A Prince of Dreamers

veil, Beloved

l it

omanish natur

eauty

thou, S

high peered out into t

yet it was years agone that I gave thee the bracelet, and thou gavest me thine. Still have I com

thereinafter followed the sound of retreating steps; ye

ma impatiently, "if by chance so

ring a slender youth, the very print and spit of fashion, made taller by a high

squerader. "La! tma, on my soul I do love thee!--thou art so monstrous

esting. Come in and let me shut the d

where I bide! In God's truth we bazaar women have to go for trickery to the chaste zenanas. I had but to tell Yasmeen I wished to go out and this"--she touched her costume--"was forthcoming insta

rd and laid her h

eminine face set in masculine clothes the nameless charm of

o my paradise. I have the key still. Lord! How I shall love it after this past fortnight of a virtuous cage! Lo! the dew of heaven is not a satisfying drink! So"--she s

ey rattled in a lock; there were more stairs, then anoth

e as of dead, dried flowers and leaves coming to them with the faint breeze which blew

f laughter, and then, out of sheer delight and devilry pirouetted and p

ve! It i

of joy

e birds

be blo

h we

our li

the hour

and I

e, my

me

eries of her dandified dress, and bringing out into filmy clouds the long floating coatee of gold-spangled white muslin worn as a lo

ncircling what had been flower beds ere neglect and noonday suns had left them shrivelled, flickered into flame; then another, a

withered roses, the trailing dead tendrils of the scented jasmine, the litter of spent blossoms, all the lees and dregs of a past pleasure. The very

lay, bathed in the rosy light of the hanging lamp she had lit, "what art thou in v

air through her fingers lazily, settling them in dainty fashion on her shoulders, "I wait as I have waited all the long ages f

usic and charm fell

hich seeks not--which gives and takes nothing in return. Thou art salvation. Ye

a's face. "Thou lies

r to accept thy womanhood? Ohé! tma! there is joy in drawing the strength of a man through his lips!-

ess seemed to hold so much. She sate down on the steps and resting her chin on h

z say 'the cloister and the wine shop are not far apart?' No more is thy wom

is a bur

-wood is

er is my

I shrivel

mounts highe

ove d

t a fun

ser an

toward tma, and now, her chin resting on the latter's broad shoulder, w

m them and flings it sterile on the dust heap of the world! Or they must be as thou art not: instinct with Motherhood, draining the soul of man to hand it on in ceaseless conflict of sex, of Form and Matter through the ages. But thou, to? Thou wouldst be neither! Thou art mother of the past, n

"It is not love. Did I not tell thee so? But I came

lking while the little lamplets twinkled like stars, and every here and ther

the mellow echoing notes of the city gongs chi

ce into effeminate manhood. "And Sher-Khan," she continued swaggering, "hath not had ev

bre, thoughtful. "Then I can do no more. I hav

ll deny--

s my de

rst into a pea

l! A woman is a woman, and thou art too good looking! Lord! I shall laugh to

damascened with gold. She held it to the light, her small child's face grown suddenly soft. "The cup of pleasure," she murm

y. "Lo! he who gave the cup was mine once; but Siya

e flung it far into the shadows. It fell with a crash beside a withered rose bu

leave the lights as they are. Th

ne. Yet she was right. The rising sun found some of them burning bravely and the rose-shaded lamp i

*

ing, and little knots of men waited

common folk well ask who is God's vice-rege

ly, bitterly, "the long beards wag loosely already, a

he law who stood in a bevy near the door. To them even consideration of the vexed question was

new which might pave the way to almost anything. Only the Syeds, their hawk faces clusteri

over a dense crowd, packing the wide arches of the huge Hall-o

ing courtier, who by his very dress--curiously nondescript--his shaven chin and

aginations went so far with the King, yet whose hear

e limited space in which he stood--the central archway rising but a few inches above his head--he looked larger, taller, broader than his wont, and as he glanced keenly over the packed multitude before him, he showed every inch a king. Yet h

a stupendous fact--that in this critical new departure of their King's he was prepared to defy Fate. He

hrough the Hall, check

he witnesses in the ca

en square kept clear before the rai

proc

s, came the morning song of many birds. The sunlight filtered in with the song, making Akbar's attention wand

. Let her swear that she

. A domed red dhooli showed

he ushers. "Room! Roo

guile? A faint sigh of disappointment seemed to shudder through the crowd as, in obedience to order, the bearers set down the dhooli and removed the red domed cover, thus disclosing a muffled figure which rose and salaamed low toward Akbar. Something there was of ultimate grace in the salutation, which m

swear that thou art lawfully wedded to

hen a gay clear voice with a bu

-- Where art thou, sister? Disgu

flinging aside of a burka, a silver flash, an

is

tma

it th

t Ones s

e the

oosened hair, and the next moment it would have been buried in the heart beneath the silv

ld

one by Birbal's swift arrest of the

, sister! Thou art too

came to that group on the clear square before the dais. To Siyah Yamin, muffled in her chaste veil, to tma

to say?" said the Kin

a Devi drew from out her bosom a folded paper.

stepping forward, took the paper. His practise

the veil. I saw her married with the Seven Steps and the Sacrificial Fire to the death-dagger of my race which grants no divorce

woman?" asked t

ame the gay mocking vo

r, and men had begun to turn to each other, ques

ating work was cognisant of Hindu customs, "even if this evil woman was dedicated to the

ust that this is no ordinary dedication of a girl to the service of the Gods. Deva-dasis there be--aye! even those married to a dagger or a basil plan

from the crowd, and in an instant hands

ngh. "The woman belongs to the Gods--who

swering sneer, "what I

n looked at each other dubiously; Hindu at Mahommedan, Maho

ulfazl's sonorous voice above the growing

ht. Then he turned to Birbal. "On thee, Maheshwar Rao, called by me Birbal, the burden of inquiry shall rest. Speak. As thou wilt ans

"The marriage is inviolable, sa

proof hast thou?" His voice so

ave none! None; save my own word. I saw it--we were children and I c

e tiny gold-encrusted bodice following each swelling line of her bosom, rose, seductively supple, from the innumerable fulnesses of the thin white muslin skirt which after clinging close to the loveliness of curve from hip to knees, fulled out like a bursting flower weighted by its heavy banding of gold tissue. She wor

ice, hatred, and all uncharitableness, there ran, swiftly, at the mer

pped back from he

d voice sounded mysteriously sweet. "Great King! she says truth. I am Siyal belovéd of the Gods, belov

crowd and the rainbow scarf leapi

ours!" Her eyes flashed down upon those liveried bearers of her dhooli, servants of her courtesanship. "Raise

g while a hoarse passionate breat

gles about her feet clashing to its rhythm, the heavy gold bracelets sliding

dancer

of change

und of my

Sleeper sel

that were bli

and saw I

lds whirle

rew big wi

d in the ar

ere coupled

hings hurr

to Flame

e world, rack

to my da

it! Pr

round her undulating, almost alive in its likeness to the clutching creeping arm of an octopus

re was no other sound. Every man was spellbound, as swaying, p

e Woman

r and Wan

ash of my

that ruins

touch min

gness that

souls floc

n a kiss

them Deat

them Sorro

their se

low and fol

of my dan

?t! P

-Prakr?ti!-

ltitudinously. But on it

you claim this wom

re, challenging every eye, flaunting before all men, making their

rd hilts sullenly, but their sp

Barha harbour no ha

But once outside, the crowd which followed her to Satanstown caught up the song she had sung and bellowed it to the skies, filling the lanes and b

n, yet of such curious dissimilarity of features from the crowd around them that the eye picke

a glimpse of a violet ribbon on his breast hung with the Portuguese Order of Christ.

two, as he watched, crossed himself also and murmured

praised, her eyes seemingly full of wistful thought fixed on vacancy, as if somewhere out of sight lay

them Deat

them Sorro

k their s

low and fol

of my dan

?t! P

leaving Father Ricci and Father Rudolpho Acquaviva to continue the

und came the chorus which holds the Secret of th

throbbing restless