Then he was silent awhile, and presently said to the jeweller “Knowest thou what secret the girl whispered to me?” Answered he, “Not I, by Allah, O my lord!” Quoth Ali, “She fancied that I directed Abu al-Hasan to go to Bassorah and that I had devised this device to put a stop to our correspondence and consorting.  I swore to her that this was on nowise so; but she would not credit me and went away to her mistress, persisting in her injurious suspicions; for she inclined to Abu al-Hasan and gave ear to his word.”  Answered the young jeweller, “O my brother, I understood as much from the girl’s manner; but I will win for thee thy wish, Inshallah!” Rejoined Ali bin Bakkar, “Who can be with me in this and how wilt thou do with her, when she shies and flies like a wildling of the wold?” Cried the jeweller “By Allah, needs must I do my utmost to help thee and contrive to scrape acquaintance with her without exposure or mischief!” Then he asked leave to depart and Ali bin Bakkar said, “O my brother, mind thou keep my counsel;” and he looked at him and wept.  The jeweller bade him good-bye and fared forth.—­And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

       When it was the One Hundred and Sixty-first Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the jeweller bade him good-bye and fared forth not knowing what he should do to win for him his wishes; and he ceased not walking, while over-musing the matter, till he spied a letter lying in the road.  He took it up and looked at its direction and superscription, then read it and behold, it ran:—­“From the least worthy of lovers to the most worthy of beloveds.”  So he opened it and found these words written therein,

“A messenger from thee came bringing union-hope, *
     But that he erred somehow with me the thought prevailed;
So I rejoiced not; rather grew my grief still more; *
     Weeting my messenger of wits and wit had failed.

“But afterwards:  Know, O my lord! that I ken not the reason why our correspondence between thee and me hath been broken off:  but, if the cruelty arise from thy part, I will requite it with fidelity, and if thy love have departed, I will remain constant to my love of the parted, for I am with thee even as says the poet,

’Be proud; I’ll crouch!  Bully; I’ll bear!  Despise; I’ll pray! *
     Go; I will come!  Speak; I will hear!  Bid; I’ll obey!’”

As he was reading lo! up came the slave-girl, looking right and left, and seeing the paper in the jeweller’s hand, said to him, “O my master, this letter is one I let fall.”  He made her no answer, but walked on, and she walked behind him, till he came to his house, when he entered and she after him, saying, “O my master, give me back this letter, for it fell from me.”  Thereon he turned to her and said, “O handmaid of good, fear not neither grieve, for verily Allah the Protector loveth those who protect; but tell me in truthful way thy case,