After a
momentary pause, he said, 'In a family there should ever be unity and
concord; above all things, words should not be dark. How much will the
Queen of the English give for her brother?
'He is not the brother of the Queen of the English,' said Eva.
'Not when he is my spoil, in my tent,' said Amalek, with a cunning
smile; 'but put him on a round hat in a walled city, and then he is the
brother of the Queen of the English.'
'Whatever his rank, he is the charge of Besso, my father and your son,'
said Eva; 'and Besso has pledged his heart, his life, and his honour,
that this young prince shall not be hurt. For him he feels, for him
he speaks, for him he thinks. Is it to be told in the bazaars of
Franguestan that his first office of devotion was to send this youth
into the desert to be spoiled by the father of his wife?'
'Why did my daughters marry men who live in cities?' exclaimed the old
Sheikh.
'Why did they marry men who made your peace with the Egyptian, when not
even the desert could screen you? Why did they marry men who gained you
the convoy of the Hadj, and gave you the milk of ten thousand camels?'
'Truly, there is but one God in the desert and in the city,' said
Amalek. 'Now, tell me, Rose of Sharon, how many piastres have you
brought me?'
'If you be in trouble, Besso will aid you as he has done; if you wish
to buy camels, Besso will assist you as before; but if you expect ransom
for his charge, whom you ought to have placed on your best mare of
Nedgid, then I have not brought a para.
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