Alas, my
dear heart, my dear soul, replied the tender-hearted
Schemselnihar, how happy do I think you, and how unhappy myself,
when I compare your lot with my sad destiny! No doubt, you will
suffer by my absence; but that is all, and you may comfort
yourself with the hope of seeing me again; but as for me, just
Heaven! what a terrible trial am I brought to! I must not only be
deprived of the sight of the only person whom I love, but I must
be tormented with the sight of one whom you have made hateful to
me. Will not the arrival of the caliph put me in mind of your
departure? And how can I, when I think of your sweet face,
entertain that prince with that joy which he always observed in
my eyes whenever he came to see me? I shall have my mind wavering
when I speak to him; and the least complaisance which I show to
him, 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
hindered 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 incapable.
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, said she to
Schemselnihar, you have no time to lose, the eunuchs begin to
arrive, and you know the caliph will be here immediately.
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