_I have oft said it, and again I say
That I, poor soul, did never choose my way,
But like taught birds, in hooded darkness heard
What was the Master's will, the Master's word
Bramble or rose whate'er His order gives
I take in joy--knowing the Gardener lives_.
--Jami.
Auntie Rosebody's face showed pale above her wadded pink wrapper in
the light of the little cresset that was set upon the floor. Her small
hand shook as she reached it out mechanically and took something that
was held out to her by one of the two women who, close-wrapped in
their _burka_ veils, squatted opposite to her. She did not look at
this something, she simply held it fast in her closed palm.
What else could she do at two o'clock in the morning, when she had
been aroused from innocent slumber to decide, in an instant, the part
she would play in a conspiracy to preserve her nephew the King's Luck,
and increase that of her beloved grand-nephew the Prince Salim.
Decide it! When she could scarcely gather her senses together
sufficiently to understand what the woman told her: the woman with the
polished Persian periods, the persuasive voice, which stamped her,
what she was, courtesan. The other voice she vaguely recognised, so,
after a time she challenged it.
"Thou art Atma Devi, the mad fortune teller," she said, catching at
any straw of reality in this whirlpool of dreams.
"I am the King's Charan" came the reply. "Therefore, as the Most
Beneficent knows, his honour stands for my life."
True! There was reassurance in the thought, besides that which came
from the glib list of respected and respectable names that fell from
the other glib mouth. Khodadad's was not amongst them, neither was
Mirza Ibrahim's; for Siyah Yamin knew her company. She was too wise
even to betray her own identity and strove to keep the polish from her
periods as much as she could as she talked on and on of the safety of
the King, of bewitchments, of the immense value it might be to the
Prince in the coming Audience of Nobility if luck and favour might be
assured to him by the secret wearing of the talisman.
Even so much she protested, should be sufficient reason for the Most
Benificent assuming custody of the great diamond, even if she returned
it afterward. It would be as easy to replace the false gem with the
true one, as it had been to replace the true with the false. But once
the bewitchment of the foreigner was broken, the King himself would
likely give thanks to God and to his great-aunt. Here was her
opportunity!
Poor Auntie Rosebody's eyes wandered helplessly from one _burka-ed_
form to the other. She could not even think what "Dearest Lady" would
have said. Her mind held nothing but the fact that she, the Lady
Hamida, and the whole harem had, but that very afternoon, discussed
with tears the question of this cutting of the King's Luck, and that
even Hamida had applauded her impulsive assertion that to steal the
gem would be allowable under the circumstances. And now, here it was
stolen, and in her very hand. It was like the Day of Resurrection!
"And the Prince will need fortune," came the glib voice, "since for
these two nights passed, he hath undoubtedly been in Satanstown with
Siyah Yamin. And that angers the King. So, those who send us, say
'twere better if the King, his Royal Father, were to give him some
distant post of honour--as indeed is but his right. But this can be
compassed but by favour, and for this purpose the wearing of such a
talisman is potent."
Aunt Rosebody groaned. Did she not know it! Were there not instances
without number even in her own family of such influences? If she could
only consult someone--even Hamida. But the women were urgent. Except
in the safe keeping of the Beneficent Ladies, and under promise, the
diamond could not be left.
Then it was that the little lady reached out her hand and took what
was held out to her. After that there was but a short whispered
conference, and then Aunt Rosebody was left feeling as if the whole
round world was tight clasped in her small hand, while the women stole
back, as they had come, protected by the Lord Chamberlain's order.
"Well!" asked Siyah Yamin, when, safe beyond the walls, speech was
possible. "Art satisfied, Ato, now that thou hast seen the King's Luck
out of my evil hands? Ah! Fie on thee sister, for thy threats, thy
unkind thoughts of poor little Siyala, who, heaven knows, has had more
curses than cowries out of the business. Yet but for me and my pet
thief Pahlu, who between ourselves nigh starved waiting in the empty
workshop while Diswunt was making up his mind--the King's Luck would
still be--where it ought to be!"
Atma's face grew troubled. Ever since the deed had been done, she had,
woman like, become afraid of it. It was this vague fear which had made
her insist on accompanying Siyah Yamin, so that she might see for
herself that the gem had been given into the hands of the Beneficent
Ladies. "Think'st thou so in truth, Siyal----?" she asked
reproachfully, "and yet thou hast not ceased to assure me" She broke
off, then added "And but for me, sister, Diswunt's mind would never
have been made up. It was I----"
Siyah Yamin burst into a low laugh as she disappeared between the
curtains of her waiting dhooli. "Give him good reward, then, sister,
after woman's fashion. Lo! I have given him mine already."
Something in her tone made Atma stoop and hurriedly open those
closed curtains that were heavy with stale scents. A glimmer of
gray dawn--for it had taken time to persuade Aunt Rosebody to
action--showed faintly the courtesan's face set in the white folds of
the _burka_ she had thrown upward for more air. Perhaps it was a
memory of the portrait thus framed which made Atma repeat herself. "I
wonder thou canst be so unkind to a poor lad who loves thee."
"Unkind?" echoed the courtesan with the zest of a child who kills
flies. "Death is no unkindness, and they will give it him, doubtless,
if he hath been unwise. For he will not blab--that I know--he loves
too much!"
She was right. Even as she spoke Diswunt was seeking the Great
Silence.
The wind of dawn which found his face as he fell, found her soft
babyish face also; but it brought no message, told no secret.
Atma stood watching the dhooli as it swung off toward Satanstown with
a rising dread at her heart. And yet she had acted for the best, and
when all was said and done the King's Luck was in good hands.
Siyah Yamin said the same thing to the two conspirators Mirza Ibrahim
and Khodadad, whom she found waiting for her return anxiously.
"Yea! Yea! Yea!" she answered yawning. "Lord! how we apples swim! She
will put it as talisman in the Prince's turban. The rest is not for
me. Lo! I have done my work."
"And more!" spoke up Khodadad after a vain look at his companion to
urge him to the task. "Why hast thou taken the woman Atma into thy
confidence? It may spoil all. Why hast thou done it, I say? For
that we will have answer now, will we not Ibrahim? Thou hadst no
right----"
Siyah Yamin yawned again.
"Because, fool! without her I could not work!" Then she smiled
suddenly. "Lo! there is something betwixt me and old Ato which mankind
wist not of, and which I--understand not. But see you, gentlemen, if I
need a scapegoat she is ready to hand. And if that please you not, go!
But quarrel not over such trifles in the making of plans, my friends.
Time runs short and as the proverb says,
One can hear snakes bickering,
By the long tongues flickering.
So this advice I give--silence."
As usual she had the last word.
Poor Auntie Rosebody was at the same moment giving herself the same
advice. Sleep had of course, been effectually banished from her eyes,
and she was still sitting with the little packet she had received from
the women close clasped in her hand. She had held it for so many
minutes--nay, surely hours!--that it seemed to have become part of
herself, and her thoughts had long since left even the question as to
whether she ought not at once to summon the King and give it back to
its rightful owner. The only point with her now was how she could
manage her part without help. She had made up her mind not speak to
Hamida. One never quite knew what she might think or say. But was
there no one else? Aunt Rosebody felt as if she must burst without
speech; but it must be speech with silence. And except at night time,
it was almost impossible for any one to have a private interview with
any one else in the woman's house. It was full to the brim with idle
hussies, eunuchs, actual spies! Naturally if she wanted audience of
Hamida Begum, she could claim a private one; or even of Rakiya--here
the blood flew to Auntie Rosebody's face. No! it should never be old
Rakiya, with her hemistitches, her girding tongue, her ill-bred
remarks about dead saints! Gulbadan Begum was a good hater and the
mere thought of confiding in her enemy quite flustered her. Yet she
could not wait for discreet nightfall. What was to be done must be
done at once, that very morning; since the festivities that were to
commence the six weeks revelling in honour of Salim's coming marriage
were to begin that afternoon. And then, suddenly, a thought struck
her. Umm Kulsum! Little Umm Kulsum who was such a tower of good sense
and sympathy! She would tell her. Yes! she would tell her, not in the
dhooli going to the bathing steps. There they might be overheard by
the duennas who walked beside it. That was the worst of being a
woman--there were spies everywhere, even upon the bathing steps. But
out on the water, right away in the tank, under the azure-silk sky of
heaven--there she could ensure solitude!
Aunt Rosebody heaved a sigh of relief. Ah! it was very well of Rakiya
Khanum to jibe at indecent youth, but it was something to be able to
swim and so get away from old cats!
And so it came to pass that Umm Kulsum coming up to shake her head
like a wet spaniel after her dive through the arches, nearly went to
the bottom from sheer affright of what she saw in Auntie Rosebody's
face.
"Don't" cried the little lady, catching her by the hand and thus
largely adding to her imminence of sinking. "Now do listen, Ummu. But
I think, my dear, you had better turn on your back and float, for what
I've got to tell will make your liver melt, for sure."
So side by side, hand in hand, they floated in the warm, morn-lit
water, Auntie Rosebody's gray hair mingling in snaky fashion with Umm
Kulsum's black locks while the former told her tale. And more than
once the elder woman had to adjure the younger one to keep a straight
back and float decently, since some of Aunt Rosebody's revelations
were disturbing.
"And now O Umm Kulsum, pilgrimess, mind you, to holy Mecca, save my
soul from sin--if thou canst--and tell me, above all, if I be asleep
or awake."
The confused appeal brought silence for a moment whilst those two
brave, superstitious, affectionate women's faces stared into the azure
blue.
Then Umm Kulsum said softly, "It is God's will. He has sent us to do
this thing, and we must do it. Yea! Auntie, even if they kill us we
must save the King's Luck, and buy favour to Salim."
"Oh Ummu!" sobbed Auntie Rosebody. "How glad I am I told thee! Thou
art wisdom itself and thinkest even as I do. We are two splits to one
pea."
And so two set, determined, and in their exaltation, supremely happy,
faces showed ducking and bobbing as they swam and made plans. Ummu was
to set to work at once and make a seed-pearled and gold-embroidered
brocade bag for the stone, which should deftly disguise its shape, and
Aunt Rosebody was to say it contained a precious relic from Mecca, and
insist on the scapegrace wearing it concealed in his turban for the
day. After that? Why ... why...? After that all would depend upon the
fortune of the Prince.
So little Umm Kulsum retired to her violet garden in hot haste to dry
her hair as usual, and then, having dismissed her maids, began work in
the solitude of the secluded spot set round with low walls and orange
trees.
She had thought it all out, had seen that time pressed, and so without
remorse cut a bold snippet out of the pearl-edged embroidered hem of
her very best overcoat which she had told her tirewomen she meant to
wear. The damage would not be seen if she wore a thick veil, and a
very little sewing, but a few pearls deftly applied, would make of the
precious piece a relic holder as good as any in the palace. So her
round simple face grew absorbed in her task, when a rustle in the
orange tree above her made her look up.
She saw another laughing face looking down; a face that with its
orange-coloured veil showed like a ripe fruit amongst the burnished
green leaves. The next instant Mihr-un-nissa's lithe, still-childish
figure had swung itself to the ground and her forefinger was wagging
roguishly at Umm Kulsum's hasty and futile effort to conceal her work.
"Oh fie! Ummu. What! secrets?" came the mocking voice. "Dost not
know," here it took on a ludicrous likeness to her mother's, "that
only ill-bred young women degrade themselves by duplicity." Then she
cuddled close and looked at Umm Kulsum with a perfectly ravishing
smile. "Say, sweetheart! is it a love letter?"
Umm Kulsum gave a little shriek of horror. "Go to! thou art a bad
girl, Mihru! How didst come here? And how darest thou even mention
love letters?"
Mihr-un-nissa cuddled closer. "How? Because I needed to see thee,
Ummu--Auntie Ummu I shall call thee, dearest. So when they denied me,
I crept out by the window and along the wall. Mother is at the
reception, but I needed thee. And as for love--Ah! Ummu! I _have seen
him!_"
"Seen whom?" asked Umm Kulsum stolidly. Her mind was busy with likely
lies, for she knew the penetrating wit, the cold clear-sightedness, of
this child-girl.
"Why!--my man, of course," came the reply with sage noddings of the
pretty head.
Everything save horrified outrage flew from Umm Kulsum's mind.
"Thou--thou shameless one!--thou canst not mean it. And if thou
hadst--by chance--to dare to say it. Mihr-un-nissa Begum, say it is
not true!"
The pretty head nodded again cheerfully. "But it is true, Auntie Ummu,
and it was not by chance. I climbed into a tree--thou knowest I can
climb trees--and saw him over the wall as he came to sup with father.
And I like him. He hath a kind, strong face. And--lo! Ummu, one can be
queen of a man's heart."
As she sate there, her small slender hands closed on each other as if
she held something very precious, a mysterious smile came to her eyes,
her mouth. Years younger than her companion, in all things of
womanhood she outpassed her utterly. So, as she paused, sudden shame
came to her.
"And dost know, Ummu," she went on, a fine blush invading her cheeks
that were the colour of ripe wheat, her hands unloosing themselves to
plait and replait in her confusion the fold of Umm Kulsum's best
overcoat which lay beside her, "I--I think he saw me for--for he
smiled--though he walked on sedately as a gentleman should. But I am
not sure his eyes----"
She paused abruptly, gave a little shriek, "Oh! Ummu! thou hast cut
it--thy beautiful overcoat----"
She held up the accusing gap in the hem, and her young face took on
swift, keen interest. "So--thy secret! Come out with it, Auntie!"
She snatched at Umm Kulsum's work and held it out derisively. "An
amulet--nay! a relic holder!" she cried gaily. "Lo! Umm Kulsum Khanum!
it must be for thy lover to wear--in his turban likely."
Umm Kulsum gasped, and leant back against the orange bole helplessly.
"Truly, Mihru! thou--thou art a witch!" she murmured feebly.
The expression on the girlish face intensified into absolute cunning.
"So--then it is for some one's turban--Prince Salim's I dare swear--to
bring him luck with his father. Ohi Ummu! I have hit it! Tell me,
sweetheart, what goes in it? Come! let me have a look at thy
face"--for Umm Kulsum in sheer dread of those piercing inquisitive
eyes had swaddled herself hastily in her veil. "What thou willst not.
Then it is something worth knowing. I will find out--but la! that
scent of ambergris portends my mother's passing. I must begone, Auntie
Ummu, ere they seek for me. Farewell--and--and good luck go with thy
Prince. He needs it!"
She had swung herself into the orange tree once more and was gone,
leaving Umm Kulsum with a beating heart. It was an ill chance, and the
girl was as a wizard with her guesses; but seeing that the Audience of
Nobility was to be held that night, there was small chance for
Mihr-un-nissa's wit to do harm. And the Prince would be under solemn
promise to bring the talisman back next morning without fail.
Whether he intended to keep the promise or not, certain it is that he
made it, while Auntie Rosebody's voice shook over the oath she
administered, and little Umm Kulsum stood by trembling in her very
marrow. And when the young man had gone off, all duly dressed for his
part in the festivities, sulkily carrying with him the well wishes of
every woman in the harem in addition to that mighty talisman which
they all looked at from a distance with awe, those two poor
conspirators retired together and wept on each other's neck.
"I will fast to-night O child!" said the old woman ruefully. "God
knows it may be my last; but he may spare thee, being young."
Umm Kulsum only sobbed the more. Why should she add to Aunt Rosebody's
anxieties by telling her of Mihr-un-nissa's visit? And after all, the
girl had wished the Prince good luck! Something at least should come
of that.
And ere many hours were over something did; for, as Prince Salim
walked back through the Palace Gardens, Fate beckoned to him, and from
that time forth until his death he never forgot the call.
It happened on this wise. Vaguely disturbed, he dismissed his retinue
in an ill temper, and despite the heat of the early afternoon sun
sought solitude. Wherefore, who knows?
Had the conspirators gone so far as to tell him that he carried with
him the King's Luck, and that he had but to declare himself to find
following sufficient to give him the sceptre? Or had they merely begun
to prepare the way for such telling in the future? Certain it is that
he was moody, thoughtful beyond his wont. In half an hour or so the
festival would begin by a grand illumination; the festival which would
bring him marriage, if his father ...
That break in his thoughts seemed to end every subject for thought.
If his father--if his father...?
The noise of the firework makers and lamp sellers who were at work in
the principal paths, annoyed him, so he wandered off into the more
private ones, amusing himself idly, almost unconsciously, with a pair
of doves he had taken, as the only silent companions--he had said
bitterly, in the court.
If his father--if his father...? The question obsessed him.
Whether he knew actually that he carried kingship with him, certain it
is that his thoughts were with himself, as king. What he would do,
what he would say, what he would think.
If--this thing--were to happen, _now_, would he marry this Rajputni?
Not--by all the twelve Imams--if she were ugly! And, as his friends
said--they were all Mahommedans--the first wife should be of Islam.
He had wandered farther than he knew, and without realising it had
entered the garden belonging to the women's apartments. But it was
empty; the hour was early and every one busy dressing for the
festival. So he went on unhindered. It was cooler here in the pleached
alleys, and perfumed too. Out yonder in the sunlight the very scent of
the flowers seemed burnt up.
Yes! If he married----
The onyx-eyed birds of love he was carrying fluttered and fretted.
Were they too, dreaming of liberty. Curse the brutes! Why could they
not keep quiet, and give him a chance of making up his mind.
His eye caught someone, a slip of a child it looked, wrapped close in
a creamy veil sitting beside a fountain. Some coolie's daughter, no
doubt, waiting for her father to finish work.
"Here, hold these birds, child," he cried peremptorily. The figure did
not move and with another curse on its stupidity he strode up to it,
thrust the pigeons into its lap and with a brief order to hold them
fast till his return, strode off again. Something he must settle, he
felt, before he met his father in the Audience of Nobility.
Vague, instinctive affection and loyalty had to war with passionate
desires for power, with the thousand and one poisoned thoughts which,
day and night, were put into his mind diligently by those who sought
him as their tool.
When he had disappeared into the thickets of pomegranate and orange,
there came a sudden little laugh.
"Oh! birdies! birdies! What a stupid stripling!"
The shrouding veil which she had hastily drawn round her on the
appearance of the Prince, slipped back, and Mihr-un-nissa's dimpling
face was buried in the opalescent feathers of her captives. "Nay! no
struggling! Sure thou art better here than with your sulky, fatling
Prince--though see you, my birds, he is not so ill-looking when he is
seen close, as the squirrel said of the spider when he had dismembered
him! But he is not a patch on Sher Afkan. La! how Ummu squirmed when I
spoke of him. What sillies women be, as if one might not use one's
eyes. Ohi! Now I have it! 'Tis the talisman in his turban gives the
Prince his air. Have a care! Mihr-un-nissa, lest thou fall in love
with him and desert true friend. And yet----"
She paused, looked down at her own face mirrored in the water and what
she saw there held her.
It was true what the woman told her. That was no mere wife's face--it
was the face of a queen--a real queen----
The birds of love fluttered in her listless hold. Lost in her dreams
she scarcely noticed that one, eluding her slack grasp fled joyfully
to coo his paean of liberty from an orange tree hard by.
Was it worth it? Was it worth it? What was all the power in the world
worth to a woman, as she--the girl upon its verge--imagined womanhood?
"My birds?" The Prince had returned. The imperious voice roused her;
roused her temper also.
"Here, my lord," she replied curtly.
"What? Only one?" The voice was angry now; almost ready for a curse.
She set, as it were, soul and body into cold ice.
"Sire!" she answered, with chill courtesy, "one has flown."
In the shade of the trees, her face, averted, was unseen, and of her
figure, crouched in upon itself instinctively, the Prince saw nothing
but childish outlines.
"Stupid fool," he cried roughly. "How? Damn you! Tell me how."
She was on her feet in a second, facing his anger fearlessly, her own
blazing hot in defiance of all things. Aye! even this fading Prince
who dared to call her fool!
"So! my lord!" she cried defiantly and from her outstretched hands the
second dove flew circling to join its mate.
Salim stood startled into silence. From the orange tree the doves were
cooing. The perfumes of the garden rose up around them. Overhead
blazed the brazen sky.
But the Heir-Apparent of India saw nothing save that first glimpse of
the woman who as Mihr-un-nissa, Queen of Women, Nurmabal, the Light of
Palaces, and finally as Nur-jahan, the Light of the World, was to play
so large a part in his life.
He was too much taken up with the love which, like the doves, had
flitted from the listless hand of Fate even to attempt to detain the
girl, when with a sudden sweeping salaam, a soft sweet, "Your servant,
Mihr-un-nissa" she turned and fled.
At least, she felt, he might as well know who she was.