"Wheels within wheels, proofs within proofs,"
he said. "Thou hast yet to learn the Eastern heart. When thou seest white
in the East, call it black, for in an instant it will be black. Malaish,
it is the East! Have I not trusted--did I not mean well by all? Did I not
deal justly? Yet my justice was but darkness of purpose, the hidden
terror to them all. So did I become what thou findest me and dost believe
me--a tyrant, in whose name a thousand do evil things of which I neither
hear nor know. Proof! When a woman lies in your arms, it is not the
moment to prove her fidelity. Nahoum has crawled back to my feet with
these things, and by the beard of the Prophet they are true!" He looked
at the papers with loathing. "But what his purpose was when he spied upon
and bribed my army I know not. Yet, it shall be said, he has held Harrik
back--Harrik, my brother. Son of Sheitan and slime of the Nile, have I
not spared Harrik all these years!"
"Hast thou proof, Effendina?"
"I have proof enough; I shall have more soon. To save their lives, these,
these will tell.
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