He received the world not less frequently or less
splendidly than heretofore; and his magnificent mansion, early in the
season, was opened to the favoured crowd. Yet in that mansion, which had
been acquired with such energy and at such cost, its lord was almost as
strange, and certainly not as pleased, an inmate as the guests, who felt
their presence in his chambers a confirmation, or a creation, of their
claims to the world's homage. The Alhambra was finished, and there
the Duke of St. James entirely resided; but its regal splendour was
concealed from the prying eye of public curiosity with a proud reserve,
a studied secrecy, and stately haughtiness becoming a caliph. A small
band of initiated friends alone had the occasional entree, and the
mysterious air which they provokingly assumed whenever they were
cross-examined on the internal arrangements of this mystical structure,
only increased the number and the wildness of the incidents which
daily were afloat respecting the fantastic profusion and scientific
dissipation of the youthful sultan and his envied viziers.
The town, ever since the season commenced, had been in feverish
expectation of the arrival of a new singer, whose fame had heralded her
presence in all the courts of Christendom.
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