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You've ruined me pretty thoroughly, and you may as well finish your work. I've a good mind to jump over, and save you the trouble. Perhaps, when you see me bouncing down that dome, you'll be sorry!" "Refrain from rashness!" said the Jinnee, hastily, without suspecting that Ventimore had no serious intention of carrying out his threat.
Bedeea, it appeared, was the lovely daughter of Shahyal, one of the Kings of the Believing Jann; her father not Fakrash himself, as the Jinnee had incorrectly represented had offered her in marriage to no less a personage than King Solomon himself, who, however, had preferred the Queen of Sheba.
And, with these words, the head sank into the bottle with a loud clap resembling thunder. Horace hesitated no longer. The Jinnee himself had absolved him from all further scruples; to imperil Sylvia and her parents not to mention all London out of consideration for one obstinate and obnoxious old demon, would clearly be carrying sentiment much too far.
The Hall was crowded, and Ventimore found himself the object of a popular demonstration which would have filled him with joy and pride if he could only have felt that he had done anything whatever to justify it, for it was ridiculous to suppose that he had rendered himself a public benefactor by restoring a convicted Jinnee to freedom and society generally.
Fakrash, answer me," he said. "Is this my wedding day or not? If it is, it's time I was told!" "Not yet," said the Jinnee, enigmatically, and indeed it proved to be another false alarm, for they turned down Cannon Street and towards the Mansion House. "Perhaps you can tell me why we're going through Victoria Street, and what all this crowd has come out for?" asked Ventimore.
"May Allah never deprive thy friends of thy presence!" returned the Jinnee, who was apparently touched by this exordium, "for truly thou art a most excellent young man!" And stepping back into the fireplace, he was gone in an instant. Ventimore sank back in his chair with a sigh of relief. He had begun to fear that the Jinnee never would take himself off, but he had gone at last and for good.
I was wondering what The Author would have said had he seen us at that moment The Jinnee shuffling ahead in heelless slippers and Oriental dress, upon his woolly head a red fez with a silver crescent on it, and on his breast a string of saphies, verses from the Koran, in exquisite Arabic script, framed in flat round pieces of silver and strung on a chain.
I was terrified at sight of his face, dead-white, with eyes of steel, and straight lips, and pinched nostrils; the terrible face of the avenging white man, a face as inexorable as judgment. I hid my own before it, and trembled; and yet was glad that I had seen it. I stammered: "There was a devil and then a Jinnee came. And I heard sounds. Then I fell.
"Didst thou not say," he replied, "that he who should receive the freedom of the City from his fellow-men would be worthy of Bedeea-el-Jemal?" "I may have said something of the sort. But, good heavens! you don't mean that you have contrived that I should receive the freedom of the City?" "It was the easiest affair possible," said the Jinnee, but he did not attempt to meet Horace's eye.
"I have committed no act of disrespect unto the Lord Mayor," he said, "therefore he can have no just cause of anger against me." Horace perceived that the Jinnee was not altogether at ease, and pushed his advantage accordingly. "My dear good old friend," he said, "you don't seem to realise yet what an awful thing you've done.
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