Alroy

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'And that stranger is----'

'The brother of the donor.'

'The brother of Jabaster?'

'Jabaster!'

'Even so. I am that parted brother.'

'Great is the God of Israel! Take the ring. But what is this? the
brother of Jabaster a turbaned chieftain! a Moslem! Say, but say, that
thou hast not assumed their base belief; say, but say, that thou hast
not become a traitor to our covenant, and I will bless the fortunes of
this hour.'

'I am false to no God. Calm thyself, sweet youth. These are higher
questions than thy faint strength can master now. Another time we'll
talk of this, my boy; at present of my brother and thyself. He lives and
prospers?'

'He lives in faith; the pious ever prosper.'

'A glorious dreamer! Though our moods are different, I ever loved him.
And thyself? Thou art not what thou seemest. Tell me all. Jabaster's
friend can be no common mind. Thy form has heralded thy fame. Trust me.'

'I am Alroy.'

'What! the Prince of our Captivity?'

'Even so.'

'The slayer of Alschiroch?'

'Ay!'

'My sympathy was prophetic. I loved thee from the first. And what dost
thou here? A price is set upon thy head: thou knowest it?'

'For the first time; but I am neither astonished nor alarmed. I am upon
the Lord's business.'

'What wouldst thou?'

'Free his people.'

'The pupil of Jabaster: I see it all. Another victim to his reveries.
I'll save this boy. David,--for thy name must not be sounded within this
city,--the sun is dying. Let us to the terrace, and seek the solace of
the twilight breeze.'

'What is the hour, David?'

'Near to midnight. I marvel if thy brother may read in the stars our
happy meeting.'

'Men read that which they wish. He is a learned Cabalist.'

'But what we wish comes from above.'

'So they say. We make our fortunes, and we call them Fate.'

'Yet the Voice sounded, the Daughter of the Voice that summoned Samuel.'

'You have told me strange things; I have heard stranger solved.'

'My faith is a rock.'

'On which you may split.'

'Art thou a Sadducee?'

'I am a man who knows men.'

'You are learned, but different from Jabaster.'

'We are the same, though different. Day and Night are both portions of
Time.'

'And thy portion is----'

'Truth.'

'That is, light.'

'Yes; so dazzling that it sometimes seems dark.'

'Like thy meaning.'

'You are young.'

'Is youth a defect?'

'No, the reverse. But we cannot eat the fruit while the tree is in
blossom.'

'What fruit?'

'Knowledge.'

'I have studied.'

'What?'

'All sacred things.'

'How know you that they are sacred?'

'They come from God.'

'So does everything. Is everything sacred?'

'They are the deep expression of his will.'

'According to Jabaster. Ask the man who prays in yonder mosque, and he
will tell you that Jabaster's wrong.'

'After all, thou art a Moslem?'

'No.'

'What then?'

'I have told you, a man.'

'But what dost thou worship?'

'What is worship?'

'Adoration due from the creature to the Creator.'

'Which is he?'

'Our God.'

'The God of Israel?'

'Even so.'

'A frail minority, then, burn incense to him.'

'We are the chosen people.'

'Chosen for scoffs, and scorns, and contumelies. Commend me to such
choice.'

'We forgot Him, before He chastened us.'

'Why did we?'

'Thou knowest the records of our holy race.'

'Yes, I know them; like all records, annals of blood.'

'Annals of victory, that will dawn again.'

'If redemption be but another name for carnage, I envy no Messiah.'

'Art thou Jabaster's brother?' 'So our mother was wont to say: a meek
and blessed woman.'

'Lord Honain, thou art rich, and wise, and powerful. Thy fellow-men
speak of thee only with praise or fear, and both are cheering. Thou
hast quitted our antique ark; why, no matter. We'll not discuss it. 'Tis
something; if a stranger, at least thou art not a renegade. The world
goes well with thee, my Lord Honain. But if, instead of bows and
blessings, thou, like thy brethren, wert greeted only with the cuff
and curse; if thou didst rise each morning only to feel existence to
be dishonour, and to find thyself marked out among surrounding men as
something foul and fatal; if it were thy lot, like theirs, at best to
drag on a mean and dull career, hopeless and aimless, or with no other
hope or aim but that which is degrading, and all this, too, with a keen
sense of thy intrinsic worth, and a deep conviction of superior race;
why, then, perchance, Honain might even discover 'twere worth a struggle
to be free and honoured.' 'I pray your pardon, sir; I thought you were
Jabaster's pupil, a dreaming student. I see you have a deep ambition.'

'I am a prince; and I fain would be a prince without my fetters.'

'Listen to me, Alroy,' said Honain in a low voice, and he placed his
arm around him, 'I am your friend. Our acquaintance is very brief: no
matter, I love you; I rescued you in injury, I tended you in sickness,
even now your life is in my power, I would protect it with my own. You
cannot doubt me. Our affections are not under our own control; and mine
are yours. The sympathy between us is entire. You see me, you see what I
am; a Hebrew, though unknown; one of that despised, rejected, persecuted
people, of whom you are the chief. I too would be free and honoured.
Freedom and honour are mine, but I was my own messiah. I quitted in
good time our desperate cause, but I gave it a trial. Ask Jabaster how I
fought. Youth could be my only excuse for such indiscretion. I left
this country; I studied and resided among the Greeks. I returned from
Constantinople, with all their learning, some of their craft. No one
knew me. I assumed their turban, and I am the Lord Honain. Take my
experience, child, and save yourself much sorrow. Turn your late
adventure to good account. No one can recognise you here. I will
introduce you amongst the highest as my child by some fair Greek. The
world is before you. You may fight, you may love, you may revel. War,
and Women, and luxury are all at your command. With your person and
talents you may be grand vizir. Clear your head of nonsense. In the
present disordered state of the empire, you may even carve yourself out
a kingdom, infinitely more delightful than the barren land of milk and
honey. I have seen it, child; a rocky wilderness, where I would not let
my courser graze.'

He bent down, and fixed his eyes upon his companion with a scrutinising
glance. The moonlight fell upon the resolved visage of the Prince of the
Captivity.

'Honain,' he replied, pressing his hand, 'I thank thee. Thou knowest not
me, but still I thank thee.'

'You are resolved, then, on destruction.'

'On glory, eternal glory.'

'Is it possible to succeed?'

'Is it possible to fail?'

'You are mad.'

'I am a believer.'

'Enough. You have yet one chance. My brother has saddled your enterprise
with a condition, and an impossible one. Gain the sceptre of Solomon,
and I will agree to be your subject. You will waste a year in this
frolic. You are young, and can afford it. I trust you will experience
nothing worse than a loss of time, which is, however, valuable. My duty
will be, after all your sufferings, to send you forth on your adventures
in good condition, and to provide you means for a less toilsome
pilgrimage than has hitherto been your lot. Trust me, you will return to
Bagdad to accept my offers. At present, the dews are descending, and we
will return to our divan, and take some coffee.'

Some few days after this conversation on the terrace, as Alroy was
reclining in a bower, in the beautiful garden of his host, meditating
on the future, some one touched him on the back. He looked up. It was
Honain.

'Follow me,' said the brother of Jabaster.

The Prince rose, and followed him in silence. They entered the house,
and, passing through the saloon already described, they proceeded down
a long gallery, which terminated in an arched flight of broad steps
leading to the river. A boat was fastened to the end of the stairs,
floating on the blue line of the Tigris, bright in the sun.

Honain now gave to Alroy a velvet bag, which he requested him to carry,
and then they descended the steps and entered the covered boat; and,
without any directions to the rower, they were soon skimming over the
water. By the sound of passing vessels, and the occasional shouts of the
boatmen, Alroy, although he could observe nothing, was conscious that
for some time their course lay through a principal thoroughfare of
the city; but by degrees the sounds became less frequent, and in time
entirely died away, and all that caught his ear was the regular and
monotonous stroke of their own oar.

At length, after the lapse of nearly an hour from their entrance,
the boat stopped, and was moored against a quay. The curtains were
withdrawn, and Honain and his companion debarked.

A low but extensive building, painted in white and gold arabesque, and
irregular but picturesque in form, with many small domes, and tall thin
towers, rose amid groves of cypress on the bank of the broad and silent
river. The rapid stream had carried them far from the city, which was
visible but distant. Around was no habitation, no human being. The
opposite bank was occupied by enclosed gardens. Not even a boat passed.

Honain, beckoning to Alroy to accompany him, but still silent, advanced
to a small portal, and knocked. It was instantly opened by a single
Nubian, who bowed reverently as the visitors passed him. They proceeded
along a low and gloomy passage, covered with arches of fretwork, until
they arrived at a door of tortoise-shell and mother-of-pearl.[22] Here
Honain, who was in advance, turned round to Alroy, and said, 'Whatever
happen, and whoever may address you, as you value your life and mine, do
not speak.'

The door opened, and they found themselves in a vast and gorgeous hall.
Pillars of many-coloured marbles rose from a red and blue pavement
of the same material, and supported a vaulted, circular, and
highly-embossed roof of purple, scarlet, and gold.[23] Around a
fountain, which rose fifty feet in height from an immense basin of
lapis-lazuli, and reclining on small yellow Barbary mats, was a group
of Nubian eunuchs, dressed in rich habits of scarlet and gold,[24]
and armed with ivory battle-axes, the white handles worked in precious
arabesque finely contrasting with the blue and brilliant blades.

The commander of the eunuch-guard rose on seeing Honain, and pressing
his hand to his head, mouth, and heart, saluted him. The physician of
the Caliph, motioning Alroy to remain, advanced some paces in front of
him, and entered into a whispering conversation with the eunuch. After
a few minutes, this officer resumed his seat, and Honain, beckoning to
Alroy to rejoin him, crossed the hall.

Passing through an open arch, they entered a quadrangular court of
roses,[25] each bed of flowers surrounded by a stream of sparkling
water, and floating like an enchanted islet upon a fairy ocean. The
sound of the water and the sweetness of the flowers blended together,
and produced a lulling sensation, which nothing but his strong and
strange curiosity might have enabled Alroy to resist. Proceeding along
a cloister of light airy workmanship which connected the hall with the
remainder of the buildings, they stood before a lofty and sumptuous
portal.

It was a monolith gate, thirty feet in height, formed of one block of
green and red jasper, and cut into the fanciful undulating arch of the
Saracens. The consummate artist had seized the advantage afforded to him
by the ruddy veins of the precious stone, and had formed them in bold
relief into two vast and sinuous serpents, which shot forth their
crested heads and glittering eyes at Honain and his companion.

The physician of the Caliph, taking his dagger from his girdle, struck
the head of one of the serpents thrice. The massy portal opened with a
whirl and a roar, and before them stood an Abyssinian giant,[26] holding
in his leash a roaring lion.

'Hush, Haroun!' said Honain to the animal, raising at the same time his
arm; and the beast crouched in silence. 'Worthy Morgargon, I bring you
a remembrance.' The Abyssinian showed his tusks, larger and whiter than
the lion's, as he grinningly received the tribute of the courtly Honain;
and he uttered a few uncouth sounds, but he could not speak, for he was
a mute.

The jasper portal introduced the companions to a long and lofty and
arched chamber, lighted by high windows of stained glass, hung with
tapestry of silk and silver, covered with prodigious carpets, and
surrounded by immense couches. And thus through similar chambers they
proceeded, in some of which were signs of recent habitation, until they
arrived at another quadrangle nearly filled by a most singular fountain
which rose from a basin of gold encrusted with pearls, and which was
surrounded by figures of every rare quadruped[27] in the most costly
materials. Here a golden tiger, with flaming eyes of ruby and flowing
stripes of opal, stole, after some bloody banquet, to the refreshing
brink; a camelopard raised its slender neck of silver from the centre
of a group of every inhabitant of the forest; and brilliant bands of
monkeys, glittering with precious stones, rested, in every variety of
fantastic posture, on the margin of the basin.

The fountain itself was a tree of gold and silver[28] spreading into
innumerable branches, covered with every variety of curious birds, their
plumage appropriately imitated by the corresponding tints of precious
stones, which warbled in beautiful melody as they poured forth from
their bills the musical and refreshing element.

It was with difficulty that Alroy could refrain from an admiring
exclamation, but Honain, ever quick, turned to him, with his finger
pressed on his mouth, and quitting the quadrangle, they entered the
gardens.

Lofty terraces, dark masses of cypress, winding walks of acacia, in
the distance an interminable paradise, and here and there a glittering
pavilion and bright kiosk! Its appearance on the river had not prepared
Alroy for the extent of the palace itself. It seemed infinite, and it
was evident that he had only viewed a small portion of it. While they
were moving on, there suddenly rose a sound of trumpets. The sound grew
nearer and nearer, louder and louder: soon was heard the tramp of
an approaching troop. Honain drew Alroy aside. A procession appeared
advancing from a dark grove of cypress. Four hundred men led as many
white bloodhounds with collars of gold and rubies.[29] Then came one
hundred men, each with a hooded hawk; then six horsemen in rich dresses;
after them a single horseman, mounted on a steed, marked on its forehead
with a star.[30] The rider was middle-aged, handsome, and dignified. He
was plainly dressed, but the staff of his hunting-spear was entirely of
diamonds and the blade of gold.

He was followed by a company of Nubian eunuchs, with their scarlet
dresses and ivory battle-axes, and the procession closed.

'The Caliph,' whispered Honain, when they had passed, placing at the
same time his finger on his lip to prevent any inquiry. This was
the first intimation that had reached Alroy of what he had already
suspected, that he was a visitor to the palace of the Commander of the
Faithful.

The companions turned down a wild and winding walk, which, after some
time, brought them to a small and gently sloping lawn, surrounded
by cedar-trees of great size. Upon the lawn was a kiosk, a long and
many-windowed building, covered with blinds, and further screened by
an overhanging roof. The kiosk was built of white and green marble,
the ascent to it was by a flight of steps the length of the building,
alternately of white and green marble, and nearly covered with
rose-trees. Honain went up these steps alone, and entered the kiosk.
After a few minutes he looked out from the blinds and beckoned to Alroy.
David advanced, but Honain, fearful of some indiscretion, met him, and
said to him in a low whisper between his teeth, 'Remember you are deaf,
a mute, and a eunuch.' Alroy could scarcely refrain from smiling, and
the Prince of the Captivity and the physician of the Caliph entered
the kiosk together. Two women, veiled, and two eunuchs of the guard,
received them in an antechamber. And then they passed into a room which
ran nearly the whole length of the kiosk, opening on one side to the
gardens, and on the other supported by an ivory wall, with niches
painted in green fresco, and in each niche a rose-tree. Each niche,
also, was covered with an almost invisible golden grate, which confined
a nightingale, and made him constant to the rose he loved. At the foot
of each niche was a fountain, but, instead of water, each basin was
replenished with the purest quicksilver.[31] The roof of the kiosk was
of mother-of-pearl inlaid with tortoise-shell; the pavement, a mosaic of
rare marbles and precious stones, representing the most delicious fruits
and the most beautiful flowers. Over this pavement, a Georgian page
flung at intervals refreshing perfumes. At the end of this elegant
chamber was a divan of light green silk, embroidered with pearls,
and covered with cushions of white satin and gold. Upon one of these
cushions, in the middle of the divan, sat a lady, her eyes fixed in
abstraction upon a volume of Persian poetry lying on her knees, one hand
playing with a rosary of pearls and emeralds,[32] and the other holding
a long gold chain, which imprisoned a white gazelle.

The lady looked up as Honain and his companion entered. She was very
young, as youthful as Alroy. Her long light brown hair, drawn off a high
white forehead covered with blue veins, fell braided with pearls over
each shoulder. Her eyes were large and deeply blue; her nose small, but
high and aquiline. The fairness of her face was dazzling, and, when she
looked up and greeted Honain, her lustrous cheeks broke into dimples,
the more fascinating from their contrast with the general expression of
her countenance, which was haughty and derisive. The lady was dressed
in a robe of crimson silk girded round her waist by a green shawl, from
which peeped forth the diamond hilt of a small poniard.[33] Her round
white arms looked infinitely small, as they occasionally flashed forth
from their large loose hanging sleeves. One was covered with jewels, and
the right arm was quite bare.

Honain advanced, and, bending, kissed the lady's proffered hand. Alroy
fell into the background.

'They told me that the Rose of the World drooped this morning,' said the
physician, bending again as he smiled, 'and her slave hastened at her
command to tend her.'

'It was a south wind. The wind has changed, and the Rose of the World is
better,' replied the lady laughing.

Honain touched her pulse.

'Irregular,' said the physician.

'Like myself,' said the lady. 'Is that a new slave?'

'A recent purchase, and a great bargain. He is good-looking, has the
advantage of being deaf and dumb, and is harmless in every respect.'

''Tis a pity,' replied the lady; 'it seems that all good-looking people
are born to be useless. I, for instance.'

'Yet rumour whispers the reverse,' remarked the physician.

'How so?' inquired the lady.

'The young King of Karasme.'

'Poh! I have made up my mind to detest him. A barbarian!'

'A hero!'

'Have you ever seen him?'

'I have.'

'Handsome?'

'An archangel.'

'And sumptuous?'

'Is he not a conqueror? All the plunder of the world will be yours.'

'I am tired of magnificence. I built this kiosk to forget it.'

'It is not in the least degree splendid,' said Honain, looking round
with a smile.

'No,' answered the lady, with a self-satisfied air: 'here, at least, one
can forget one has the misfortune to be a princess.'

'It is certainly a great misfortune,' said the physician.

'And yet it must be the only tolerable lot,' replied the lady.

'Assuredly,' replied Honain.

'For our unhappy sex, at least.'

'Very unhappy.'

'If I were only a man!'

'What a hero you would be!'

'I should like to live in endless confusion.'

'I have not the least doubt of it.'

'Have you got me the books?' eagerly inquired the Princess.

'My slave bears them,' replied Honain.

'Let me see them directly.'

Honain took the bag from Alroy, and unfolded its contents; the very
volumes of Greek romances which Ali, the merchant, had obtained for him.

'I am tired of poetry,' said the Princess, glancing over the costly
volumes, and tossing them away; 'I long to see the world.'

'You would soon be tired of that,' replied the physician.

'I suppose common people are never tired.' said the Princess.

'Except with labour;' said the physician; 'care keeps them alive.'

'What is care?' asked the Princess, with a smile.

'It is a god,' replied the physician, 'invisible, but omnipotent. It
steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes
away the appetite, and turns the hair grey.'

'It is no true divinity, then,' replied the Princess, 'but an idol we
make ourselves. I am a sincere Moslem, and will not worship it. Tell me
some news, Honain.'

'The young King of Karasme----'

'Again! the barbarian! You are in his pay. I'll none of him. To leave
one prison, and to be shut up in another,--why do you remind me of it?
No, my dear Hakim, if I marry at all, I will marry to be free.'

'An impossibility,' said Honain.

'My mother was free till she was a queen and a slave. I intend to end as
she began. You know what she was.'

Honain knew well, but he was too politic not to affect ignorance.

'The daughter of a bandit,' continued the Princess, 'who fought by the
side of her father. That is existence! I must be a robber. 'Tis in the
blood. I want my fate foretold, Honain. You are an astrologer; do it.'

'I have already cast your nativity. Your star is a comet.'

'That augurs well; brilliant confusion and erratic splendour. I wish
I were a star,' added the Princess in a deep rich voice, and with a
pensive air; 'a star in the clear blue sky, beautiful and free. Honain,
Honain, the gazelle has broken her chain, and is eating my roses.'

Alroy rushed forward and seized the graceful truant. Honain shot him an
anxious look; the Princess received the chain from the hand of Alroy,
and cast at him a scrutinising glance.

'What splendid eyes the poor beast has got!' exclaimed the Princess.

'The gazelle?' inquired the physician.

'No, your slave,' replied the Princess. 'Why, he blushes. Were he not
deaf as well as dumb, I could almost believe he understood me.'

'He is modest,' replied Honain, rather alarmed; 'and is frightened at
the liberty he has taken.'

'I like modesty,' said the Princess; 'it is interesting. I am modest;
you think so?'

'Certainly,' said Honain.

'And interesting?'

'Very.'

'I detest an interesting person. After all, there is nothing like plain
dulness.'

'Nothing,' said Honain.

'The day flows on so serenely in such society.'

'It does,' said Honain.

'No confusion; no scenes.'

'None.'

'I make it a rule only to have ugly slaves.'

'You are quite right.'

'Honain, will you ever contradict me? You know very well I have the
handsomest slaves in the world.'

'Every one knows it.'

'And, do you know, I have taken a great fancy to your new purchase, who,
according to your account, is eminently qualified for the post. Why, do
you not agree with me?'

'Why, yes; I doubt not your Highness would find him eminently qualified,
and certainly few things would give me greater pleasure than offering
him for your acceptance; but I got into such disgrace by that late
affair of the Circassian, that----'

'Oh! leave it to me,' said the Princess.

'Certainly,' said the physician, turning the conversation; 'and when
the young King of Karasme arrives at Bagdad, you can offer him to his
majesty as a present.'

'Delightful! and the king is really handsome and young as well as brave;
but has he any taste?'

'You have enough for both.'

'If he would but make war against the Greeks!'

'Why so violent against the poor Greeks?'

'You know they are Giaours. Besides, they might beat him, and then I
should have the pleasure of being taken prisoner.'

'Delightful!'

'Charming! to see Constantinople, and marry the Emperor.'

'Marry the Emperor!'

'To be sure. Of course he would fall in love with me.'

'Of course.'

'And then, and then, I might conquer Paris!'

'Paris!'

'You have been at Paris?'[34]

'Yes.'

'The men are shut up there,' said the Princess with a smile, 'are they
not? and the women do what they like?'

'You will always do what you like,' said Honain, rising.

'You are going?'

'My visits must not be too long.'

'Farewell, dear Honain!' said the Princess, with a melancholy air. 'You
are the only person who has an idea in all Bagdad, and you leave me. A
miserable lot is mine, to feel everything, and be nothing. These books
and flowers, these sweet birds, and this fair gazelle: ah! poets may
feign as they please, but how cheerfully would I resign all these
elegant consolations of a captive life for one hour of freedom! I wrote
some verses on myself yesterday; take them, and get them blazoned for me
by the finest scribe in the city; letters of silver on a violet ground
with a fine flowing border; I leave the design to you. Adieu! Come
hither, mute.' Alroy advanced to her beckon, and knelt. 'There, take
that rosary for thy master's sake, and those dark eyes of thine.'

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