Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/20

 Raja Todar Mull came down once more to Bengal and, with the new Mogul Governor of the Province, surrounded Dayud at Akmahal. The star of the Afghan Rulers set for ever in the battle which ensued, and Dayud was captured and executed in 1576. Raja Todar Mull honoured the Zemindar of Birnagar with a visit, granted him a new Sanad from the Emperor, and placed in his charge the neighbouring estate of Debipur, whose owner had forfeited it by joining the Afghans. This was the crowning reward of the sturdy old man's faithfulness, and he brought his son and his infant grandchild before the throne of Raja Todar Mull, and swore fealty for himself and for all his successors to the House of Akbar. It was a day of great rejoicing at Birnagar; the citizens shouted the name of Akbar the Great and illuminated the town; and veiled women strewed rice and flowers along the road by which Raja Todar Mull and his brave companions passed on caparisoned elephants.

A few months after the old Zemindar died in the fulness of years, and his son followed him shortly after. The infant grandchild, then scarcely two years old, inherited the vast estates of his grandfather, and that child was Noren.

The death of his grandfather and father left infant Noren without any strong protector, and the difficulties of his position were great, for the deposed Lord of Debipur was by no means a contemptible foe. Birnagar and Debipur had been rival estates for centuries, and the Chiefs of the two estates had stood apart as rivals through many generations. Occasionally they were drawn closer to each other by marriage,