"All will be ready for her," said Lallakalla, when she received
the message from her husband.
But in the afternoon the Sultan sent men into the bazaar, and
these men caught Hassan, Ashimullah's servant, as he came to make
his daily purchases, and carried him to the Sultan, with whom he
was closeted for hard on an hour. When he came out Hassan
returned home, shaking his head sorrowfully, but patting his
purse comfortably; whence it appears that he suffered from a
conflict of feelings, his mind being ill at ease, but his purse
heavier. And when in the evening the Sultana came, attended only
by one tall, formidable, and inky-black attendant, Hassan ushered
her into the reception room of the harem, telling her that
Lallakalla, the first wife of his master, would attend her
immediately. Then he went out, and, having brought in the big
black slave very secretly, set him in the antechamber of the room
where the Sultana was, and hid him there, behind a high screen.
And Hassan pierced a hole in the screen, so that the big
slave could see what passed in the antechamber without being seen
himself. Then Hassan, still shaking his head, but also patting
his purse, went to summon Lallakalla. But the big black slave
lay quiet behind the screen.
Presently Lallakalla passed through and entered the room where
the Sultana was. A few moments later Ashimullah came in,
carrying over one arm several robes of silk and in the other a
large box or trunk.
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