Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/33

 lady of the olden days, proud and august, strict in the performance of religious rites, unwearied in the discharge of her duties as mistress of a vast household. She bathed in the Ganges every morning before sunrise, offered her worship in a temple which Noren's grandfather had built in the Palace gardens, and busied herself the whole day in the endless work of the house. Simple in her own habits, she took her mid-day meal after all the men and all the children had been fed, and then sought a little rest, according to the custom of the East. Once again in the evening she proudly presided over household duties and the evening meals, and late at midnight she stole into the kitchen to have her own before she retired to bed. Her word was law in the large family of relations and dependants living in the Palace, and her wise counsel was often sought and valued, even in affairs of the estate by her husband. And the women of the family whispered among themselves that the strong and imperious Nobo Kumar, the virtual ruler of vast estates, did not often care to face his august lady when she had determined to have her own way.

Perhaps because she was herself a descendant of the Birnagar house, or perhaps because a woman's kindly heart was touched by the helpless condition of an orphan boy noble in descent and handsome in face, Nobo Kumar's wife came to love Noren with a mother's love. She tended him with the same affection that she bestowed on Hemlata, and smiled to see the two children playing together in the gardens or by the lake. And she would not be a woman if some deeper thought about their future life did not sometimes rise in her fond maternal bosom.