the other, "By letters and messages, my lady; by whispered words
of compliment and by greetings before the world;[FN#37] all this
bringeth lovers together and makes hard matters easy. So if thou
have aught at heart, mistress mine, I am the fittest to keep thy
secret and do thy desires and carry thy letters." Now when the
damsel heard this, her reason flew and fled for joy; but she
restrained herself from speech till she should see the issue of
the matter, saying within herself, "None knoweth this thing of
me, nor will I trust this one with my secret, till I have tried
her." Then said the woman, "O my lady, I saw in my sleep as
though a man came to me and said: 'Thy mistress and Uns al-Wujud
love each other; so do thou serve their case by carrying their
messages and doing their desires and keeping their secrets; and
much good shall befal thee.' So now I have told thee my vision
and it is thine to decide." Quoth Rose-in-Hood, after she heard
of the dream,--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
to say her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Seventy-second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Rose-in-
Hood asked her nurse after hearing of the dream, "Tell me, canst
thou keep a secret, O my nurse?"; whereto she answered, "And how
should I not keep secrecy, I that am of the flower of the
free?"[FN#38] Then the maiden pulled out the scroll, whereon she
had written the verses and said, "Carry me this my letter to Uns
al-Wujud and bring me his reply." The nurse took the letter and,
repairing to Uns al-Wujud, kissed his hands and greeted him right
courteously, then gave him the paper; and he read it and,
comprehending the contents, wrote on the back these couplets,