Jewan laughed.
“She is safe. The bird thought to escape me, but her wings were not strong enough. We brought her down again; and I warrant she will be caged securely enough now.”
Mehal groaned with sorrow.
“What is the matter?” asked Bukht, quickly taking the exclamation as an expression of sympathy.
“My wound pains me,” she answered.
“Or have you sympathy with the Feringhee woman?” asked Bukht, eyeing the other suspiciously.
“Sympathy forsooth!—no. Have I not risked my life in your service? Why then suspect me of sympathy? But after what I have suffered, I regret that you have lost possession of her.”
“You do not regret it more than I; but it was the King’s command, and I could not disobey.”
“But how did the King know that she was here?”