friendly as Bourbons) was in rebellion against the Padishah! You know,
or you don't know, that the true title of the Grand Seignior is
Padishah, and not Sultan or Grand Turk. You needn't think that a harem
is much of a thing; you might as well have a herd of goats. The women
are horribly stupid down there; I much prefer the grisettes of the
Chaumieres at Mont-Parnasse."

"They are nearer, at any rate," said the count.

"The women of the harem couldn't speak a word of French, and that
language is indispensable for talking. Ali gave me five legitimate
wives and ten slaves; that's equivalent to having none at all at
Janina. In the East, you must know, it is thought very bad style to
have wives and women. They have them, just as we have Voltaire and
Rousseau; but who ever opens his Voltaire or his Rousseau? Nobody.
But, for all that, the highest style is to be jealous. They sew a
woman up in a sack and fling her into the water on the slightest
suspicion,--that's according to their Code."

"Did you fling any in?" asked the farmer.

"I, a Frenchman! for shame! I loved them."

Whereupon Georges twirled and twisted his moustache with a dreamy air.

They were now entering Saint-Denis, and Pierrotin presently drew up
before the door of a tavern where were sold the famous cheese-cakes of
that place. All the travellers got out. Puzzled by the apparent truth
mingled with Georges' inventions, the count returned to the coucou
when the others had entered the house, and looked beneath the cushion