from his shop precisely at sunset, to find his
house set in order,— a sleek black servant lad
ready to open the door; a fat black cook
giving the last turn, with a wooden spoon, to
the stew; his plump little wife half-way down
the staircase to meet him; and his chubby
little baby gnawing his fists in an old carved
cradle in one corner of the leewan. Then did
Radawan feel that he was a little prince;
that he had his dominions and his subjects
more obedient than those of many a mighty
monarch; and that he was looked up to with
love, not unmixed with a spice of awe; for,
like many timid men, Radawan liked some-
times to fancy himself fierce and tyrannical.

We are going to introduce him in one of
his most overbearing moods. He entered,
one evening, the little courtyard of his house,
imitating, as far as his placid countenance
would allow, the awful glance which he had
observed on the visage of the Head of the
Police, as he rode through the bazaars, that
day, preceded by criers, offering mighty
rewards for the discovery of certain robbers
and murderers who had lately been exercising
their dreadful trade with impunity. The
sleek boy, being no physiognomist, received
him with familiar welcome; the fat cook
bawled out from the kitchen-door that the
kababs were done to a nicety. But his
assumed sternness did not relax, and he
ascended the stairs with a slow and stately
step. As usual, he met his plump little wife
in the dark, and his dignity was half disturbed
by a girlish embrace. Yet he only slightly
swept the offered cheek with his compressed
lips, and, continuing to ascend, entered the
saloon, pretended not to glance at the cradle,
sitting down, in a rigid attitude, in his accus-
tomed corner of the divan.

Ayesha did not care a fig for these grand
airs; and busied herself in preparing the
supper, without so much as asking her lord
what ailed him. Radawan began to feel
uneasy; he perpetually shifted his position,
called for a pipe in a tone intended to be
authoritative, and looked very hard at the
little clenched hands which he saw fighting
with the air close by. Still, he had
determined to play the tyrant that evening;
and, in trying to look awful, twisted his
meek face into so many grimaces, that
Ayesha, as she tripped by, could not forbear
laughing.

"Why laughest thou, woman?" said
Radawan, succeeding, at length, in curving
his brows into a real frown. " Where is the
respect due to my beard?"

"Thy beard, O master! " cried the
impudent little woman, twisting one of her hands
in that sacred appendage, and putting the
other round his neck. "When have I ever
wanted in respect to it? especially since, by
the advice of thy neighbour Saäd, thou hast let
it grow until it is as long as little Ali, there."

"O woman!" replied Radawan, trying to
repulse her. "Scoff not at the advice of
neighbour Saäd; but listen to what he has
told me to-day. He says it is absurd for a
man of my standing to be content with one
wife; and has offered me his daughter— a
Sweet virgin, straight as a wand, with eyes
like gazelles, a nose like a pillar of silver, a
mouth like a rosebud— But, what aileth
thee, woman?"

Ayesha started back, and remained
standing before her husband with a countenance
so charged with anger, a form so trembling
with emotion, that, had he observed it, he
would certainly have been frightened out
of his wits. It was some time before
Ayesha could speak; but at length she
said:—

"And did he tell thee all this of his
daughter? Why, I have seen her at the bath—
she is pale, one-eyed, flat-nosed, big-mouthed,
crooked, and thin (here she glanced at her
own somewhat fully developed form). Never
mind, however, Radawan. Marry as many
wives as you please; only remember— if you
bring them home here, I will kill them all—
then kill you, then kill myself, and then—
yes, then— I will kill baby!"

At this terrific threat Radawan became
very white, murmured that he was only
joking; as, indeed, he was, in a way; and
soon afterwards found his beard in the hands
of that identical little offspring whose life one
must suppose to have been saved by a
promised abstinence from polygamy.
Unfortunately for him, his skin was remarkably
tender; and the affectionate tugs to which he
was subjected— but of which, under the
circumstances, he dared not complain— brought
the tears into his eyes, and produced a variety
of facial contortions, which the baby—
innocent thing!— believed to be made wholly and
solely for its especial amusement. Ayesha,
who understood the case better, and had not
quite suppressed her indignation, smiled
maliciously at the punishment her lord was
undergoing; and fairly danced with delight
when, unable any longer to endure the pain,
Radawan roared to be released.

After this they supped comfortably: Ayesha
pretending, at first, humbly to serve the
great-souled Radawan; but at length, with
an audacity not common among Muslim
women, sat down by his side. They had
become quite merry, when, suddenly, a
loud shriek disturbed them, and the fat
cook rushed in. "O master! O mistress!"
she cried; "there is a dead man— a
murdered man— in the court." For some time
the husband and wife could neither speak
nor move. At length, however, each taking
a light, they went forth into the gallery; and,
looking down, beheld, sure enough, the corpse
of a man, with a large wound in the
forehead, lying in the very centre of the court.
At the same moment loud knocks were
heard without, lights flashed in through the
windows, and numerous stern voices called
aloud to open.