Page:Siyar-ul-Mutakherin.djvu/70

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54
SIYAR-UL-MUTAKHERIN.

utmost despair. The governor, who did not think himself strong enough to espouse Ferokh-siar's cause, declined at first to have any concern with him; he even answered, that the orders he had received from court required of him a very different line of conduct: that out of respect for the memory of the prince's father, he could not bear the thought of seizing his person as he was commanded to do, but that he recommended him by all means to retire out of the province, and afford the governor some excuse by which he might escape the calumny of a jealous court, and the suspicions of the emperor. This circumstance is, however, related in a different manner in a memoir that appeared after Ferokh-siar ascended the throne. According to that narrative, Ahmed-beg Koosa, a man who subsequently cut a great figure in that province, having taken an active part in this affair, prevailed upon the governor to pay at least one visit to the fugitive prince, who received him in such a manner as had never been practised by any prince towards a subject, or by any master to a servant. He was all humility and submission; he stood when the governor entered, and made him sit in his presence. After such a reception, he represented how friendless, hopeless, and distressed was his condition, and how fearful he was lest he should meet at court with a fate similar to