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The Arabian Nights [710]

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into the palace. Without considering that his supposed rival might be a near relation to the princess, as he in fact was, being her first cousin, who had been brought up with her till her confinement to the lake; Eusuff suffered himself to be overcome by unworthy suspicion, and resolved to quit for ever a faithless mistress. Having written an angry letter upraiding her with falsehood, and bidding her farewell, he with his attendant Hullaul mounted his courser; then delivering his note to one of the females, to be given to the princess, he swam over the lake and speeded rapidly to his own country, where he was once more joyfully received by his parents and family; and in order to forget the charms of Aleefa, he indulged himself in mirth and pleasure with his lately forsaken ladies, who, delighted with the long-wished-for return of his affection, strove with each ether who should please him best.

The unsuspecting Aleefa was engaged with her cousin Sohaul and Ali Bin Ibrahim, a faithful eunuch who was his attendant, asking a thousand questions and listening to the news of her father's court, when Eusuff's letter was put into her hands. Rising up, she withdrew into a closet, opened it, and was much vexed at its ungrateful contents; but knowing herself innocent, and trusting that her lover would return when convinced of his mistake, she composed her mind as firmly as she, could till the departure of her cousin, who after some days took leave and returned to the capital of Mherejaun, leaving behind him the eunuch, to the great satisfaction of the princess, who hoped to make him the mediator between her and her beloved. Nor was she mistaken. When unfolding to him the whole of her adventures with Eusuff, he agreed to be the bearer of a letter, and explain to him the cause of his needless suspicion. Having swam the lake with the fair Aleefa's packet wrapped in his clothes upon his head, the faithful Ah in twenty days reached the city of Sind, and demanding an audience in private, which was readily granted, delivered his commission to the prince. Eusuff, whose anger was now calmed, and who had already begun to feel uneasy at absence from the still reigning favourite of his heart, on perusing her letter was overcome with joy. He listened eagerly to the account of his fancied rival by the eloquent Ali Bin Ibrohim, to whom he expressed his conviction of her constancy, his own sorrow for his unreasonable desertion of her, and his intention of departing to visit her the next night, till when he desired the eunuch to repose himself after his fatigue. Ali Bin Ibrahim was then lodged, by the prince's orders, in one of the most splendid apartments of the palace, and respectfully waited upon by the domestics of his court. The night following, Eusuff having ordered his favourite Hullaul to make preparations, departed from Sind as before, with the eunuch mounted on a second courser. They in a few days reached the borders of the lake, swam over, and to the great joy of the once more happy Aleefa arrived at the citadel. The recollection of the pains of absence added a zest to the transports of reunion, and the lovers were, if possible, more delighted with each other than before their separation. The faithful Ali Bin Ibrahim was now dismissed with invaluable presents of precious stones, and returned to the court of Mherejaun, the time for his stay at the citadel of the lake being expired. On his arrival, the sultan, anxious for intelligence of his daughter's health, took him into his closet, and while he was questioning him, by some accident the eunuch's turban unfortunately falling off, the precious stones, which, with a summary of the adventures of Eusuff and Aleefa, and his own embassy to Sind, were wrapped in the folds, tumbled upon the floor. The sultan knew the jewels, and examining the turban, to make farther discoveries, found the paper, which he eagerly read; and furious was his wrath, when from the contents it appeared that all his caution to guard against the decrees of heaven had been vain, that the princess had been seduced, and his

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