doesn't understand a word" Replied the prince imperturbably, "but you
will dictate the letter to me and I shall translate it." "Oh prince,
how good you are." And Tartarin strode about the room silent and deep in
thought.

As you may imagine one does not write to a Moorish lady as one might to
a little shop-girl in Beaucaire. Happily our hero was able to cull from
his reading many phrases of oriental rhetoric and combining these with
some distant memories of the "Song of Songs" he was able to compose the
most flowery epistle you could wish for, full of unlikely similes and
improbable metaphors. With this romantic missive Tartarin would have
liked to combine a bouquet of flowers with emblematic meanings, but
prince Gregory thought it would be better to buy some pipes from the
brother, which could not fail to soften the savage temperament of the
gentleman and would please the lady, who greatly enjoyed smoking. "Let
us go quickly then and buy some pipes," Said Tartarin. "No, no." Replied
the prince, "Let me go alone, I shall get them at a better price." "Oh
prince! How good you are to take such trouble." And the trusting fellow
held out his purse to the obliging Montenegrin, exhorting him to neglect
nothing which might make the lady happy.

Unfortunately, the affair which had started so well, did not progress as
rapidly as one might have wished. Very touched, it seemed, by Tartarin's
eloquence, and already three parts won over, she would have liked
nothing better than to have received him, but her brother had scruples,
and to lay these to rest it was necessary to buy an astonishing number
of pipes. Sometimes Tartarin wondered what on earth the lady did with
them all, but he paid up nevertheless, and without stinting.

At last, after the purchase of many pipes and the composing of many