Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/135

 Noren bowed low to the ground.

"Ay," said Mihr-un-Nissa in a pleasanter voice, "the kindness of the royal ladies has been well aided, I fancy, by some watchful nursing. Have I heard aright, Jelekha, that a young Tartar slave of Queen Jodh Bai used to watch the patient's nightly bed with a more constant devotion than the grey-headed Hindu physicians?"

A deep crimson mantled the brow of Jelekha, but her answer was respectful as before. "Nothing is unknown to you, great Begum. It was the desire of my royal mistress that I should visit the patient nightly and bring her news of his health."

"I will not question thee too minutely, Jelekha, if thy royal mistress sometimes found her slave absent too long, or if a young soldier sometimes found his nurse too gracious."

Jelekha crimsoned again, but had the sense to keep her silence.

"Young man," said Mihr-un-Nissa, now in a different tone, "I had heard of you from my husband, and knowing that you were in the fort I desired your presence here in disguise—even in this Queen's Palace. Jelekha is a daring girl, and has faithfully obeyed my command, unknown to her royal mistress and unknown to all in this fort. You, too, have ventured, young soldier, on a deed which might well stagger a brave man. I thank you frankly for complying with my desire. We are going to Bengal, a land where we are strangers and have no friends. My husband counts on your friendship, and may I, brave soldier, rely on your sword in times of need?"

Mihr-un-Nissa knew how to shape her command as a request which no man with warm blood in his