"I am very blind. I thought you were but
a common man such as I am, only clad in bright clothes. Tell me, what
is it like to be a king, and have all things beneath your feet. Do you
still hope and suffer, and fear death like a common man? Is the flesh
beneath your gold and purple the same as mine beneath my rags? Do old
memories torment you, memories of the dead who come no more? Can you
feel griefs, and the ache of disappointment?"
"Do I sit here to answer riddles, Fool?" answered Janees angrily. "Turn
the fellow out. I have business."
Now guards sprang forward to do the King's bidding, but again Kepher
waved his staff, and again they fell back. Certainly it seemed as though
there were power in that staff.
"Business, King," he said. "Not of the State, I think, but with one
who lodges yonder," and he nodded towards the shuttered room whence Tua
watched him. "Well, that is three hours hence after the sun has set, so
you still have time to listen to my prayer, which you will do, as it is
of this same lady with whom you have business.
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