Fear not but that he will be only too proud of thy visit to think of aught else." Maruja, who seemed relieved at this prospect of being unaccompanied by Captain Carroll, shrugged her shoulders and assented.
When the party that afternoon drove into the courtyard of Aladdin's Palace, the announcement that its hospitable proprietor was absent, and would not return until dinner, did not abate either their pleasure or their curiosity.

As already intimated to the reader, Mr.Prince's functions as host were characteristically irregular; and the servant's suggestion, that Mr.Prince's private secretary would attend to do the honors, created little interest, and was laughingly waived by Maruja.
"There really is not the slightest necessity to trouble the gentleman," she said, politely.

"I know the house thoroughly, and I think I have shown it once or twice before for your master.

Indeed," she added, turning to her party, "I have been already complimented on my skill as a cicerone." After a pause, she continued, with a slight exaggeration of action and in her deepest contralto, "Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, the ball and court in which we are now standing is a perfect copy of the Court of Lions at the Alhambra, and was finished in fourteen days in white pine, gold, and plaster, at a cost of ten thousand dollars.

A photograph of the original structure hangs on the wall: you will observe, ladies and gentlemen, that the reproduction is perfect.