Jinnat-al-Aarif 



heart was "without incumbrance," of course much the most 

 of the two. 



Here ladies are much more free and easy on a short 

 acquaintance than in our arctic zone, where the heart takes 

 a whole season of stuffy drawing-room atmosphere just to 

 begin to thaw a little. Last night (which was only our 

 third visit, though by the way we had met another night at 

 the Opera) I had in my button-hole a largish little bunch 

 of violets, which had been given me by the woman showing 

 the gardens of the Generalife. This beautiful palace, which 

 stands a little higher up the mountain than the Alhambra, 

 is not called from any distinguished general having lived 

 there, but from jinndt-al-aari/] meaning, in Arabic, the 

 gardens of the cunning man — that is to say, the architect, 

 who, after building the Alhambra, made himself, to my 

 mind, a much pleasanter dwelling-place among terraces and 

 hanging-gardens on the brow of the Sierra del Sol. 



These fatal violets I bore in my button-hole, and their 

 history you may read in the following lines : — 



THE VIOLETS AND THE ROSE. 



The gardens of the cunning man that framed the fairy halls 

 Which grim Alhambra hides within her rough red sandstone 



walls ; 

 The gardens of the cunning man, 'mid terraces of flowers, 

 Perched higher still o'erlook the hill of battlements and towers ; 

 Up there I got some violets, that wooed the mountain breeze, 

 And vi'ore them in my button-hole till we had had our teas ! 

 Then I put on my smartest clothes to pay an evening visit 

 At the Marquesa What" s-her-name's ! Her name's no matter — 



is it ? 

 Now this Marquesa What's-her-name a daughter fair she had, a 

 More lovely creature to my mind than any in Granada. 

 To her I gave the violets ; and, as you may suppose. 

 Because the violets were sweet she put them to her nose ! 



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