gratification of his avarice. Every guest was expected to bring to the
palace gate a gift in proportion to his means, and foot officers watched
to see that no one forgot this obligation. At length, on the nineteenth
day, Ali resolved to crown the feast by an orgy worthy of himself. He
caused the galleries and halls of his castle by the lake to be decorated
with unheard-of splendour, and fifteen hundred guests assembled for a
solemn banquet. The pacha appeared in all his glory, surrounded by his
noble attendants and courtiers, and seating himself on a dais raised
above this base crowd which trembled at his glance, gave the signal to
begin. At his voice, vice plunged into its most shameless diversions,
and the wine-steeped wings of debauchery outspread themselves over the
feast. All tongues were at their freest, all imaginations ran wild, all
evil passions were at their height, when suddenly the noise ceased, and
the guests clung together in terror. A man stood at the entrance of the
hall, pale, disordered, and wild-eyed, clothed in torn and blood-stained
garments. As everyone made way at his approach, he easily reached the
pacha, and prostrating himself at his feet, presented a letter. Ali
opened and rapidly perused it; his lips trembled, his eyebrows met in
a terrible frown, the muscles of his forehead contracted alarmingly. He
vainly endeavoured to smile and to look as if nothing had happened, his
agitation betrayed him, and he was obliged to retire, after desiring a
herald to announce that he wished the banquet to continue.

Now for the subject of the message, and the cause of the dismay it
produced.




CHAPTER VI