the king bade the queen enter the privy chamber[FN#97] and let
down the curtain[FN#98] [before the door thereof]. So she did
this and he summoned them to his presence. When they stood before
him, they kissed the earth, to do him worship, and showed forth
their breeding[FN#99] and magnified his dignity. He bade them
sit, but they refused, till he conjured them by their lord El
Abbas. So they sat down and he caused set before them food of
various kinds and fruits and sweetmeats. Now within the Lady
Afifeh's palace was an underground way communicating with the
palace of the princess Mariyeh. So the queen sent after her and
she came to her, whereupon she made her stand behind the curtain
and gave her to know that El Abbas was the king's son of Yemen
and that these were his mamelukes. Moreover, she told her that
the prince's father had levied his troops and was come with his
army in quest of him and that he had pitched his camp in the
Green Meadow and despatched these mamelukes to make enquiry of
their lord. So Mariyeh abode looking upon them and upon their
beauty and grace and the goodliness of their apparel, till they
had eaten their fill of food and the tables were removed;
whereupon the king recounted to them the story of El Abbas and
they took leave of him and went away.

As for the princess Mariyeh, when she returned to her palace, she
bethought herself concerning the affair of El Abbas, repenting
her of that which she had done, and the love of him took root in
her heart. So, when the night darkened upon her, she dismissed
all her women and bringing out the letters, to wit, those which
El Abbas had written, fell to reading them and weeping. She gave
not over weeping her night long, and when she arose in the
morning, she called a damsel of her slave-girls, Shefikeh by