“I know no more,” he said. “I can neither think nor remember.”
“How now, my singer,” said Rezia, laughing; “must I set you the example? But let us first drink to one another.” And lifting a golden goblet to her lips, she made Siddha empty his, and then began, in soft, melting tones, a Persian love song that soon brought Siddha back to himself.
“Now, then,” cried he, as Rezia finished, and he began the description of a lover’s reception from Kalidasa’s “Seasons,”[2] “The Bride represented by the Return of Summer.”
The singer ceased, and she who listened to him had drawn nearer, gazing at him with her fascinating eyes, that now shone with an unwonted glow. Suddenly he seized both her hands, and drew her to him with irresistible force.
“Rezia,” he said, “Rezia, be to me as Kalidasa’s bride—now and always mine!”
She softly murmured Siddha’s name and flung her arms around his neck.
More than once since that evening a manly figure might have been seen in the darkness of night carefully looking around him, and then following the cactus road that led to the dwelling of the Armenian. Iravati’s lotus flower had struck against the frail vessel on which he had embarked, and had been wrecked by a sultry wind.
[1] Akbar received a Portuguese embassy in 1578 from Goa, at the head of which was Antonio Cabral. He afterwards wrote to Goa, requesting that Jesuits might be sent to him with Christian books. Rudolf Aquaviva, a man of good family, who was afterwards murdered at Salsette, Antonio Monserrat, and Enriques (as interpreter) were selected for this mission, and despatched to Agra. They were most honourably received by Akbar, and great hopes of his conversion were conceived. But there was no practical result. Some years afterwards, in 1590, Akbar again applied for instructors, and in 1591 three brethren came to Lahore. But after a while, seeing no hope of good, they returned to Goa.
[2] Kalidasa is the most popular poet of India. His “Sakuntala” has been translated into English by Professor Monier Williams. His best known lyrical poems are the “Cloud Messenger” and the “Seasons.” Portions of the latter have been translated into English by Mr. Griffith.