Page:Marion Crawford - Khaled.djvu/41

 'He is not of those who are easily terrified, I think. Tell me, my father, do you wish me to marry him?'

'How could you marry a man who has no family and no inheritance? Would such a marriage befit the daughter of kings?'

'Why not?' asked Zehowah with much calmness.

The Sultan stared at her in astonishment.

'Has this stranger enchanted your imagination?' he inquired by way of answer.

'No,' replied Zehowah scornfully. 'I have seen the noblest, the most beautiful and the richest of the earth, ready to take me to wife, and I have not loved. Shall I love an outcast?'

'Then how can you ask my wishes?'

'Because there are good reasons why I should marry this man.'

'Good reasons? In the name of Allah let me hear them, if there are any.'

'You are old, my father,' said Zehowah, 'and it has not pleased heaven to send you a son, nor to leave you any living relation to sit upon the throne when your years are accomplished. You must needs think of your successor.'

'The better reason for choosing some powerful prince, whose territory shall increase the kingdom he inherits from me, and whose alliance shall strengthen the empire I leave behind me.'