Very great was the feast in Chitor, and the wines that those
accursed should not drink (since the Outcast whom they call their
Prophet forbade them) ran like water, and at the right hand of
Allah-u-Din was set the great crystal Cup inlaid with gold by a
craft that is now perished; and he filled and refilled it - may
his own Prophet curse the swine!
But because the sons of Kings eat not with the outcasts, the Rana
entered after, clothed in chain armor of blue steel, and having
greeted him, bid him to the sight of that Treasure. And
Allah-u-Din, his eyes swimming with wine, and yet not drunken,
followed, and the two went alone.
Purdahs [curtains] of great splendour were hung in the great Hall
that is called the Raja's Hall, exceeding rich with gold, and in
front of the opening was a kneeling-cushion, and an a gold stool
before it a polished mirror.
(Ahi! for gold and beauty, the scourges of the world!)
And the Rana was pale to the lips.
Now as the Princes stood by the purdah, a veiled woman, shrouded
in white so that no shape could he seen in her, came forth from
within, and kneeling upon the cushion, she unveiled her face
bending until the mirror, like a pool of water, held it, and that
only.
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