Then
said she, 'My lady's case is still stranger than this; for when
you went away, I turned back, troubled at heart for you and
hardly crediting your escape, and found her lying prostrate in
the pavilion, speaking not nor answering any, whilst the
Commander of the Faithful sat by her head, unknowing what aided
her and finding none who could give him news of her. She ceased
not from her swoon till midnight, when she revived and the Khalif
said to her, "What ails thee, O Shemsennehar, and what has
behllen thee this night?" "May God make me thy ransom, O
Commander of the Faithful!" answered she. "Verily, bile rose in
me and lighted a fire in my body, so that I lost my senses for
excess of pain, and I know no more." "What hast thou eaten
to-day?" asked the Khalif. Quoth she, "I broke my fast on
something I had never before eaten." Then she feigned to be
recovered and calling for wine, drank it and begged the Khalif to
resume his diversion. So he sat down again on his couch in the
pavilion and made her sit as before. When she saw me, she asked
me how you fared; so I told her what I had done with you and
repeated to her the verses that Ali ben BeLkar had recited at
parting, whereat she wept secretly, but presently stinted.
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