The Vizīr was tenderly attached to the prince, and knowing that he was imprisoned and constantly in the power of a father whose whole nature had been changed by evil associations, he grieved as much for him as for his own banished boy; he grieved, too, over the estrangement which bad influences had been able to effect in the heart of his royal friend towards himself, and being advanced in years, his health gradually failed beneath the weight of care and suffering. One day the news was brought to the palace that the faithful Vizīr was dead, but so completely was the king in the power of his evil counsellors that he scarcely seemed to care for a loss which would have caused him the greatest pain when his mind was in a normal condition. The faithful Behzād was untiring in his efforts for the release of the prince, and the king found also that the mother of the captive was very far from approving of the course of her husband, even though she said very little upon the subject, and after a time he was released. Finding himself again at liberty, the prince paid no attention to his royal father, but he went where his heart told him that he should find a warm welcome—to the apartments of his mother. THE QUEEN. The dark-eyed queen sat alone in her splendid rooms, for she had sent her maids away. Around her was all the beauty and luxury that art could furnish or money could purchase; the ceilings of her apartments were wrought in the richest mosaics, and the walls sparkled with designs which seemed to be traced with diamonds.[287] The rooms were draped with the richest portiéres of Kermān, and the pure white centres were surrounded with heavy borders, where the soft colors were blended in floral design; behind those Persian hangings were vases of silver and gold where burned the costly gums from Thibet, filling the air with the fragrance of incense. The great windows opened into gardens where the citrons and rose-apples kept their bright blossoms and gleaming fruits, and the broad leaved bananas waved their silken flags in the sunlight. There were fountains where jets of water, smooth and unbroken, gleamed like silver in the sunshine, and in the marble basins below them the birds dipped their wings in the cooling wave, and the bulbul sang of mornings without clouds.