"
"My WIFE, my lord!" said I, aghast.
"Our daughter, the light of thine eyes! Go, my son; I see thou art wild
with joy. The Princess's tents are set up close by mine, and I know thou
longest to join her."
My wife? Here was a complication truly!
CHAPTER V.
THE ISSUE OF MY INTERVIEW WITH MY WIFE.
I found Puneeree Muckun, with the rest of my attendants, waiting at
the gate, and they immediately conducted me to my own tents in the
neighborhood. I have been in many dangerous predicaments before that
time and since, but I don't care to deny that I felt in the present
instance such a throbbing of the heart as I never have experienced when
leading a forlorn hope, or marching up to a battery.
As soon as I entered the tents a host of menials sprang forward, some to
ease me of my armor, some to offer me refreshments, some with hookahs,
attar of roses (in great quart-bottles), and the thousand delicacies of
Eastern life. I motioned them away. "I will wear my armor," said I; "I
shall go forth to-night; carry my duty to the princess, and say I grieve
that to-night I have not the time to see her. Spread me a couch here,
and bring me supper here: a jar of Persian wine well cooled, a lamb
stuffed with pistachio-nuts, a pillaw of a couple of turkeys, a curried
kid--anything.
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