"
"And how is this?" she asked very earnestly.
For a moment he paused, regarding her as might a stranger, as one
who considers a beauty in which he hath no part; and, drawn by
this strangeness, she rose and knelt beside him, pillowing her
head upon his heart.
"Say on," she said in her voice of music.
He unfurled a scroll that he had crushed in his strong right
hand, and read aloud:-
"`Thus says Allah-u-Din, Shadow of God, Wonder of the Age,
Viceregent of Kings. We have heard that in the Treasury of Chitor
is a jewel, the like of which is not in the Four Seas - the work
of the hand of the Only God, to whom be praise! This jewel is thy
Queen, the Lady Padmini. Now, since the sons of the Prophet are
righteous, I desire but to look upon this jewel, and ascribing
glory to the Creator, to depart in peace. Granted requests are
the bonds of friendship; therefore lay the head of acquiescence
in the dust of opportunity and name an auspicious day.'"
He crushed it again and flung it furiously from him on the
marble.
"The insult is deadly. The soor! son of a debased mother! Well he
knows that to the meanest Rajput his women are sacred, and how
much more the daughters and wives of the Kings! The jackals feast
on the tongue that speaks this shame! But it is a threat, Beloved
- a threat! Give me thy counsel that never failed me yet.
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