Page:Traits and Trials.pdf/309

Rh whose touch he was to sink down an unsolved mystery hidden by the eternal ocean!

How touching the history of Prince Agib—when he arrives at the lovely island only inhabited by the beautiful boy who dwelt there in solitude and fear till he came! How in the thoughtlessness of youth, they laughed when sweet confidence had grown up between them, at the prediction which threatened that beloved and gentle child with death at Prince Agib's hand! Fate laughs at human evasion—the fated morning comes one false step, and even in the very act of tender service, the knife enters the heart of the predestined victim. Prince Agib sees from the thick leaves of the tree where he had taken shelter, the anxious father, anxious but hopeful, arrive. He comes with music and rejoicing. What does he take back with him! The dead body of his son.

Again with what all but actual belief did I devour the history of the wondrous lamp, whose possessor had only to wish. For weeks I lived in a world of wishes, and yet it was this dreaming world first