At last he permitted me to take leave.

"You are," he said, "the most welcome guest I ever have or could have received; a guest distinguished above all others by a power independent of my own.

But what honour I can pay to courage and enterprise, what welcome I can give such a guest, shall not be unworthy of him or of myself.

Retire now to the home you will find prepared for you.

I will only ask you to remember that I have chosen one near my own in order that I may see you often, and learn in private all that you can tell me." At the entrance of the apartment I was met by the officer who had introduced me into the presence, and conducted at once to a door opening on the interior court or peristyle of the central portion of the Palace.