“Well,” replied the Sultan, “everything gives way to that charm: which you ought to know better than I, or you are not⁠—”

“You are mistaken,” replied the favorite, “a man may have all the sense in the world, and not know that. I wager⁠—”

“Always wagers,” interrupted Mangogul: “I am out of all patience; those women are incorrigible. Pray, madam, win your castle, and lay wagers afterward.”

“Madam,” says Selim to the favorite, “might not Fulvia be of use to you in some station or other?”

“As how?” ask’d Mirzoza.