_The fifteenth trial of the Ring._
Alphana.
The Sultan was not ignorant, that the young lords of the court had
private lodges; but he was lately informed, that those retreats were
likewise used by some senators. He was much surprized at this. "What
do they do there?" said he to himself. (For in this volume he will
keep up the custom of monology, which he contracted in the first.) "I
should think, that a man, whom I have entrusted with the tranquillity,
fortune, liberty, and lives of my people, ought not to have a private
lodge. But perhaps a senator's private lodge is quite different from
that of a _Petit-Maitre_. Can a magistrate, before whom the interests
of the greatest of my subjects are discussed, who holds the fatal urn,
out of which he is to draw the widow's lot, can he, I say, forget
the dignity of his state, and the importance of his duty; and while
Cochin fatigues his lungs in vain by carrying the cries of the orphan
to his ear, can he be studying subjects of gallantry, which are to be
ornaments over the door of a place of secret debauchery? That cannot
be.----However, let us see."
He said, and departed for Alcanto, where the senator Hippomanes has his
private lodge. He enters, walks round the appartments, and examines
the furniture. Every thing has a gay appearance. The private lodge of
Agefilas, the nicest and most voluptuous of his courtiers, is not more
elegant. He was on the point of resolving to leave it, without knowing
what to think; (for besides all the rich beds, the looking-glass
alcoves, the soft sofa's; the cabinet of exquisite liquors, and every
thing else, were silent witnesses of what he desired to know:) when
he espied a corpulent figure stretched on a couch, and sunk in a deep
sleep. He turn'd his ring on her, and from her Toy he obtained the
following anecdotes.
"Alphana is the daughter of a senator. If her mother's life had been
shorter than it was, I should not have been here. The immense wealth
of the family was squandered by the old fool: and she left little or
nothing to her four children, three boys and a girl, whose Toy I am,
alas! to my great misfortune, and to be sure for my sins. How many
indignities have I suffered! How many more still remain to be borne!
The world said, that the cloister agreed very well with the fortune and
figure of my mistress; but I found it did not suit with me: I preferred
the military art to the monastic state, and I made my first campaigns
under the Emir Azalaph. I perfected myself under the great Nangazaki.
But the ingratitude of the service disgusted me, and made me quit the
sword for the gown. Thus I am upon the point of belonging to a little
scoundrel of a senator, quite bloated with his talents, his wit, his
figure, his equipage, and his birth. I am now two hours in waiting for
him. To be sure he will come, because his gentleman has apprized me,
that when he comes, it is his madness to let people wait a long time."
Alphana's Toy was thus far advanced, when Hippomanes arrived. At the
bustle of his train, and the caresses he bestowed on his favorite
grey-hound, Alphana awoke. "Oh! are you there, my queen?" says the
little president. "'Tis very difficult to come at you. How do you like
my little lodge; it is as good as some others, is it not?"
Alphana putting on a bashful, shy, distressed air, "as if we had never
seen a private lodge before," says her Toy, "and as if I had no share
in her adventures," cried out in a mournful manner. "My lord president,
I take an unaccountable step for you. The passion that drags me to you
must surely be very violent, since it shuts my eyes to the dangers
which I incur. For what would the world say, if there was any suspicion
of my being here?"
"You are right," answered Hippomanes; "your proceeding is liable to
misinterpretations. But you may rely on my discretion."
"But," replied Alphana, "I rely also on your conduct."
"Oh! as to that," says Hippomanes, "I shall be very modest: and how
is it possible not to be as devote as an angel in a private lodge? In
truth, you have a charming neck----"
"Ha' done," says Alphana, "you break your word already."
"Not at all," replies the president: "but you have not answered my
question. What do you think of this furniture?" And then turning to his
grey-hound, "come hither, Folly, give me thy paw, my child. Folly is a
good girl.----Will madam be pleased to take a turn in the garden? Let
us walk on my terrass, it is a charming one. I am overlooked by some
of my neighbours, but possibly they will not know you.--"
"My lord president, I am not curious," says Alphana with an air of
dudgeon. "I think we are better here."
"Just as you please," answers Hippomanes. "If you are tired, there is a
bed. If you have the least inclination, I advise you to try it. Young
Asteria, and little Phenice, who are great judges, assure me that it
is a good one." While Hippomanes was talking thus impertinently to
Alphana, he pull'd off her gown by the sleeves, unlaced her stays,
untied her petticoats, and disengaged her two clumsy feet from two
little slippers.
When Alphana was almost naked, then did she perceive that Hippomanes
was undressing her.--"What are you doing?" cryed she quite surprized.
"President, you don't consider. I shall be angry in earnest."
"Ah, my queen," answered Hippomanes, "to be angry with a man who loves
you as I do, would be such an oddity as you are not capable of. May I
presume to entreat you to walk to this bed?"
"To this bed," replied Alphana. "Ah! my lord president, you abuse my
tenderness. I to go into a bed! I, into a bed!"
"No, no, my queen," answered Hippomanes. "That is not the thing, who
desires you to go to it. But you must, if you please, suffer yourself
to be conducted to it: for you may easily conclude from your size,
that I cannot be in the humor of carrying you to it."--Nevertheless he
grasped her about the waist, and making some efforts, "Oh how weighty
she is," says he. "But, my child, if you do not lend a helping hand,
we shall never reach it."
Alphana was sensible that he spoke truth, lent her assistance,
compassed getting on her legs, advanced towards that bed, at which she
had been so scared, partly on her own feet, and partly on the shoulders
of Hippomanes, to whom she pantingly said: "Surely I must have been
a great fool to come hither. I confided in your good conduct, and
your extravagance is quite unreasonable."--"Not at all," answered the
president, "not at all. You see that what I do is decent, very decent."
'Tis probable that they said many other genteel things of this sort;
but as the Sultan did not think proper to spend more time in attending
their conversation, those things are lost to posterity. What a pity!