One day in the beginning of 1860 Theodore perceived
in a church a handsome young girl silently praying to her patron,
the Virgin Mary. Struck with her beauty and modesty, he made
inquiries about her, and was informed that she was the only daughter
of Dejatch Oubie, the Prince of Tigre, his former rival, whom he had
dethroned, and who was then his prisoner. He asked for her hand,
and met with a polite refusal. The young girl desired to retire
into a convent, and devote herself to the service of God. Theodore
was not a man to be easily thwarted in his desires. He proposed to
Oubie that he would set him at liberty, only retaining him in his
camp as his "guest," should the Prince prevail on his daughter to
accept his hand. At last Waizero Terunish ("thou art pure") sacrificed
herself for her old father's welfare, and accepted the hand of a
man whom she could not love. This union was unfortunate. Theodore,
to his great disappointment, did not find in his second wife the
fervent affection, the almost blind devotion, of the dead companion
of his youth. Waizero Terunish was proud; she always looked on her
husband as a "parvenu," and took no pains to hide from him her want
of respect and affection. In the afternoon, Theodore, as it had
been his former habit, tired and weary, would retire for rest in
the queen's tent; but he found no cordial welcome there.
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