"You have been very kind to me during my imprisonment here," I
said to him, "and as I feel that I have at best but a very short
time to live, I wish, ere it is too late, to furnish substantial
testimony of my appreciation of all that you have done to render
my imprisonment bearable.
"Promptly you have brought my food each day, seeing that it was
pure and of sufficient quantity. Never by word or deed have you
attempted to take advantage of my defenceless condition to insult
or torture me. You have been uniformly courteous and considerate--it
is this more than any other thing which prompts my feeling of
gratitude and my desire to give you some slight token of it.
"In the guard-room of my palace are many fine trappings. Go thou
there and select the harness which most pleases you--it shall be
yours. All I ask is that you wear it, that I may know that my wish
has been realized. Tell me that you will do it."
The boy's eyes had lighted with pleasure as I spoke, and I saw him
glance from his rusty trappings to the magnificence of my own. For
a moment he stood in thought before he spoke, and for that moment
my heart fairly ceased beating--so much for me there was which
hung upon the substance of his answer.
"And I went to the palace of the Prince of Helium with any such
demand, they would laugh at me and, into the bargain, would more
than likely throw me headforemost into the avenue.
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