Love ye the moon? Behold her face!
And there the lucid planet trace.
If breath of musky fragrance please,
Her balmy odours scent the breeze.
Possessed of every sportive wile,
’Tis bliss, ’tis heaven, to see her smile.
FERDOSI.
Auzeem, accompanied by the emperor, proceeded in the dusk of the
evening, both muffled up in cloaks, towards that quarter of the
seraglio in which the illustrious prisoners were confined. The keys
having been already sent to Auzeem, by order of Bochari, who fondly
hoped that the result would not fail to promote his own designs, the
minister opened the door as gently as possible. He then locked it again
on the inside, and requesting Jehangire to remain in the apartment
used as a sleeping-room by Nourmahal and her attendants, he advanced
to their sitting-chamber, where he found the family engaged in evening
prayer. Amongst the other orisons which they uttered, in an audible and
fervent tone, was one for the rescue of the empire from the thraldom
in which it was now held by the usurper, and for the preservation of
their imperial master, “for still our master he is,” added Kazim, “even
though this intelligence, we have received of his abdication, be true.
No other sovereign lord shall we acknowledge while he lives. May Allah
look down upon him, and protect him from his enemies, even though his
was the hand which authorised our confinement within these walls!”
Auzeem, checked by these sounds, stopped near the door of their saloon,
which happened to be half open. The emperor, on whose ear some of the
words also alighted, could not restrain himself from going forward.
Placing himself behind Auzeem, he contemplated the group within, with
the most lively emotion. A silver lamp, suspended from the roof of
the chamber, diffused over it a brilliant light, which enabled them
clearly to distinguish every object.
As soon as the family rose from prayer they sat in a circle, when
Nourmahal, by Kazim’s desire, read some portions of a book which she
held in her hand, and which purported to be a history of the Syrian
prophet, of whose mission Jehangire and his companion had heard in
Cashmere. It was a narrative of the sufferings of the god, written in
a simple style of language, that touched the heart. It lost none of
its sweetness or power in the accents of Nourmahal. She then took her
mandolin, and preluding, with her accustomed grace upon the instrument,
sung the first notes of a vesper hymn, in which her handmaids joined.
They purposely restrained their voices within a low compass, in order
that they might not be heard beyond the precincts of their prison. But
the melody seemed, on that account, still more enchanting. It reminded
Auzeem of the warbling of the birds at even-tide, during their late
excursion amongst the forests of the Himalas. Jehangire was tremulous
with rapture, on hearing again that voice which exercised so much
power over his soul. It was with the utmost difficulty he restrained
himself from rushing forward, and at all hazards, folding the admirable
musician in his arms.
Auzeem advanced into the saloon, and throwing back his cloak,
apologised for intruding on their privacy, adding that he was charged
with a communication for Kazim, whom he still designated as chancellor,
which would permit of no delay. Although the different members of the
group were more or less startled by the suddenness of his appearance,
they were in some degree prepared for it, as Auzeem had previously
instructed the hermit to give them an intimation of his intentions.
“How is this?” asked Kazim; “you do me the honour to address me as
chancellor, although there is no man in the empire who knows better
than you do, that I have no longer either office or fortune in this
country. The decrees by which I was stripped of both were under your
signature.”
“Of this we will talk at another time,” said Auzeem. “I appear here by
no means in the character of an enemy to the happiness of your family.
On the contrary, I hope very shortly to convince you, that you have
never had a friend more sincerely anxious than I am, to relieve you
from the position in which you have been so long unhappily placed.”
“Undoubtedly, explanation is necessary upon this point. Indeed,
looking to the present condition of the empire, as it is reported to
us from those who have an opportunity of observing it, I can imagine
many circumstances by which your conduct might have been influenced.
Zeinedeen has taught us to rely upon your good faith, although hitherto
appearances have been so violently against you. Your open co-operation,
in almost all the acts of the usurper, would, you must allow, be a
serious obstacle in the way of your obtaining the confidence of any
faithful servant of the emperor--if, indeed, Jehangire still continue
to bear that title. We are informed that his majesty has abdicated.”
While Kazim was yet speaking, Mangeli and Nourmahal, feeling that the
conversation was assuming a tone of importance, withdrew to the lower
part of the saloon, leaving the two statesmen together. Nourmahal and
her attendants resumed their labours at a piece of tapestry, upon which
they had been engaged for some days, representing one of the battles
of Acbar. Her mother took up her tambour, and endeavoured to proceed
with a rose she was embroidering on muslin; but her anxiety to know the
object of Auzeem’s mission, allowed her to make very little progress.
Jehangire, concealed in the obscurity of the outer chamber, observed
the whole scene with a degree of solicitude scarcely inferior to that
of the wife and mother.
“If this report be true,” continued Kazim, “it must, I presume, be the
result of dire necessity; and if affairs have arrived at such a crisis
as this, I fear that those who, whether designedly or not, have been
instrumental to it, have brought upon their heads responsibility of a
most formidable nature.”
“It does seem an essential portion of Bochari’s plans,” replied Auzeem,
“to compel the emperor to abdicate the throne; and I should be glad if
any man would inform me, what means we possess to resist his design,
in case he should persevere in his measures for carrying it into
execution.”
Nourmahal now listened to their discourse with more earnestness even
than Mangeli.
“Can he not find some mode of withdrawing from the seraglio,” asked
Kazim, “and of be-taking himself to Delhi or Lahore, where, I am
convinced, he would be soon surrounded by faithful subjects, more than
sufficiently numerous to destroy the odious faction now leagued against
him?”
“I much fear that any attempt of that kind would be perilous in the
extreme. Failure would be instantly followed by assassination. Bochari
has himself proposed the retirement of Jehangire to Persia.”
“Then it is all over. The fate of the empire is sealed.”
“He further proposes to discontinue your imprisonment, and that of your
family, upon condition that”--
“Do not say any condition which shall separate my fate from that of
my imperial master. I would much rather abide here, than be free upon
terms of that description.”
“Excellent man!” breathed Jehangire; “it is only in adversity that I
can truly estimate all thy worth.”
“The condition proposed is,” resumed Auzeem, “that you and your family
should also withdraw from Hindostan.”
“Dear, dear father,” exclaimed Nourmahal, rising and hastening to
Kazim, whom she tenderly embraced, “do not hesitate one moment in
accepting this offer. We shall go back to the Ilamish,--to the home you
once loved,--where we shall be happy as the day is long.”
“And if you suffer Jehangire to join you,” exclaimed the emperor,
no longer capable of remaining in his place of concealment, “his
happiness, too, will be complete!”
“The emperor! my lord! my master!” said Kazim, first touching the
ground, and then his forehead with his right hand. Nourmahal followed
his example, but kept her eyes fixed on the ground.
“No longer emperor, my friend, if the usurper may be believed. I am
now before you, simply as Selim,--once the ruler of Hindostan, now a
prisoner within the walls of his own palace, and soon, I suppose, to be
even an exile from the land of his birth!”
“God is great,” said Kazim, in his voice of noble resignation. “Empire
is in his hands; he gives and resumes it at his pleasure, and we can
only bend to his decree.”
“Here are, indeed, examples of submission to the will of the most High,
which dignify misfortune. What do I behold? A wretched, gloomy prison
absolutely turned into a splendid residence! I can recognise the hand
that has worked this miracle; it is here,” added Jehangire, taking
Nourmahal’s right hand between both of his. “Whatever be thy future
destiny, Nourmahal, would that these rooms could be for ever preserved
in their present beauty and magnificence, as a record at once of thy
skill and industry, and above all, of thy piety towards the best of
parents! Heaven surely will reward virtues such as you have displayed
during the whole of this long and severe trial, imposed upon you by the
basest of men.”
“If I deserved any reward, Sire, I have already received it, and much
more, in these words of approbation.”
“You have heard, Nourmahal, from Auzeem, of the critical state to
which the empire has been reduced by the oppressor, into whose hands
a combination of most unexpected circumstances appears to have, for
the present, transferred my sceptre. For these two years back I have
been no more than the nominal ruler of Hindostan. I am now required
to abdicate, and to become an outcast from my own dominions. Should
necessity compel me to take that course, say, shall there be a home for
me, too, on the Ilamish?”
“Oh yes! it will be our delight to surround thee; as thy slaves to wait
upon thee, to administer to thy happiness, to beguile thee from the
recollection of thy natural pre-eminence, and to cheer thee, to the
last hour of existence, by every means in our power.”
“Auzeem, I have hitherto resisted the demands of the usurper for
my abdication. Let him be informed forthwith, that I oppose them
no longer. I feel that I shall be much happier on the banks of the
Ilamish, with these dear companions of my solitude, than I ever could
be again upon a throne, which I have hitherto found only a fountain
of every bitterness. From the height to which I was elevated, I saw,
with very few exceptions,--exceptions almost comprehended in the circle
that now hears me,--nothing but selfishness, ingratitude, rapacity, and
meanness, in mankind. I have been shocked by the picture of innate
hypocrisy and worthlessness which they have constantly exhibited before
me. They are not worth any further sacrifices. Be it arranged that I
quit this wretched country.”
Auzeem observed, that it might be prudent not to yield too easily to
the usurper’s exactions, lest he might withhold also the provision of
which he spoke, for the emperor’s future maintenance.
“That shall be no bar,” said Nourmahal. “Yield nothing upon that
ground, for here,” she added, opening a cabinet filled with gold, the
produce of her industry, “here is a supply of wealth sufficient, at
least for the present, to meet every exigency. For the future, while
health and reason shall remain, those who have earned this treasure,
may be able to replenish it--if, indeed, it will be accepted.”
“Dearest--noblest of women,” said Jehangire in a tone of deep emotion,
“how proud I feel in confessing before those who love you, as they love
their own hearts, that you have been long the object of my warmest
affection. Kazim, my best of friends, you will bear witness, that so
long as the laws of the empire interposed obstacles between me and
this idol of my soul, I never even so much as hinted to you the state
of my feelings upon this subject, agonising as they often have been.”
“We are aware, sire, of the generous restraints which you imposed upon
yourself in that respect. And had I but known, at an earlier period,
your predisposition in favour of Nourmahal, much pain might have been
spared on either side.”
“If I have an ambition still to recover my throne, which, I may say, is
lost, it would only be that I might enjoy the satisfaction of sharing
it with this dear one.”
“I thank destiny for giving me the opportunity to shew, that it was
not your imperial station I looked at, when my heart first knew those
emotions which drew me towards you--emotions which I have never
forgotten--never could conquer. My beloved mother knows what I have
suffered--she will tell you all.”
“And I will listen to your disclosures, Mangeli, with feelings which
I shall often intreat you to renew. Oh! how delightful it is to know
that one is loved for one’s self!--that no motive of external splendour
or station alloys the purity of that divine affection which moves two
souls to mutual adoration, the first moment they meet! This is a joy
which I never felt before. I would not give it away for an empire!”
Some pebbles flung up against the lattice attracted the attention of
Auzeem, who happened to be standing near the window. He mentioned the
circumstance to Kazim, who said,
“It must be Zeinedeen. Whenever he cannot obtain entrance into our
prison, he takes this mode of communicating with us. I shall speak to
him. All is safe here, Zeinedeen--have you any message?”
“There is a terrible tumult going on in the city,” answered Zeinedeen,
who was alone in a small boat on the Jumna. “There is a vast crowd
of the populace in the neighbourhood of a house, where they say the
conspirators are assembled, who are to proclaim Bochari emperor at
the break of day. The people are indignant beyond any thing I can
describe. They are endeavouring to pull the house down. Listen! There
are discharges of fire-arms.”
“The people--they are for Jehangire?”
“All for Jehangire--they swear that they will no longer live under the
usurper.”
“My noble, faithful people,” exclaimed Jehangire. “Let us go forth,
Auzeem, and place ourselves at their head.”
“I have been expecting this outbreak, sire,” said Auzeem; “but I fear
it is premature. It would not be prudent to expose yourself at this
moment. Zeinedeen,” he continued, addressing the hermit, “the emperor
is here. Can you inform us where are the rajaputs?”
“They have just gone down from the citadel, to rescue their party from
the perils with which they are threatened. Let me pray you to take care
of the emperor. The night is teeming with rumours of his assassination.
It is given out that he refused to abdicate, and that upon attempting
to escape from the seraglio, he was murdered by his own guards. I must
depart. I perceive a boat coming this way. Be admonished in time.”
“Then this is their real plot. I thought I had tracked the Persian
through all his deceptions; but I see he has over-reached me at last,”
said Auzeem.
“Yours, my lord, has been a most hazardous policy,” remarked Kazim.
“I own it--but the emperor is still safe--that is the principal object,
and I do not yet despair. Bochari is aware that we are here.”
“If he be, then you may expect to see the rajaputs around us
presently,” said Kazim.
“They will have sufficient employment with the people for a while. But
I confess we have not a moment to lose.”