Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/233

 from Allahabad to the city where the great Badshah lives. What do they call that city, Gokul Das?"

"They call it Agra, mother, and those who come from those parts say there is not a finer city on earth. Agents from great trading houses in Agra carry on trade in Debipur, and I have arranged with them for securing a suitable house at Agra when mother arrives there."

"So Heaven ordain it that we may arrive there safely. For Sirish often talks of visiting the palaces of the Badshah, and even my Hemlata wishes to see the marble houses of the Queens and Begums who live there."

"It is a natural wish, mother, and Heaven will gratify the wish. And the great Emperor himself has heard of my late Master from Raja Man Singh, and will do suitable honour to his family."

"No honour do I seek, Gokul Das, a poor widow who only wishes to spend her last days at Mathura. But Agra is on the way, and a few days we must be there. Sirish wishes to make some inquiries about that dear child Noren, whom we have not seen for years."

"She means mischief when she begins to talk of Noren," thought Gokul Das to himself. "But I will know how to defend myself if she opens the attack."

"It is nine years, is it not, Gokul Das, that he left his home—that brave, that persecuted youth?"

"I am in for it now, but I will face it," said Gokul Das to himself. But he replied humbly and sadly, "More than nine years have we wept for him, mother. My late Master loved him as a son, but youth is rash, and Noren had the pride of his race."

"Well he might, Gokul Das, seeing from what race