Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/109

 false hair was gracefully combed back and tied in a knot, and a veil hid half his face. An ample scarf depended from his shoulders in graceful folds, covering his breast and falling to his knees. A necklace of coral measured his throat; bangles of gold were with difficulty fitted on his bony wrists; and anklets of silver tinkled on his feet as he walked.

"Why, all the gay youths of the palace will now court a kiss from this tall damsel, graceful as a cypress," said Jelekha, with a smile. Noren's face crimsoned in his vexation, but he made no reply.

A sliding door in the wall, which the minutest inspection in daylight could not have detected, led to a long, dark passage. It was through this door, thought Noren to himself, that Jelekha had come so often to his sick room and disappeared so mysteriously.

The passage grew dark altogether when the sliding door was closed and locked, and Noren had to feel his way.

"Mind, there are steps and crooked turnings here, my fair sister Sharifa," said Jelekha, with suppressed laughter. "Henceforth thou art my sister from the North. Forget this and thy life and mine shall be the penalty we pay."

Forgetting the gravity of his present situation and his unknown risks, Noren was not a little amused at the part imposed upon him, and thoroughly entered into the joke. He laughed and stumbled over some unseen steps.

"Why, thou art more clumsy, sister Sharifa, than I thought! But thou hast lately come from our