1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

174
A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
“Mother, never mention the subject to me again,” Gul Begum said,
decidedly. “I wish to hear no one’s opinion on this subject, not even
yours. I am proud of my father, I prefer slaver y to a dishonourable
marriage, and I have a right to choose.”
“Oh, I don’t say you are not well off here, but listen, Gul Begum,” and
the older woman stretched her head forward till it nearly touched her
daughter’s. “I am not only concerned about Mohamed Jan, but am
getting ver y much alarmed as to your future here. There are rumours
that the Ameer is looking out for a wife for your Agha, because it is
whispered on all sides that he is tr ying to leave the country.”
“And what is that to me?” the girl answered proudly, and even to the
anxious mother watching for the slightest sign of emotion, no tremor,
no change of co lour, was apparent.
“How can you be so indifferent? How can you pretend that a wife
placed over you would not affect your position, would not affect your
chances of marriage with your master. What is the use of pretending? I
am not blind, I can see which way the stream is running, but you don’t
seem to know how to make use of it to water your own ground.”
“Mother, you do not understand,” was all the girl said quietly. “Let us
join the others.”
“No, I will not join the others. I want to know, and I have a right to
know, if there is any chance of your being set on one side, supplanted,
degraded.”
“What should degrade me, mother? My master taking a wife? How can
that affect me? What have I to do with that?”
“Ah, silly fool, are you indeed so ignorant that you do not know what
your position would be with a wife here? To-day you ma y call yourself
by whatever name your choose, but you are practically mistress of this
house. To-morrow, if your master takes a wife, you will be the servant,
the slave, your chances for the future all gone.”
Again Gul Begum sighed. “I see, mother, we shall not agree; you do
not understand. I only care to keep my present place in my mater’s
regard. No wife can affect that. He will regard me none the less that he
will regard her the more. Men are not like women, who, seeing but one
side of a question, imagine there can be no other. Men have the whole
world to deal with. Their thoughts, their lives, are not shut up in the
narrow square round which their house is built. A man’s heart is like a
river, dear mother. What difference can it make to the current if here a
dog quenches its thirst on its banks and there a camel? Does it flow
less swiftly to its appointed end?”