1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

192
A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
THERE was defiance in the Chief Secretary’s ver y carriage as he
entered the Court. He spoke to no one, took no notice of the head of
the police as he passed him by the door, and marched straight to the
entrance of the presence chamber. In the morning a casual observer,
knowing nothing of him, would have pronounced him a criminal; as he
stood now in the anteroom, erect and fearless, his ver y attitude denoted
innocence.
The door opened to let some one out, and the Chief Secretar y stood
before his master as of old. The Ameer looked up surprised. So astute
an observer and reader of character could not fail to observe the
change.
“You have returned,” he said. “You have prepared your defence. I will
summon your accusers.”
The official drew himself up and his eyes flashed fire.
“Your Majest y,” he said, “I have no defence to make. I will answer no
accusers. From my boyhood I have served you faithfully. From my first
entrance into your Court I have loved you. Now I appeal to you. Point
out the man who has served you as I have served you. Twice – it is a
long time ago – but twice I have saved you from danger, perhaps from
death. Ill-health and over-work have combined to alter me so that I
hardly know myself. I am listless and dull, unnerved. Your Majest y has
not understood my depression. I have shunned my friends. I have
behaved like one with a burden on his mind, like a criminal if you will;
perhaps I have almost looked like one, but God is my witness that
never have I toiled more arduously in your service, never since I have
been in this country have I more right to appeal to you for protection
against m y enemies.”
The Ameer held up his hand to command silence and opportunity to
speak. “What you say is all true,” he said. “You have served me long
and well. You have been unsparing of your time and energy, but you
are only mortal. You have yourself told me that you wish to return to
your own country, you country which is ruled by a nation which, while
calling itself my friend, keeps the mouths of its cannon pointed at my
capital. For months I have heard that you have been seeking an
appointment among these strange friends of mine, that you have been
in correspondence with your relations on the subject. That one of them
has visited you and even endeavoured to allure you from my service. I
myself know. He himself spoke to me on the subject. A paper of little
importance, but one given to you by me in strictest confidence, has
been found in the office of my friend’s (?) agent ready to be
despatched to India. I have faithful servants, you see, besides yourself,
men to whom I owe much of the peace that has so long reigned in my
country. One of these saw the paper, recongnised its importance, and
brought it to me. What excuse have you to make? How did it get into
the British Agency?”