DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11636#0286
and lower egypt. 257
gave me to understand, that her husband, who
was an old Turkey merchant, intended to go a
long journey in a short time, and she engaged me
to cultivate a closer intimacy, by passing over to
her house. She pointed out to me a little door
that opened toward the canal, and which vyas
never employed as an entrance but for the purpose
of fetching water from it. The black slave was
to wait for me when the night shut in, and intro-
duce me in perfect safety. She informed me, that,
in order to reach this door, I had only to cross the
breadth of the canal, at that time perfectly dry ;
and she swore by her head (a French woman would
liave said by her heart), that I did not run the
slightest risk. I became difficult in my turn.
The fearful consequences with which such a step
might be followed were, in my eyes, a barrier,
which the most amiable and ingenuous advances,
which assurances the most affectionate, could not
determine me to surmount. Several evenings
passed away in this species of conflict, between
the eloquent, though not uttered, invitations of
a tender desire, and the resistance of prudence fre-
quently but feebly opposed. But we had been
detected ; our interviews by means of signals, had
excited the indignation of certain Mahometans,
and the discharge of a musket from one of the
adjacent terraces, and the ball of which whizzed
close by my ear, gave me notice that it was high
vol. t. s time
gave me to understand, that her husband, who
was an old Turkey merchant, intended to go a
long journey in a short time, and she engaged me
to cultivate a closer intimacy, by passing over to
her house. She pointed out to me a little door
that opened toward the canal, and which vyas
never employed as an entrance but for the purpose
of fetching water from it. The black slave was
to wait for me when the night shut in, and intro-
duce me in perfect safety. She informed me, that,
in order to reach this door, I had only to cross the
breadth of the canal, at that time perfectly dry ;
and she swore by her head (a French woman would
liave said by her heart), that I did not run the
slightest risk. I became difficult in my turn.
The fearful consequences with which such a step
might be followed were, in my eyes, a barrier,
which the most amiable and ingenuous advances,
which assurances the most affectionate, could not
determine me to surmount. Several evenings
passed away in this species of conflict, between
the eloquent, though not uttered, invitations of
a tender desire, and the resistance of prudence fre-
quently but feebly opposed. But we had been
detected ; our interviews by means of signals, had
excited the indignation of certain Mahometans,
and the discharge of a musket from one of the
adjacent terraces, and the ball of which whizzed
close by my ear, gave me notice that it was high
vol. t. s time