Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/307

 waters. One tall figure stood on the prow in a soldier's dress, and the light of the moon fell full on his face. Hemlata trembled. She looked again through the window of her boat.

"It is he," she cried, and pressed her heart with her hand.

The boat came nearer and nearer, and slowed down. Before it had reached the Golden Temple the soldier leaped out on the steps and walked into the temple.

"Thinkest thou, Hemlata, it is really Noren? I could hardly see his face as he went into the temple."

"It is he!" repeated Hemlata, and hid her eyes.

"Go quietly, sister, and if it be Noren, wait with him inside the temple till I have finished my evening prayers and come to meet you both."

"Go thyself, Saibalini, and accost him. I—I dare not meet him alone after these nine years."

"Dare not see him alone? Why, he was the dearest friend of thy childhood, and is like a brother to thee. Does a sister fear to meet her brother alone?"

"Thou too art like a sister to him, go and accost him. I dare not meet him alone."

"What childish bashfulness is this, Hemlata? But thou shalt go, my dear, for he has come to meet us. And thou shalt tell him we are returning to Bengal, and he must come with us to his estate, which has been restored to him."

"Pardon me, pardon me, sister, I may not meet