Her father, however, at this instant threw into my way a temptation which it required all my fortitude to resist.

'Saladin,' continued he, 'it is but just that you, who have saved our lives, should share our festivity.

Come here on the birthday of my Fatima; I will place you in a balcony which overlooks the garden, and you shall see the whole spectacle.

We shall have a _feast of tulips_, in imitation of that which, as you know, is held in the grand seignior's gardens.

I assure you the sight will be worth seeing; and besides, you will have a chance of beholding my Fatima, for a moment, without her veil.' "'That,' interrupted I, 'is the thing I most wish to avoid.