not: on the contrary,
she led me to understand that her gift was quite unconditional; and we
then proceeded to talk of other matters, with the result that when at
length I was dismissed, I left the royal presence strongly impressed
with the conviction that my hostess was a very much misunderstood and
maligned woman, earnestly desirous of governing an unruly people wisely
and well, in the face of strenuous opposition on the part of a clique of
ambitious and unscrupulous nobles, of whom the most ambitious and
unscrupulous was Anuti, her husband, who, it seemed pretty evident,
aimed at nothing short of her dethronement and death, and the usurpation
of supreme power. I confess I felt very sorry for the poor old
creature; and although I was particularly careful to pledge myself to
nothing, I was conscious of a very strong inclination to espouse her
cause and do what I might to defeat the machinations of her powerful
enemies. She readily assented to my petition that 'Mfuni, my Mashona,
might be permitted to come to the palace, to act as groom to Prince,
that animal having manifested a distinct distaste for the attentions of
the Bandokolo stableman; and the man presented himself that same
afternoon, in response to a message which I sent, commanding his
immediate appearance.

For nearly a week after this nothing of any particular import happened.
Upon one pretext or another the queen sent for me every day, sometimes
more than once, to converse with her; and by the end of the fifth day
after my arrival I had practically forgotten Siluce's charges against
her, forgotten that she was an old woman--although on the occasion of
our third interview she had permitted me to see her small, withered,
wrinkled old face--forgotten everything, in fact, except that I had come
to the conclusion that she was the most charming, delightful, and
interesting, as well as the most friendless and vilely betrayed woman I
had ever heard of. She had kept her word right royally in the matter of
the diamonds, having sent me a goatskin sack full of the most
magnificent stones, while I was led to understand that more were being
diligently sought for; and as for gold, there was already enough of it
in my apartment to tax the strength of my diminished team of oxen to the
utmost to draw it when it should be loaded into the wagon.

On the sixth day after my arrival in Masakisale I encountered Anuti, the
queen's husband, while riding from the palace to the w