upon Achmed with those eyes of hers in which a whole rapturous world of
paradisaical joys glowed and burned, the Padishah felt his whole heart
smitten with sweet lightnings, and when her voluptuously enchanting lips
expressed a wish, who was there in the wide world who would have the
courage to gainsay them? Certainly not Achmed! Ah, no! "Ask of me the
half of my realm!"--that was the tiniest of the flattering assurances
which he was wont to heap upon her. If he were but able to embrace her,
if he were but able to look into her burning eyes, if he were but able
to see her smile again and again, then he utterly forgot Stambul, his
capital, the host, the war, and the foreign ambassadors--and praised
the Prophet for such blessedness.

The favourite Sultana approached Achmed with that enchanting smile which
was eternally irresistible so far as he was concerned, and never
permitted an answer approaching a refusal to even appear on the lips of
the Sultan.

What pressing request could it be? Why it was only at dawn of this very
day that the Padishah had quitted her! What vision of rapture could she
have seen since then whose realisation she had set her heart upon
obtaining?

The Sultan, taking her by the hand, conducted her to his purple ottoman,
and permitted her to sit down at his feet; the Sultana folded her hands
on the knees of the Padishah, and raising her eyes to his face thus
addressed him:

"I come from thy daughter, little Eminah, she has sent me to thee that I
may kiss thy feet instead of her. As often as I see thee, majestic Khan,
it is as though I see her face, and as often as I behold her it is thy