“This girl has bewitched him,” the mother said to herself, “but if she were only gone and out of his sight, he would soon forget her.” So she was always plotting and planning to get rid of the young Ranee.
Now there was an old woman about the palace, and she was very wise. She said to Surya Bai, “Do not trust the old Ranee. She is certainly planning some evil against you. I know her. She is jealous of you and so wicked that she would stop at nothing.”
But Surya Bai would not listen to her. She was so good and gentle that she could not believe evil of any one.
One day Surya Bai and the Rajah’s mother were walking in the gardens, and the old woman was with them, for she was one of Surya Bai’s favorite attendants.
Then the old Ranee said to the young Ranee, “Your jewels are very beautiful and fine. Even when I was a young Ranee my husband never gave me such beautiful jewels as those you have. Let me put them on just for a short time, I beg of you, that I also may know how it feels to be as magnificent as you are.”
Then the old woman whispered in the girl’s ear, “Do not lend her your jewels. I know she is planning some evil against you.”
But Surya Bai would not listen to her. She took off her jewels, all of them, and helped the old Ranee to put them on. She put the bracelets on the old Ranee’s arms, and the necklaces on her neck, and the earrings in her ears,—all her jewels she lent to the old Ranee. She hung them about her until she shone like the sun with the splendor of them all.
When this was done the Rajah’s mother bade the old woman go back to the palace for a hand mirror that she might look at herself and see how fine she was now that she was dressed in all those jewels.
The old woman did not want to go, but she was obliged to.
When the old Ranee was alone with Surya Bai, she said to her, “Come, Surya Bai, let us go over to the bathing tank while we wait for the mirror, that I may look at myself in the water.”