1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

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A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
and off this day of escape that she had been planning; put it off until
one day she would sit and watch and listen for him, as she was listen
for him, as she was listening and watching then: but he would never
return to her more, never, never again.
“What are you doing dressed in that bokra?” he asked, the moment his
eyes lighted on her; “where do you think you are going?”
“Agha,” she said, as if by some sudden inspiration, “I am read y to take
you out of the countr y. I have planned it all. Here comes Sardaro. She
will ask you go let me go and visit my mother. I have no time to
explain anything, only trust me and grant her request. Oh, Agha, grant
it, it is your life, not mine, for which I plead!”
It was she who commanded now – she, his slave. It was for him to
obey; and as the old woman entered the apartment the younger one
slipped out, her hand upon her heart as if to still its tumultuous
beating. “Will he understand, and will he do as I have said?” she asked
herself. “Sardaro was too sharp, she did not give me a chance of
explaining things to him. Oh, he will never do it. He will want to know
a thousand reasons why. He will never let me go.”
But she had miscalculated this time. Good fortune made Sardaro choose
the most happy form of introducing her request.
“Gul Begum has had a bad dream,” she said, “and is much upset. She
thinks her mother has been gossiping and listening to gossip which is
likely to produce great trouble, and she has begged me to ask you,
Sahib, if you will let her go in her bokra, quietly and unobserved, to
see her mother. She is a good girl and steady, I feel sure that you can
trust her; and she is prudent, she will not let tongue wag over much.”
The Chief Secretary raised his eyebrows calmly. “If Gul Begum seeks a
favour, why does she not come to me direct and ask me herself? Am I
so harsh with m y slaves that they do not dare to approach me? Send her
to me. I must know what all this means. If there is any reason for her
request it shall not be denied.”
“Agha has found favour in the Ameer’s eyes to -day,” the old woman
said to herself as she left the room. “He has not been so reasonable and
easy to deal with for many months. He seemed disturbed when he went
out this morning, as though a storm were brewing. He must have
scattered his enemies and sent them flying, God bless him, for he has
returned in a very different mood. Perhaps his salar y has been
increased, and if so, perhaps we shall get backshish.” The old woman
was in high good humour – all sorts of possib ilities occurred to her
with her master’s return to favour.
“Gul Begum,” she called out, “Agha wants you. He is read y to grant
your request, Jan” (literally my life, my dear), she added in a whisper,