“I shall calculate upon an honest servant; for surely he upon whom a queen has conferred her favour cannot fail to be faithful. Your feats of yesterday satisfied me that you are one among the few upon whom princes may lean for security in the hour of peril. Such men are rare, and should be cherished when they come before us. I have no more to say. You are free, and will shortly receive your appointment from the minister. See that you do not belie my judgment.”
Yakoot retired; apartments were prepared for him in the palace; and for some days he continued about the sovereign’s person, receiving from her very distinguished marks of favour.
Rumours soon began to spread of the Sultana’s criminal partiality for the Abyssinian slave. Some of the nobles expressed their disgust, and others retired from court. Within a month after he had obtained his freedom, Yakoot was advanced to the dignity of master of the horse. In consequence of this exaltation several of the nobles rebelled; the favourite was sent against them with a well-appointed army, and soon reduced them to obedience. The Queen’s partialities were now becoming offensive to the Abyssinian. There was no mistaking her wishes; nevertheless, he treated his royal mistress with a frigid respect, which, though it mortified her deeply, only increased her determination to render him the slave of her passion; but his heart had a different bias. He had already declared his love to Bameea, who returned his affection, and they exchanged vows of mutual fidelity. Of this the Sultana knew nothing; but, resolved to win the heart of the Abyssinian, she raised him to the dignity of Ameer-ool-Omrah, the highest station in the state next to princes of the blood royal.
CHAPTER III.
The Sultana was not long in discovering the mutual attachment which subsisted between the Ameer-ool-Omrah and Bameea.
Her anger knew no bounds. She summoned the Abyssinian. He appeared before the presence of his sovereign, not without some suspicion of what was about to take place. Bameea stood behind the Queen. She saw by the scowl upon the royal brow that no good was intended towards the object of her love. The eye of Ruzeea Begum was restless, and her fingers trembled as she dipped them into the ewer of perfume that stood beside her. Her full expressive mouth was closed with a compression that indicated suppressed emotion, and the full undulating lip occasionally quivered. Her head was raised haughtily as the Ameer-ool-Omrah entered, and she fixed upon him her large penetrating eye with so searching a scrutiny that it seemed as if it would have reached the very core of his heart. He met her gaze with calm reverence; and having made his obeisance, stood before her with the unbending dignity of a man who has secured the approbation of his own conscience. For several moments the Sultana did not speak, and in her presence no one of course ventured to break the silence. Bameea trembled as she perceived the rising agitation of her sovereign, which was evidently increased by the unperturbed demeanour of the person whom she had summoned. Ruzeea Begum at length finding the ebullition rising to her throat, by a sudden effort suppressed it, and passing her hand gently across her brow, as if to dispel the cloud which for a moment overshadowed it, she said, in a tolerably calm tone,
“Yakoot”—but her voice slightly trembled, and she eagerly swallowed a copious draught of sherbet.
“Yakoot,”—she had now regained her self-possession—“say, what does that man deserve who, having been raised by his sovereign from the lowest to the highest station, slights that sovereign’s favour?”
“Death, if he slight a favour which it becomes his sovereign to grant and him to receive; the praise of all good men, if he slight a favour that would degrade his sovereign, and dishonour him.”
“You have treated your Queen with the basest ingratitude.”