' At this
the old woman feigned to be angry and said, 'I thought thee a man
of sense and good breeding: but, if thou be changed, I will let
the princess know of it and how thou hinderest her slave-girl.'
Then she cried out to Taj el Mulouk, saying, 'Pass on, O damsel!'
So he passed on into the vestibule, whilst the eunuch was silent
and said nothing. Then the prince counted five doors and entered
the sixth, where he found the Princess Dunya standing awaiting
him. As soon as she saw him, she knew him and pressed him to her
bosom, and he returned her embrace. Then the old woman came in to
them, having made a pretext to dismiss the princess's attendants
for fear of discovery, and the princess said to her, 'Do thou
keep the door.' So she and Taj el Mulouk abode alone together and
passed the night in kissing and embracing and twining leg with
leg. When the day drew near, she left him and shutting the door
upon him, passed in to another apartment, where she sat down
according to her wont, whilst her women came in to her, and she
attended to their affairs and conversed with them awhile. Then
she said to them, 'Leave me now, for I wish to be alone.' So they
withdrew and she betook herself to Taj el Mulouk, and the old
woman brought them food, of which they ate and after fell again
to amorous dalliance, till the dawn. Then the princess left him,
and locked the door as before; and they ceased not to do thus for
a whole month.
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