lady. Shall I send for the noble
Keferinis?'

'I wish I were Cypros, and you were---- Hark! what is that?'

''Tis only the antelope, sweet lady.'

'I thought it was---- Now tell me, my Cypros, which of these two princes
do you think is he who is one of us?'

'Oh, really, sweet lady, I think they are both so handsome!'

'Yet so unlike,' said the lady.

'Well, they are unlike,' said Cypros, 'and yet----'

'And what?'

'The fair one has a complexion almost as radiant as your own, sweet
lady.'

'And eyes as blue: no, they are too light. And so, as there is a
likeness, you think he is the one?'

'I am sure I wish they were both belonging to us,' said Cypros.

'Ah, me!' said the lady, ''tis not the bright-faced prince whom I
hold to be one of us. No, no, my Cypros. Think awhile, sweet girl. The
visage, the head of the other, have you not seen them before? Have
you not seen something like them? That head so proudly placed upon the
shoulders; that hair, that hyacinthine hair, that lofty forehead, that
proud lip, that face so refined and yet so haughty, does it not recall
anything? Think, Cypros; think!'

'It does, sweet lady.'

'Tell me; whisper it to me; it is a name not to be lightly mentioned.'

Cypros advanced, and bending her head, breathed a word in the ear of
the lady, who instantly, blushing deeply, murmured with a faint smile,
'Yes.'

'It is he, then,' said Cypros, 'who is one of us.'

CHAPTER LII.

_A Royal Audience_

OUR travellers were speculating, not very sanguinely, on the possible
resources which Gindarics might supply for the amusement of a week,
when, to their great relief, they were informed by Keferinis, that the
Queen had fixed noon, on this the day after their arrival, to receive
them. And accordingly at that time some attendants, not accompanying,
however, the chief minister, waited on Tancred and Fakredeen, and
announced that they were commanded to usher them to the royal presence.
Quitting their apartments, they mounted a flight of steps, which led
to the wooden gallery, along which they pursued their course. At its
termination were two sentries with their lances. Then they descended
a corresponding flight of stairs and entered a chamber where they were
received by pages; the next room, of larger size, was crowded, and
here they remained for a few minutes. Then they were ushered into the
presence.

The young Queen of the Ansarey could not have received them with an