There being no help for it, she did as he bade her, and smoked a
little. He felt his heart suddenly inclined in her favour, and he said,
"I have seen many beautiful women, but I surely think that you are
the prettiest of them all. Once seeing you, I have quite forgotten
how to eat or sleep. Could you not come to me to live here? I am
quite alone and no one will know it."
She pretended to be greatly scandalized. "Your Excellency is a noble,
and I am a low-class woman; how can you think of such a thing? Do
you mean it as a joke?"
He replied, "I mean it truly, no joke at all." He swore an oath,
saying, "Really I mean it, every word."
She then said, "Since you speak so, I am really very grateful, and
shall come."