Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 5.djvu/73

Their Converſation continued ſo long that the Night was far advanced, ſo that the Prince of Perſia obliged Ebn Taber to ſtay with him. To Morrow Morning, as this truſty Friend return’d Home, there came to him a Woman whom he knew to be Schemſelniha’s Confident, and immediately ſhe ſpoke to him thus: My Miſtreis ſalutes you, and I am come to intreat you in her Name, to deliver this Letter to the Prince of Perſia. The zealous Ebn Thaher took the Letter, and returned to the Prince, accompanied with the Confident Slave.

Scheherazade ſtopp’d here for this Time, becauſe Day began to appear; and reſumed her Diſcourſe to the Sultan of the Indies the Night following, and ſaid,

SIR, When Ebn Thaher entred the Prince of Perſia’s Houſe, with Schemſelnihar’s Confidant, he pray’d her to ſtay one Moment in the Drawing Room. As ſoon as the Prince of Perſia ſaw him, he ask’d earneſtly what News he had? The beſt you can expect, anſwer’d Ebn Thaher: You are as dearly beloved as you love; Schemſelnihar’s Confident is in your Drawing Room; ſhe has brought you a Letter from her Miſtreſs, and waits for your Orders to come in. Let her come in, cries the Prince, with a Tranſport of Joy, and ſpeaking thus, he ſat down to receive her.

The Prince’s Attendants went from him as ſoon as they ſaw Ebn Thaher, and left him alone with their Maſter; Ebn Thaher went and open’d the Door, and brought in the Confident. The Prince knew her and received her very civilly. My Lord, ſays ſhe to him, I am ſenſible of the Afflictions you have endured, ſince I had the Honour to conduct you to the Boat which waited to bring you back; but I hope this Letter I have brought will contribute to your Cure: Upon this ſhe preſented him the Letter: He took it, and after he had kiſs’d it ſeveral Times, he opened and read it as follows.