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 Hussain. "She comes from Calcutta. Mr. Warren Hastings sent her here with a letter; in reality, she is not a prisoner. My humble-self received the letter, because it had reached me before the war broke out—if I have done wrong by doing so, I am here before your majesty to receive any punishment that your royal~self may desire to inflict on me."

After this, Amir Hossain read out to the Nawab the letter, he had received from Warren Hastings. It ran as follows:—

"I do not know who this woman is; she appeared before me in a piteous condition and begged to be sent to the Nawab, as she was quite helpless in Calcutta and had no other means to have recourse to. War, it seems, will soon break out between you and ourselves, but the people of our race have no quarrel with women and I, therefore, send her to you. I know nothing beyond what I have already said."

After hearing the letter, the Nawab ordered the woman to be brought before him. Syed Amir Hossain went out and after a while returned with the woman. The Nawab saw that she was no other than Kulsam herself. He was violently annoyed and asked,