Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/193



warning of the Emperor was not lost on Noren. He knew his dangers at Agra. Rumours had spread that a female spy had been admitted into the palace by Prince Selim, that a eunuch had been wounded in the darkness of the night, that a Tartar slave had run away. None knew how the spy had escaped, but suspicion pointed to Jelekha. She had introduced the spy, she had wounded Musroor in a scuffle, and she had escaped. None knew, not even the Emperor, perhaps, that the suspected spy was Noren himself, but it was whispered far and wide that Jelekha had fled on the morning on which Noren had left the palace. There was a dark combination among the eunuchs of the palace; their secret inquiry was proceeding, and they had the tenacity and determination of blood-hounds.

Noren's escort had been sent ahead, and prudence urged him to leave Agra at once. But, true to his word, he waited outside the gate of the fort on the appointed night when the drums of the Nakara Khana proclaimed the hour of midnight. No sylph-like form appeared. A feeble old man, bent double with the weight of faggots he was carrying, stood before the gate. The soldiers rudely shoved him away. The man tottered and fell, and his load rolled down from his back. He rose slowly, wailing and lamenting his ill-luck, and withdrew. As he passed close to Noren one whispered word reached Noren's ears—"Come."