Fancies and Goodnights - Collier John - Страница 2

«They shall be there,» said his slave.

«I am» said Frank, «a bit of an artist, as your late owner remarked. My art, so to speak, demands the presence, upon these tiger-skins, of a number of young women, some blonde, some brunette, some petite, some Junoesque, some languorous, some vivacious, all beautiful, and they need not be over-dressed. I hate over-dressing. It is vulgar. Have you got that?»

«I have,» said the jinn.

«Then,» said Frank, «let me have it.»

«Condescend only,» said his servant, «to close your eyes for the space of a single minute, and opening them you shall find yourself surrounded by the agreeable objects you have described.»

«O.K.,» said Frank. «But no tricks, mind!»

He closed his eyes as requested. A low, musical humming, whooshing sound rose and fell about him. At the end of the minute he looked around. There were the arches, pillars, marbles, hangings, etc. of the most exquisite palace imaginable, and wherever he looked he saw a tiger-skin, and on every tiger-skin there reclined a young woman of surpassing beauty who was certainly not vulgarly over-dressed.

Our good Frank was, to put it mildly, in an ecstasy. He darted to and fro like a honey-bee in a florist's shop. He was received everywhere with smiles sweet beyond description, and with glances of an open or a veiled responsiveness. Here were blushes and lowered lids. Here was the flaming face of ardour. Here was a shoulder turned, but by no means a cold shoulder. Here were open arms, and such arms! Here was love dissembled, but vainly dissembled. Here was love triumphant. «I must say,» said Frank at a later hour, «I have spent a really delightful afternoon. I have enjoyed it thoroughly.»

«Then may I crave,» said the jinn, who was at that moment serving him his supper, «may I crave the boon of being allowed to act as your butler, and as general minister to your pleasures, instead of being returned to that abominable bottle?»

«I don't see why not,» said Frank. «It certainly seems rather tough that, after having fixed all this up, you should be crammed back into the bottle again. Very well, act as my butler, but understand, whatever the convention may be, I wish you never to enter a room without knocking. And above all — no tricks.»

The jinn, with a soapy smile of gratitude, withdrew, and Frank shortly retired to his harem, where he passed the evening as pleasantly as he had passed the afternoon.

Some weeks went by entirely filled with these agreeable pastimes, till Frank, in obedience to law which not even the most efficient jinns can set aside, found himself growing a little over-particular, a little blase, a little inclined to criticize and find fault.

«These,» said he to his jinn, «are very pretty young creatures, if you like that sort of thing, but I imagine they can hardly be first-rate, or I should feel more interest in them. I am, after all, a connoisseur; nothing can please me but the very best. Take them away. Roll up all the tiger-skins but one.»

«It shall be done,» said the jinn. «Behold, it is accomplished.»

«And on that remaining tiger-skin,» said Frank, «put me Cleopatra herself.»

The next moment, Cleopatra was there, looking, it must be admitted, absolutely superb. «Hullo!» she said. «Here I am, on a tiger-skin again!»

«Again?» cried Frank, suddenly reminded of the old man in the shop. «Here! Take her back. Bring me Helen of Troy.»

Next moment, Helen of Troy was there. «Hullo!» she said. «Here I am, on a tiger-skin again!»

«Again?» cried Frank. «Damn that old man! Take her away. Bring me Queen Guinevere.»

Guinevere said exactly the same thing; so did Madame la Pompadour, Lady Hamilton, and every other famous beauty that Frank could think of. «No wonder,» said he, «that that old man was such an extremely wizened old man! The old fiend! The old devil! He has properly taken the gilt off all the gingerbread. Call me jealous if you like; I will not play second fiddle to that ugly old rascal. Where shall I find a perfect creature, worthy of the embraces of such a connoisseur as I am?»

«If you are deigning to address that question to me,» said the jinn, «let me remind you that there was, in that shop, a little bottle which my late master had never unstoppered, because I supplied him with it after he had lost interest in matters of this sort. Nevertheless it has the reputation of containing the most beautiful girl in the whole world.»

«You are right,» cried Frank. «Get me that bottle without delay.»

In a few seconds the bottle lay before him. «You may have the afternoon off,» said Frank to the jinn.

«Thank you,» said the jinn. «I will go and see my family in Arabia. I have not seen them for a long time.» With that he bowed and withdrew. Frank turned his attention to the bottle, which he was not long in unstoppering.

Out came the most beautiful girl you can possibly imagine. Cleopatra and all that lot were hags and frumps compared with her. «Where am I?» said she. «What is this beautiful palace? What am I doing on a tiger-skin? Who is this handsome young prince?»

«It's me!» cried Frank, in a rapture. «It's me!»

The afternoon passed like a moment in Paradise. Before Frank knew it the jinn was back, ready to serve up supper. Frank must sup with his charmer, for this time it was love, the real thing. The jinn, entering with the viands, rolled up his wicked eyes at the sight of so much beauty.

It happened that Frank, all love and restlessness, darted out into the garden between two mouthfuls, to pluck his beloved a rose. The jinn, on the pretence of serving her wine, edged up very closely. «I don't know if you remember me,» said he in a whisper. «I used to be in the next bottle to you. I have often admired you through the glass.»

«Oh, yes,» said she. «I remember you quite well.»

At that moment Frank returned. The jinn could say no more, but he stood about the room, inflating his monstrous chest, and showing off his plump and dusky muscles. «You need not be afraid of him,» said Frank. «He is only a jinn. Pay no attention to him. Tell me if you really love me.»

«Of course I do,» said she.

«Well, say so,» said he. «Why don't you say so?»

«I have said so,» said she. «Of course I do. Isn't that saying so?»

This vague, evasive reply dimmed all Frank's happiness, as if a cloud had come over the sun. Doubt sprang up in his mind, and entirely ruined moments of exquisite bliss.

«What are you thinking of?» he would say.

«I don't know,» she would reply.

«Well, you ought to know,» he would say, and then a quarrel would begin.

Once or twice he even ordered her back into her bottle. She obeyed with a malicious and secretive smile.

«Why should she give that sort of smile?» said Frank to the jinn, to whom he confided his distress.

«I cannot tell,» replied the jinn. «Unless she has a lover concealed in there.»

«Is it possible?» cried Frank in consternation.

«It is surprising,» said the jinn, «how much room there is in one of these bottles.»

«Come out!» cried Frank. «Come out at once!»

His charmer obediently emerged. «Is there anyone else in that bottle?» cried Frank.

«How could there be?» she asked, with a look of rather overdone innocence.

«Give me a straight answer,» said he. «Answer me yes or no.»

«Yes or no,» she replied maddeningly.

«You double-talking, two-timing little bitch!» cried Frank. «I'll go in and find out for myself. If I find anybody, God help him and you!»

With that, and with an intense effort of the will, he flowed himself into the bottle. He looked all around: there was no one. Suddenly he heard a sound above him. He looked up, and there was the stopper being thrust in.

«What are you doing?» cried he.