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 before I came here. Tell me why thou wert at Birnagar, and how long thou wert there."

"Why, sister, my father lost his estate, as I told thee, and was appointed a manager of Birnagar by the Emperor's orders when the heir of Birnagar was a minor. We lived there for some ten or eleven years before my father was restored to his own estate of Debipur."

"I understand it now, sister, and I suppose the minor of Birnagar has now come of age and owns his own estate."

"No, sister, his is a sad story." Hemlata paused a little, and then went on. "He was exiled from his estate, was wounded in battle, and was carried to Agra. Perhaps, sister, thou mayst have heard something of him in Agra." A tear, which Hemlata vainly tried to conceal, moistened her eyes.

"His name?"

"His name is Norendra Nath."

The lights of the room had grown somewhat dim, and neither of the ladies wished them to be brighter. A slight colour had tinged Hemlata's brow, while the Fair Persian looked down and her face was inscrutable.

"We Moslem women," spoke Mihr-un-Nissa, after a pause, "are kept in strict seclusion in Agra, and know little of the men who frequent the Emperor's Court. Yet of him I have heard, for the physicians of Queen Jodh Bai attended on him during his illness."

"And did they cure him, sister Begum, and is he completely restored to health?" The voice of the inquirer betrayed the eagerness of an anxious heart, which was not lost on Mihr-un-Nissa.

"Thou seemest much interested, sister," she said, smiling, "in the fortunes of the heir of Birnagar.