I then saw that I had gone the wrong way to work, and I felt vexed with myself; but it was too late.
"Art thou excited ?" she said.
"How could I be otherwise," I answered, "when thou art scorching me with an ardent fire ?" I had become more prudent, and I seized her hand without thinking any more of her face.
"Here is my husband," she said, and Yusuf came into the room.

We rose, Yusuf embraced me, I complimented him, the slave left the room.

Yusuf thanked his wife for having entertained me, and offered her his arm to take her to her own apartment.

She took it, but when she reached the door, she raised her veil, and kissing her husband she allowed me to see her lovely face as if it had been done unwittingly.

I followed her with my eyes as long as I could, and Yusuf, coming back to me, said with a laugh that his wife had offered to dine with us.
"I thought," I said to him, "that I had Zelmi before me." "That would have been too much against our established rules.