He also told her that his wives and their female helpers were ensuring that both white men knew their place and would eventually make admirable and very tame body-servants in his camp-bound seraglio.
She recalled her, partly, horrified response:
“You…? You mean to have them…? To have them…?”
“Neutered?” he had answered with a laugh. “Castrated?... Nullified?”
She had nodded.
“Do not concern yourself, my wilful English beauty. Even I would not be so cruel to my guests.”
He burst out laughing.
Then:
“And even if I were of a mind to do so, my dislike of eunuchs and the nasty and viciously petty intriguers they become in the absence of a former manhood would make me think again.”
He had read her thoughts easily at that point:
“And you need not trouble yourself that my wives’ new slav
