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179<br />
A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR<br />
going to him of my own accord, so much the better for him, it would<br />
save him both time and trouble, but I would in no wise alter his<br />
treatment of me. I know that man. You must remember I have lived<br />
with him. Take care that he does not make use of you to get<br />
information out of you: that seems to me to be the meaning of this<br />
invitation of his house. This is a country where a son is emplo yed to<br />
spy on his father, a mother against her <strong>daughter</strong>. Take care what you<br />
say when you meet him. I don’t like your having any dealings with that<br />
man at all. Sometimes I think that it has been through you that he ever<br />
found out when I lived. What did you tell him the first time you ever<br />
saw him? Will you try and remember, mother?”<br />
“I told him absolutely nothing except that you were with a man who<br />
was well able to take care of you. He had not the slightest idea who it<br />
was,” Halima said, much offended.<br />
“Walk here with me? Why, he has harshly designed to speak with me<br />
when he has met me till I saw him in the melon market. You have no<br />
idea what he thinks of himself now. He does not care to be seen<br />
speaking to a slave. I can tell you he is far too grand a man. There are<br />
plent y of people who could tell him where my <strong>daughter</strong> lives. I have<br />
made no secret of that – why should I? – nor of your position here.”<br />
The girl turned ver y pale. It had been easy enough indeed for Mohamed<br />
Jan to trace her when once he had met her mother. Any gossip with<br />
whom she dealt in the bazaar could have told him that the old woman’s<br />
<strong>daughter</strong> was the Chief Secretary’s slave. Of what else besides might<br />
she not have boasted?<br />
CHAPTER XXXIII<br />
“REJECTED”
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