But
I'm afraid I tire your highness."
"Wallah el Nebi!--by God and his Prophet, you do indeed. Is it all to be
like that?"
"No! pacha. I wish to heaven that it had been. Merciful God!--why didst
thou permit the blow?--Was not I grateful?--Were not my eyes suffused
with tears, springing from gratitude and love, at the very moment when
they rushed in--when their murdering weapons were pointed to my
breast--when the mother shrieked as they tore away the infant as a
useless encumbrance, and dashed it to the ground--when I caught it up,
and the pistol of the savage Turk put an end to its existence? I see it
now, as I kissed the little ruby fountain which bubbled from its heart:
I see her too, as they bore her away senseless in their arms. Pacha, in
one short minute I was bereft of all--wife, child, home, liberty, and
reason; and here I am, a madman and a slave!"
The maniac paused: then starting upon his feet, he commenced in a loud
voice:--"But I know who they were--I know them all, and I know where she
is too: and now, pacha, you shall do me justice. This is he who stole my
wife; this is he who murdered my child; this is he who keeps her from my
arms: and thus I beard him in your presence:"--and as he finished his
exclamations, he sprang upon the terrified Mustapha, seizing him by the
beard with one hand, while with the other he beat his turban about his
head.
The guards rushed in, and rescued the vizier from the awkward position
in which he was placed by his own imprudence, in permitting the man to
appear at the divan.
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