1 a vizier's daughter - Hazara.net

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A VIZIER’S DAUGHTER – A TALE OF THE HAZARA WAR
“In four days,” Ghulam Hossain had said, “I shall be at the front,” so
for four days Gu l Begum was left in peace, but when those four days,
and with them all chance of his return to see after to well-being of his
daughter, were passed, matters changed very much indeed for the
worse.
Mohamed Jan was so convinced that all the Hazara efforts would end in
failure, and so certain, therefore, that the rewards promised b y Ghulam
Hossain would never be forthcoming, that he no longer took any pains
to conceal his intentions and character. It pleased him to bully a
woman who had been brought up in a refined and comfortable home,
and who had occupied a singularly responsible position in her own
village. It was his nature to wish to do so, just as it is some children’s
nature to love pulling off the legs and wings of flies and beetles. He
meant little by it. It just amused him. But in Gul Begum’s case he had
a special grievance. His father had asked her father for the girl’s hand
in marriage for his son some time before, partly, of course, because she
was an undoubtedly fine girl, and the daughter of one of the chief men
in the countr y, but also and more especially, no doubt, because Ghulam
Hossain was known to be a rich man, and he made no secret of his
devotion to his eldest daughter. Without doubt a large dowry would be
hers.
This proposed marriage had been rather scornfully declined. Yet the
previous year, when danger and difficult y threatened, the Vizier had
been only too ready to make use of the house that he had not
considered good enough for her permanent home, as a temporary refuge
for this girl; and, moreover, to justify the fact of her paying so long a
visit, and also the better to secure her safet y from the man who was
molesting her, he had gone so far as to have her named on him.
There was nothing noble, nothing gracious or chivalrous in all
Mohamed Jan’s composition. He did not feel in the least honoured by
the trust reposed in him. He cared nothing whatever for the girl herself,
excepting that he had been told she was an excellent cook, but he
would have liked to have had that dowry, and he also felt that he would
like to have been able to tell other men that he had secured the Hazara
beauty.
All this satisfaction was denied him, however, so he felt sore and
aggrieved. That to his mind meant that he owed Gul Begum a grudge,
and he meant to pay it. The previous year he had been somewhat
restrained, owing to the uncertaint y as to the final issue of the war.
This year he felt free to do as he chose, so convinced was he that ere
long the girl would be fatherless and homeless. She would then, of
course, be his to do what he liked with, but that was a poor consolation
after all, for with Ghulam Hossain’s downfall, his house would, of
course, be searched, his goods confiscated, and he, Mohamed Jan,
would find himself with a ver y fine wife, no doubt, but with one who
had absolutely no dowry, and all this might so easily have been