where I ſaw a Trap-door under the Sepulchre, which he lift up, and underneath perceived the Head of a Stair-caſe leading into a Vault. Then my Couſin ſpeaking to the Lady, ſaid, Madam, it is by this Way, that we are to go to the Place I told you of: Upon which the Lady drew nigh, and went down, and the Prince began to follow after; but turning firſt to