, By him was a running footman, holding his nargileh, to which
the Emir frequently applied his mouth as he rode along. He shot a keen
glance at Tancred as he passed by, and then throwing his tube to his
attendant, he bounded on.
In the meantime, we must not forget the lady of Bethany after she so
suddenly disappeared from the kiosk. Proceeding up her mountain garden,
which narrowed as she advanced, and attended by two female slaves, who
had been in waiting without the kiosk, she was soon in that hilly chink
in which she had built her nest; a long, low pavilion, with a shelving
roof, and surrounded by a Saracenic arcade; the whole painted in fresco;
a golden pattern of flowing fancy on a white ground. If there were door
or window, they were entirely concealed by the blinds which appeared to
cover the whole surface of the building. Stepping into the arcade, the
lady entered the pavilion by a side portal, which opened by a secret
spring, and which conducted her into a small corridor, and this again
through two chambers, in both of which were many females, who mutely
saluted her without rising from their employments.
Then the mistress entered a more capacious and ornate apartment.
Its ceiling, which described the horseshoe arch of the Saracens, was
encrusted with that honeycomb work which is peculiar to them, and which,
in the present instance, was of rose colour and silver.
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