Tancred Part 53

'And what?'

'The fair one has a complexion almost as radiant as your own, sweet lady.'

'And eyes as blue: no, they are too light. And so, as there is a likeness, you think he is the one?'

'I am sure I wish they were both belonging to us,' said Cypros.

'Ah, me!' said the lady, ''tis not the bright-faced prince whom I hold to be one of us. No, no, my Cypros. Think awhile, sweet girl. The visage, the head of the other, have you not seen them before? Have you not seen something like them? That head so proudly placed upon the shoulders; that hair, that hyacinthine hair, that lofty forehead, that proud lip, that face so refined and yet so haughty, does it not recall anything? Think, Cypros; think!'

'It does, sweet lady.'

'Tell me; whisper it to me; it is a name not to be lightly mentioned.'

Cypros advanced, and bending her head, breathed a word in the ear of the lady, who instantly, blus.h.i.+ng deeply, murmured with a faint smile, 'Yes.'

'It is he, then,' said Cypros, 'who is one of us.'

CHAPTER LII.

_A Royal Audience_

OUR travellers were speculating, not very sanguinely, on the possible resources which Gindarics might supply for the amus.e.m.e.nt of a week, when, to their great relief, they were informed by Keferinis, that the Queen had fixed noon, on this the day after their arrival, to receive them. And accordingly at that time some attendants, not accompanying, however, the chief minister, waited on Tancred and Fakredeen, and announced that they were commanded to usher them to the royal presence.

Quitting their apartments, they mounted a flight of steps, which led to the wooden gallery, along which they pursued their course. At its termination were two sentries with their lances. Then they descended a corresponding flight of stairs and entered a chamber where they were received by pages; the next room, of larger size, was crowded, and here they remained for a few minutes. Then they were ushered into the presence.

The young Queen of the Ansarey could not have received them with an air more impa.s.sive had she been holding a levee at St. James'. Seated on her divan, she was clothed in a purple robe; her long dark hair descended over her shoulders, and was drawn off her white forehead, which was bound with a broad circlet of pure gold, and of great antiquity. On her right hand stood Keferinis, the captain of her guard, and a priestly-looking person with a long white beard, and then at some distance from these three personages, a considerable number of individuals, between whose appearance and that of her ordinary subjects there was little difference. On her left hand were immediately three female attendants, young and pretty; at some distance from them, a troop of female slaves; and again, at a still further distance, another body of her subjects in their white turbans and their black dresses. The chamber was s.p.a.cious, and rudely painted in the Ionic style.

'It is most undoubtedly requested, and in a vein of the most condescending friends.h.i.+p, by the perfectly irresistible Queen, that the princes should be seated,' said Keferinis, and accordingly Tancred occupied his allotted seat on the right of the Queen, though at some distance, and the young Emir filled his on the left. Fakredeen was dressed in Syrian splendour, a blaze of shawls and jewelled arms; but Tancred retained on this, as he had done on every other occasion, the European dress, though in the present instance it a.s.sumed a somewhat more brilliant shape than ordinary, in the dark green regimentals, the rich embroidery, and the flowing plume of the Bellamont yeomanry cavalry.

'You are a prince of the English,' said the Queen to Tancred.

'I am an Englishman,' he replied, 'and a subject of our Queen, for we also have the good fortune to be ruled over by the young and the fair.'

'My fathers and the House of Shehaab have been ever friends,' she continued, turning to Fakredeen.

'May they ever continue so!' he replied. 'For if the Shehaabs and the Ansarey are of one mind, Syria is no longer earth, but indeed paradise.'

'You live much in s.h.i.+ps?' said the Queen, turning to Tancred.

'We are an insular people,' he answered, somewhat confusedly, but the perfectly-informed Keferinis came to the succour both of Tancred and of his sovereign.

'The English live in s.h.i.+ps only during six months of the year, princ.i.p.ally when they go to India, the rest entirely at their country houses.'

's.h.i.+ps are required to take you to India?' said her Majesty.

Tancred bowed a.s.sent.

'Is your Queen about my age?'

'She was as young as your Majesty when she began to reign.'

'And how long has she reigned?'

'Some seven years or so.'

'Has she a castle?'

'Her Majesty generally resides in a very famous castle.'

'Very strong, I suppose?'

'Strong enough.'

'The Emir Bescheer remains at Stamboul?'

'He is now, I believe, at Brusa,' replied Fakredeen.

'Does he like Brusa?'

'Not as much at Stamboul.'

'Is Stamboul the largest city in the world?'

'I apprehend by no means,' said Fakredeen.

'What is larger?'

'London is larger, the great city of the English, from which the prince comes; Paris is also larger, but not so large as London.'

'How many persons are there in Stamboul?'

'More than half a million.'

'Have you seen Antakia (Antioch)?' the Queen inquired of Tancred.

'Not yet.'

'You have seen Beiroot?'

'I have.'

'Antakia is not nearly so great a place as Beiroot,' said the Queen; 'yet once Antakia was much larger than Stamboul; as large, perhaps, as your great city.'

'And far more beautiful than either,' said Tancred.

'Ah! you have heard of these things!' exclaimed the Queen, with much animation. 'Now tell me, why is Antakia no longer a great city, as great as Stamboul and the city of the English, and far more beautiful?'