1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

59
A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
The girl said nothing, but pointed to her embroidery which she carried
in her hand.
“And what rubbish is that?” he asked surlily. “What do you mean by
stitching at garments fit for a chief when you are the destined wife of a
poor man who does not care to see his wife decked in such finer y?”
“I am no man’s destined wife,” she said haughtily. “I am the daughter
of Ghulam Hossain, and as such am entitled to wear whatever
embroideries I choose. It is not for you , his hired servant, to interfere.”
“Ghulam Hossain’s hired servant!” roared the Hazara, now really
roused. “You dare to call me Ghulam Hossain’s hired servant, do you?
My God, but you shall pay for this. That is an insult I take from no
one,” and before she was aware of his intention he had thrown her on
the ground, and then trampled on her.
“Ah, proud, vain girl,” he muttered again and again, as he treated her
with the greatest brutality. “I’ll humble you. I’ll teach you whether it
is for you to wear clothes fit for princesses, or for slaves; from to-day
a new regime begins.” Then seizing her embroidery he snatched it from
her now feeble grasp, and almost immediately discovered the letter she
had concealed within its folds. “Ah hah! Ah hah!” he cried exultingly.
“What have we here? What have we here? Is it to Colonel Ferad Shah,
perhaps, and would you fain be an Afghan general’s wife after all, in
spite of your father’s wishes to the contrary? M y God, we know how to
punish such want of patriotism.”
The girl’s heart beat fast. “The letter is to my father,” she said as
quietly as she could. “You can read it, I wrote it myself. There is no
one in all your ignorant household who could have written it for me;
that is my proof that I wrote it myself.”
“Liar,” he muttered between his teeth. “You cannot write, this is all
make believe, but I will have it read to me, and then I shall know how
to act. Come, follow me, and at a respectful distance, mind. The da ys
of your pride are over. You have now to learn submission.”
The tears started into the girl’s eyes, she saw that her chance was gone,
and that she had now the worst to expect.