Page:The Slave Girl of Agra.djvu/95

 "I have never spoken of what I felt for thee, Hemlata, but the moment is come when I must speak—if for the first and last time. There are moments in our life when we dare confess the truth, and let the truth be confessed, Hemlata, before we part. I had hopes that thy fond mother and thy forgiving father would bestow thy hand on me—that we should be happy together in life, as we had been happy in childhood. Turn not thy bashful face, Hemlata; our moments are brief and I must speak before they are gone. Watching those silent stars night after night, I had hoped that they would smile over our happy union, spent once more in these scenes endeared by the memories of our childhood. And wandering alone by the banks of the river, or in solitary fields, I had dreamt that thou, Hemlata, wouldst be the queen of my father's realms and the queen of my heart."

If the blood mounted to Hemlata's face and a tear escaped her eyes she had the tact to conceal them from Noren. If a feeling stirred her which she had not known before she was silent.

"Listen, Hemlata," said Noren, after a pause, and with more composure, "I will speak no more of what I should not say and what thou mayst not hear. My fond dreams have been dispelled, and I am a banished man. I will leave Birnagar to-day and will proceed to Rajmahal. Raja Man Singh takes a kindly interest in me, and there are friends of my grandfather's who will teach me the duties of a soldier. I will follow the Raja's camp from place to place, and from province to province, but my heart will be still at Birnagar, fixed on one whom I can