The King's Talisman — page 40: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE KINGS TALISMAN. ol him such an agonizing, imploring look, that he turned away to hide his emotions. She was beautiful, transcendently beautiful—her eyes were large, soft, and lustrous, her fea- tures almost heavenly in their expression, and her form like the airy gazelle in its graceful turnings; but, alas! her beauty had been the cause of the first sorrow that dimmed the bright sunshine of her joyous youth. Boljaz, king of Khaibar, had seen her, and in his heart he had determined to possess her. Already had he cause of offense against Modad, and as soon as he became aware of that king’s char- acter, he had threatened a war against Petra, and the reader is aware how Modad had arranged to compromise. ““QOh, would that the sun had blighted me at my birth, ere I should have come to this!” murmured the fair girl, as she pressed her hands against her throbbing temples. ‘‘ Be calm, my daughter,” urged the old man, while he struggled hard to keep down the feelings of the parent. ‘*« Boljaz will surely love you, and treat you with all kind- ness.” ‘‘ And I to be his slave!” bitterly cried Selina, gazing up into her father’s face—‘‘ his boughten slave—his mere bau- ble, to pander to his appetite for the time, and then be cast off like a beast! Oh, God! what misery has fate kept in store 19) for me! Al-Bassa laid his trembling hand upon his daughter’s head, and brushing away the tears that started forth from his aged eyes, he said: _ ‘“Remember, my child, you save your father’s life.” ‘‘But why, why—tell me why this is required?” ex- claimed Selina, forgetting for the moment her deep anguish, in the eagerness to learn the cause of such strange pro- cedure. ‘‘I freely give myself to save my father, but how can the king have your life in his hands?” “Ah, my child, you know little of Modad’s power and disposition. At the present moment he feels that his very Gomicbooks (Elo)