Tales of Destiny | Page 6

for the
courage of herself and all the other women, our loved ones.
"Then my friends above handed down gently into my arms the form of
the little maid. At sight of my wife's sweet and kindly countenance the

eyes of the child were lighted with joyousness. But with a quick motion
wife drew her veil completely over her features. Ere this was done,
however, I had caught a strange look in her face--a look of mingled
surprise and terror. At the same moment her old attendant and
confidant, Rakaya, flung herself at my feet, and began to babble for my
forgiveness.
"'What means this?' I asked, glancing in profound amazement from the
woman's prostrate form up into my wife's eyes. There again I read the
strangely troubled expression. Puzzled, yet restraining my curiosity
before the others gathered around, I placed the wounded child in my
wife's arms, and, with a gesture to signify that she and Rakaya were to
follow, I led the way to the women's quarters.
"Once within the zenana, I told my story briefly: how the little damsel
of the glen had saved me from certain death, and then, through danger
and through pain, had been brave as the noblest-born Rajput maid
could be. After this recital, I commended the child to my wife's
affections, bidding her love the orphan as she would a daughter.
"Then was the lovely countenance of my wife, the jewel of Jhalnagor,
suffused with great joy. Hugging the child to her motherly bosom, she
exclaimed:
"'Oh, my lord, I have a confession to make, but now you will forgive
me. Do you remember our first-born babe?'
"My brow darkened. I felt the hot flush of shame on my cheeks. For our
first-born had been a girl, and I--disappointed and aggrieved, because I
was then strongly under the influence of my father's teachings, proud of
my family's position and wealth, and fearful to be impoverished in the
future--had given the word that the babe must die. This in spite of my
wife's pitiful tears and pleadings. And it was not the memory of the
deed itself that made me now ashamed, but the memory of those tears
and of how I had repelled her. Through the intervening years I had tried
never to think of this painful episode, and, with two little boys playing
at my knee, had well nigh forgotten the first child that had come.
Mention of the dead and buried past now made me resentful.

"'Why do you speak thus?' I asked, angrily.
"'Because, my lord,' exclaimed my wife, dropping on her knees at my
feet, yet with the little child still pressed to her breast, and drawing me
down to her with her free hand, so that we were all three close together,
'because, oh, my lord, in our arms now this very moment is our
first-born, our daughter. We spared her, Rakaya and I; we bribed Runjit,
who is now dead, and to whom you gave the terrible orders, and
Rakaya smuggled the babe safe away to the cottage of the woodcutters.
Since then I have managed to see her sometimes by stealth, and have
loved her; but I have never dared to clothe her in any but humble
garments--no silks, no bangles, no jewels of any kind--lest suspicion
should be aroused.'
"'Oh, great master, forgive your humble slave,' moaned the old crone,
Rakaya, grovelling in a corner of the room.
"But to my wife only I paid heed. 'Can this be?' I murmured, surprised
and deeply moved.
"'She is our very own, our little girl.' And back into my arms she placed
the child, whose tresses I straightway fell to fondling, as her sweet,
trustful eyes looked up into mine, beaming with love as if she had
indeed long before divined in her heart that I was her father and her
natural protector.
"'And, oh, my dear lord,' continued my wife, her eyes brimming with
tears, 'thou knowest now it was to save thee that, in the mysterious
workings of fate, this little child was saved.'"
The Rajput paused in his story, bending his head to hide the emotion
that caused his lips to tremble. "A month later," he went on, softly, "a
little sister was born to Brenda, and only last year a third daughter came
to our home. And all, as I have said, are well beloved."
The speaker's face was now upraised. The soldierly sternness had gone
out of it: it shone only with paternal pride and love as he added:

"To-day Brenda, our first-born, is the light of my home, and a year
hence she will be married to the Rajah of Jodhpur, to make the heart of
that great and noble prince of the Rajputs happy for ever-more."
And so ended the Rajput's tale.