170 & | The Loss of

i.

 

The Princess Badoura had withdrawn into the inner palace;
however, as soon as she had heard of the captain’s return and
Camaralzaman’s arrival, she came out to speak to him. As soon
as she set her eyes on the prince, for whom she had shed so
‘many tears, she knew him in his gardener’s clothes. As for the
prince, who trembled in the presence of a king, as he thought her,
to whom he was to answer for an imaginary debt, it did not enter
into his head that the person whom he so earnestly desired to
see stood béfore him. If the princess had followed the dictates
of her inclination, she would have run to him and embraced
him, but she put a constraint on herself, believing that it was
for the interest of both that she should act the part of a king
a little longer before she made herself known. She contented
herself for the present with putting him into the hands of an officer,
who was then in waiting, with a charge to take care of him till
the next day. —

When the Princess Badoura had provided for Prince Camaral-
zaman, she turned to the captain, whom she was now to reward for
the important service he had done her. She commanded another
officer to go immediately and take the seal off the warehouse
where his and his merchants’ goods were, and gave him a rich
diamond, worth much more than the expense of both his voyages.
She bade him besides keep. the thousand pieces of gold she had
given him for the pots of olives, telling him she would make up
the account with the merchant herself. —

This done, she retired to the Princess of the Isle of Ebony’s
apartment, to whom. she communicated her joy, praying her to
keep the secret still. She told her how she intended to manage
to reveal herself to Prince Camaralzaman, and to give him
the kingdom.

-" The Princess of the Isle of Ebony was so far from betraying
her, that she rejoiced and entered fully into the plan.