1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

108
A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
“Among the men?” the old man said surprised; “how could I do that?”
“In my country the women can walk about everywhere,” she said. “Is it
not so here?”
“No, it is not, but I will tr y and give you a chance of getting into the
garden. If you were ordinar y Hazaras I would ask Bibi to let you work
there; we are short of men and there is a good deal to do at this season;
but the master might not like it.”
“Oh, I would like to work in the garden,” Gul Begum interrupted him
eagerly. “Will you ask if I may?”
“I’ll see,” the old man said again. “I must not been seen talking too
long with you now; but I’ll do my best for you, and then, when Agha
comes home I shall expect you to remember my services.”
“I shall never forget your kindness,” Gul Begum said quite sincerely.
She was still thinking of the garden of which she had caught glimpse in
the light of the setting sun, and she was inclined to think well of any
one who would get her an entrée into it; but soon her ideas of garden
and flowers and scents were thrown to the winds.
“You are to bring your attendants and come and speak to Bibi,” one of
the slave girls told her, and Gul Begum went upstairs to summon her
mother and aunt.
CHAPTER XX
SCENES IN A HAREM
IT was with a feeling something akin to that of appearing before a
tribunal that Gul Begum entered the long, narro w room where the
mistress of the house sat at one end surrounded by several other women
of evidently less importance.
“You are welcome,” the lad y said, as the strangers approached. It was
only the usual form of Kabul greeting, but it sounded sweet to the
girl’s ears after the wear y da ys she had gone through lately.
“God keep you in peace,” she returned fervently, and by a sudden
impulse, she darted forward, and taking the stranger’s hand in hers, she
pressed it first on one eye and then on the other. “God keep you in