But amidst all the splendor which surrounded her, the eyes of the queen were heavy with unshed tears; there were no flowers in her dark hair, no jewels upon her shapely neck, for her heart was with her lonely boy in his prison cell, and all her womanhood rebelled against the cruelty of the Shāh. He who had been so kind, so just, so loving in his home, had yielded himself so completely to the influence of his evil advisers that his whole character seemed transformed. He was no longer gentle, patient and loving, even to his wife; he was selfish and irritable, being possibly troubled with some pangs of conscience, although he was a man of such intense egotism that he usually looked upon his own conduct with the utmost complacency. A gentle knock disturbed the sad reverie of the queen, and in a moment more her boy was in her arms; in her splendid isolation she had not learned of his release, and the welcome that she gave him showed that he had not been mistaken in the unfailing strength of mother-love. Long they remained together, talking softly of the happy past and the future with its threatening clouds; the boy dared not stay within reach of the unreasonable father, who was liable at any moment to throw him into prison, or hasten him away to the executioner, and he was also anxious for the fate of the loyal friend who had suffered banishment for his sake. He was determined therefore to leave the Shāh’s dominions, and he had come to his mother for her consent and her blessing. It was a sad trial to the queen, but true love is ever self-sacrificing, and she could not ask him to stay in constant danger, preferring rather that he should risk the unknown perils of a strange land. Another difficulty, however, presented itself. Meher had no money, his allowance having been cut off at the beginning of the trouble with his father, and the queen was no better supplied, for the women of the East were not supposed to have judgment enough to handle anything more than the very small amounts required for the purchase of a few trinkets which were comparatively worthless. At length, however, the queen arose and went to a casket of jewels, where rubies and amethysts reflected their color in the light of diamonds whose purity seemed to mock the sunlight. Taking up in her shapely hands the glittering mass of stones, she carried them to her son and begged him to take them all; he refused to do so, saying that a very small portion of these radiant gems would amply satisfy his modest needs. The mother, however, pressed upon him a goodly share of them, for they would be current in any clime, and being small in bulk they were easily carried. Hours were passed in this last interview, for the mother felt that she might never look into his loved face again, and she clung to him with a devotion that would not be denied.