The King's Talisman — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

THE KING'S TALISMAN. 13 secret of his business, and also that he is my child. Then why should he fear to have me know of it?” ‘“* Modad has assured himself that Noureddin will not dis- close the secret of his mission, even to you,” Abdah Nazor said, in a tone so peculiar and strange that the corn-seller was startled at its sound. Ali Kinah laid his hand upon the old dervise’s shoulder, and in a trembling, anxious tone, he asked: ‘‘ Does the king meditate harm?” ‘Once I told thee, the dervise replied in a confident tone, ‘‘that Noureddin knew of his danger, and that none better than himself knew how to avoid it. He can avoid all pres- ent harm, but as to what may come in future, may not now be told. I came to-night to put thee on thy guard, and once more I tell thee, let not a word escape regarding the - youth—at least, for the present. | Ali Kinah gave his assent, but still he felt ill at ease, and shortly afterward, when Abdah Nazor left, he experienced as much uneasiness as he did before he received the old man’s intelligence. ‘T'o be sure, he knew that his child was alive, and that he was comparatively safe; but yet there was a cloud over the youth’s fate which he could not penetrate. In the hands of the dervise there was some mysterious power ‘over all with whom he was connected, but over none did that power seem to hang with so much portentousness as over Noureddin. The youth not only seemed molded to Abdah Nazor’s will, but far in the future, beyond the ken of sight or reason, the old man bent the boy to his purpose, Not a word would he explain of his reason or of his knowledge on this particular, but simply asserting that the youth’s destiny was known to himself alone, on earth, he pursued his course as he saw fit. At times Ali Kinah had doubted the old man’s intentions, but then the manner in which his lessons were given to Noureddin, and, above all, their pure and ennobling in- Eomichbooks. co