The other lady missionary who wrote was much older, and in due time I had her letter translated and laid before His Highness. How the Amîr received the application I will relate presently.
The day after our arrival I rode to the Endekki Palace to salaam the Amîr. In the great hall I met many of the Court whom I knew, and chatted with them. As soon as His Highness rose I was called to the inner room.
The Amîr’s Welcome.
I found His Highness seated on a couch of crimson and gold. He was dressed in a black morning suit, with an ordinary English shirt and collar: he looked very European, and his hands, on which were some beautiful rings, struck me as being singularly white. He had picked up wonderfully since June, when I saw him last, was nothing like so thin, and looked exceedingly well. The room had the appearance of a lady’s boudoir, with flowers, vases, embroideries, piano, and so on.
I bowed as I entered the room, and His Highness smiled and beckoned me forwards. He held my hand some minutes while he made kindly enquiries as to my health; and he asked was my wife well and the other members of my family.
He said he was exceedingly pleased to see me again, and he thanked God that I had returned safely. He then allowed me to be seated.
He enquired the date of my wedding, and on hearing that my married life had lasted only for three months and a-half, he said: “How sorrowful your wife must be, how sorrowful she must be.” Presently he said—
“I will grant you leave of absence again soon; you shall go to your home when the winter comes.”
He promised, with great kindness, that every preparation should be made for the reception of Mrs. Gray in Kabul, and desired her to be accompanied by two English maidservants, whose salaries he would charge himself with. When she felt a longing to return to England she should go: if, however, she did not care to accompany me back to Kabul, he would from time to time give me leave of absence at short intervals. As regards transmitting pay, he said he would order any proportion of my salary that I wished, to be paid either in London or to my bankers in Bombay.
He told me that both coal and iron had been found in the country, and he said that it was his intention soon to visit England himself. He referred to the death of Prince Albert Victor, and spoke highly of him, and I remember he told me an anecdote in the life of the Prince. He spoke some little time on other matters, and then tea and cigarettes were brought. There had been no one in the room with His Highness during the interview, except myself, the Armenian, and one of the Page boys. After being with His Highness four or five hours, I asked permission to withdraw, and then visited Malek, the Page, who was ill. He seemed very pleased to see me.