And because the Rajputs trust the word even of a foe, he went.
(A hi! that honour should strike hands with traitors!)
IV
The hours went by, heavy-footed like mourners. Padmini the Rani
knelt by the window in her tower that overlooks the plains.
Motionless she knelt there, as the Goddess Uma lost in her
penances, and she saw her Lord ride forth, and the sparkle of
steel where the sun shone on them, and the Standard of the Cold
Disk on its black ground. So the camp of the Moslem swallowed
them up, and they returned no more. Still she knelt and none
dared speak with her; and as the first shade of evening fell
across the hills of Rajasthan, she saw a horseman spurting over
the flat; and he rode like the wind, and, seeing, she implored
the Gods.
Then entered the Twice-Born, that saint of clear eyes, and he
bore a scroll; and she rose and seated herself, and he stood by
her, as her ladies cowered like frightened doves before the woe
in his face as he read.
"To the Rose of Beauty, The Pearl among Women, the Chosen of the
Palace. Who, having seen thy loveliness, can look on another?
Who, having tasted the wine of the Houris, but thirsts forever?
Behold, I have thy King as hostage.
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