"Therefore they have also made a gift of me, and I am now a fragment of the royal dowry. We are bound to each other till death—we are but one! You go where I conduct you, and I must go where you go. Oh! King-Magnanimous, ought we to weep or rejoice?"

Really, I could not say. And I was greatly disturbed at what had been told me.

To leave this life, so sweet and tranquil, but which sometimes wearied me by its monotony and inaction.... Abandon this beautiful home so abundantly provided with good things!... Surely this was cause for weeping! But then, to see new countries, new cities, meet with new adventures—that was perhaps something to rejoice at! ...

Like my Mahout, I concluded the best way was to wait—and for the present to be resigned.