Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 5.djvu/62

to ſee me? I ſhall have my Mind wavering when I ſpeak to him, and the leaſt Complaiſance which I ſhew to his Love, will ſtab me to the Heart like a Dagger: Can I reliſh his kind Words and Careſſes? Think Prince, to what Torments I ſhall be expoſed when I can-ſee you no-more. Her Tears and Sighs hindred her to go on, and the Prince of Perſia would have replied to her, but his own Grief, and that of his Miſtreſs, made him uncapable of doing it.

Ebn Thaher, whoſe chief Buſineſs was to get out of the Palace, was obliged to comfort them, and to exhort them to have Patience: But the truſty Slave interrupted them; Madam, ſays ſhe, to Schemſelnihar, you have no Time to loſe, the Eunuchs begin to arrive, and you know the Califf will be here immediately. O Heaven! how cruel is this Separation, cries the Favourite? Make haſte, ſays ſhe to the Confident, carry them both to the Gallery which looks into the Garden on the one Side, and to the Tygris on the other; and when the Night grows dark, let them out by the Back-gate, that they may retire with Safety. Having ſroke thus, ſhe tenderly embraced the Prince of Perſia, without being able to ſay one Word more, and went to meet the Calif in ſuch a Diſorder as cannot well be imagined.

In the mean time the truſty Slave carried the Prince and Ebn Thaher to the Gallery as Schemſelnihar had appointed, and having brought them in, left them there, and ſhut the Door upon them, after having aſſured them that they had nothing to fear, and that ſhe would come for them when it was time.

Here Scheherazade broke off, and next Night purſued the Story thus.

SIR, continued ſhe, Schemſelnihar’s truſty Slave leaving the Prince of Perſia and Ebn Thaher, they forgot ſhe had aſſured them that they needed not to be afraid; They ſearch’d all the Gallery, and were ſeized with extream Fear, becauſe they knew no Place where they might eſcape, in Caſe the Califf or any of his Officers ſhould happen to come there.