Page 208 - Adventures in shadow-land

Tke Sea Kingdom* 35

anti very handsome, and 'belonged to a very dis­
tinguished family in his own state. It was said

that they were in some way connected with that
royal race to which belonged Gulnarc of the

Sea— she who married the King of Kliorassan, It
was whispered that the family were descended from
a younger son of this pair, who had married a mer

lady,, and displeased both her family and his to
such an extent by the marriage that they had left

the Eastern seas and emigrated to the English
waters, and from there into the new sea lands of

the West.
All these things, if they were true, must have

happened centuries before my merman was born.
The legend was well known, and if it was founded
on fact, the family had human blood in their veins

and a cross of sea genii, for Gulnare was, as you
will remember, not quite a flesh-and-blood woman.

However, the humanity in them was at least royal
humanity, and the King of Khorassan, as the story

goes, was a very fine gentleman.
All the people of that country were fair-haired,

big-boned people, with blue eyes, but the race I
am writing about were black haired and dark eyed,