JORDAN'S KING OF NEARLY A HALF-CENTURY HAD ALWAYS BEEN both a fatalist and an optimist. So after six months of unsuccessful treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hussein bin Talal abruptly anointed as successor a little-known son, Abdullah, who promised the failing monarch "to follow in your footsteps." When a final effort to abate his cancer failed last week, the King came home. On Saturday, Abdullah was sworn in as regent with full governing authority. And on Sunday, as the kingdom mingled fears with prayers, Hussein died, leaving Jordanians to confront a future without the only ruler most of them have ever known.

Even at 37, Abdullah looks almost too young for the job, but outwardly at least he is unmistakably Hussein's son. Like his father, he leaned forward on the edge of his seat as he chatted informally last week with half a dozen journalists, displaying the same self-confidence, modesty and British-accented speech. He parried questions as if he had been doing so all his life, instead of literally for the first time. He has stepped smartly into his new role, and insists that Jordan will not alter significantly. "I have my own areas of interest, the economy, things I'd like to concentrate on as things settle down," he said. "But you are not going to see anything different. His Majesty has given me a mission, and I will carry it out to the letter."

That kind of continuity is crucial for his small but strategic country, and for a King who lacks political experience. Abdullah believes his military career has prepared him well, putting him closely in touch with ordinary Jordanians as well as Washington generals. While Hussein's sickbed decision shocked him, he appears unfazed at stepping out to lead the family "team." As Hussein counseled him years ago, "Have I ever steered you guys wrong?" Still, every citizen and friend of Jordan wonders if Abdullah will prove up to the job his father handled with such finesse.

Many will choose to remember the doughty King mainly as a survivor. He succeeded to the Hashemite throne in 1952, at 16, and when he came home last week, at 63, he was the Middle East's longest-serving leader, a ruler of personal courage and political caution who navigated his country through the intrigues of the cold war to the consummation of peace with Israel.

Yet Hussein was always more than merely a survivor. Though he made costly mistakes, he emerged as the region's strongest force for moderation. Though he was frequently betrayed by friend and foe alike, even targeted for assassination, he responded with magnanimity. He molded a modern, cohesive state from a collection of Bedouin tribes and Palestinian refugees, and won something rare in his nasty neighborhood: a lifelong reputation as a man of tolerance.

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