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"'Wait a moment,' said he, 'could not Camille have a peep at your harem first? You know he is but a neophyte in the Priapean creed. I am his first lover.'
"'Yes, I know,' interrupted Briancourt, sighing, 'and I cannot say sincerely, may you long be the last.'
"'And not being inured to the sight of such revelry he will be induced to run away like Joseph from Mrs. Potiphar.'
"'Very well, do you mind giving yourself the trouble to come this way?'
"And with these words he led us through a dimly-lighted passage, and up a winding staircase into a kind of balcony made out of old Arab mouchambiè, brought to him by his father from Tunis or Algiers.
"'From here you can see everything without being seen, so ta-ta for a while, but not for long, as supper will soon be served.'
"As I stepped in this kind of loggia and looked down into the room, I was, for a moment, if not dazzled, at least perfectly bewildered. It seemed as if from this every-day world of ours
