“Was it right or wrong?” he asked.
“They said,” I answered, “that their Sultan had not kept his word; that he had given a ‘Duma’ and was acting against it.”
“Ah!” said the brown-haired man. “So now they have a ‘Duma’!”
“Yes,” I said; “they have liberty now.”
“Ah! Liberty! Eh! Eh! Eh!” said the grey-haired man, and he chuckled to himself. Oh, the scepticism of that chuckle!—as much as to say, we know what that means.
“And you have a Sovereign?” asked the brown-haired man.
“Yes; we have a King.”
“But your Queen, who was so old, and ruled everybody, she is dead.”
“Yes; she is dead.”
“Ah, she was wise, very wise!” (mudraya).