'
'My lord, 'tis in the Armoury.'
'Run, see. No, I'll not be alone. Where's Benaiah? Let him go. Stay with
me, Pharez, stay with me. I pray thee stay, my child.'
Pharez led the Caliph to a couch, on which Alroy lay pale and trembling.
In a few minutes he inquired whether Benaiah had returned.
'Even now he comes, Sire.'
'Well, how is it?'
'Sire! a most awful incident. As the thunder broke over the palace, the
sacred standard fell from its resting-place, and has shivered into a
thousand pieces. Strange to say, the sceptre of Solomon can neither be
found nor traced.'
'Say nothing of the past, as ye love me, lads. Let none enter the
Armoury. Leave me, Benaiah, leave me, Pharez.'
They retired. Alroy watched their departure with a glance of
inexpressible anguish. The moment that they had disappeared, he flew to
the couch, and throwing himself upon his knees, and, covering his face
with his hands, burst into passionate tears, and exclaimed, 'O! my God,
I have deserted thee, and now thou hast deserted me!'
Sleep crept over the senses of the exhausted and desperate Caliph. He
threw himself upon the divan, and was soon buried in profound repose. He
might have slept an hour; he awoke suddenly.
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