'The ship departed,'
said the gardener, 'but a few days ago: if you had come a little
sooner you might have taken your passage in it. If you will wait
the year round until it makes the voyage again, and will stay with
me in my house, such as it is, you will be as welcome to it as to
your own.'
Prince Camaralzaman was glad he had met with such a place of
refuge, in a place where he had no acquaintances. He accepted the
offer, and lived with the gardener till the time came that the ship
was to sail to the Isle of Ebony. He spent his time in working all
day in the garden, and all night in sighs, tears and complaints,
thinking of his dear Princess Badoura.
We must leave him in this place, to return to the princess, whom we
left asleep in her tent.
The princess slept a long time, and, when she awoke, wondered that
Prince Camaralzaman was not with her; she called her women, and
asked them if they knew where he was. They told her they saw him
enter the tent, but did not see him go out again. While they were
talking to her, she took up her girdle, found the little purse
open, and the talisman gone. She did not doubt but that
Camaralzaman had taken it to see what it was, and that he would
bring it back with him.
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