MatchIng the Pearl

The courtiers and ministers, the princes and
vassal chiefs waited in the audience chamber for
Uie comingr of the King But lately, Maharajah
Amar Singh had mounted the throne of his fath-
ers, he the last and youngest of the long line of
uncountable Rajpoot Kings of Kishenpore. With
his coming of age he had brought to his House a
bride, a daughter of the Royal House of Radhpore,
a maid as sweet and bright and winsomely fair as
ever had reigned mistress and queen in the home
of her lord.

And while those in the thf^one-room waited in
covered impatience, he, the young Rajah, loitered
in the innermost chamber of his palace and heard
with delight the commands of love that fell from
the lips of his little que^i who ruled the kingdom
of his heart with the jewelled sceptre of youth
and beauty.

And well might he loiter in this bower of love
where the lights fed by perfumed oil cast theu*
glow and shed their fragrance, where the riches
of beauty and luxuries of a realm were stored.

The walls were of marbled panels veined with
soft rose and carved in curious designs and hung
with soft silk of faintest gold studded with gems
of crjrstal and jasper. The marbled floor was
strewn with rugs and mattings that rivalled in
softness, color and texture the blossoms that
nodded and swayed in the courtyard beyond. The
divans that lined the queen's chamber held in their
lap a great profusion of cushions of downy softness
embroidered in gold and silver and rose. On a
raised dias, shrouded and canopied in silk, stood
an ivory bed of wondrous and rarest workman-
ship.

No sound entered these chambers save the sweet
voice of the queen and the chatter and prattle of
her maids, or the sound of the singing fountains
close by, or the wild outburst of the songsters
sweet that lived to love and loved to live, or per-
chance the young King's merry laugh s^ he
greeted his lady.

''No, no," pouted the queen, with the smile of
Nature's most innocent coquetry wreathing her
face, "I will not speak to you or give you a part-
ing kiss till you promise to give me what I ask. ' '

They stood with a broad' sofa of gold and velvet
between them and thrice had the Rajah gone
round the couch to catch his queen for a last kiss
before going out to the audience chamber, and
thrice had she, Luchmee Ranee, eluded his grasp
by running round the sofa and refused the kiss
until he would proimise to give her what she asked.

"But what is it, my tyrant?" asked the Rajah,
admiring the color which suffused her cheeks,
"What is it that you would have me promise?"

Luchmee Ranee pursed up her lips in still more
tempting show as she replied^ ''But will you not
promise first to give it to me before I make the
request?"

''That is a cruel proposal, though not so cruel
as this refusal of a kiss," answered Amar Singh
with a laugh, "But, my little one," he continued
with some seriousness, "I am a Rajpoot and King.
My word is my honor, my honor my life. If I give
my word, my life and honor are staked on it and
both I lose if I fail to keep that word. Now, tell
me what it is you ask, my Piari (darling), and I
promise you that if it be in my power, I will make
good your request even though it costs me half of
my Kingdom."

"My heart's thanks for this," said Luchmee
Ranee, as she bounded toward him and resting
her head upon his shoulders, she lifted aloft, hold-
ing it between her thumb and forefinger, a pearl-
large, white, lustrous, rare.

"Now pair me this pearl, ' ' she said, "that I may
have the finest nose-ring that is ever worn by
woman. My brother gave it me when I left his
house this time and asked me to give it to you to
pair."

"Is this all you ask, little wife?" the King
laughed, ' 'I was afraid it was something very, very
precious or difficult to obtain. Your pearl shall
be paired. Within the hour my keeper of jewels
shall match that moti for your noBe-ring. And
now the kiss/'

He took her to his heart and kissed her flnshed
cheek and laughing moutk Then he left her and
soon with his suite entered the audience chamber.

Six months after the love-scene in the first chap-
ter, Maharaja Amar Singh sat in the private
garden of his young Ranee in solitary splendor.
The wondrous growth and beauty of the tropical
flowers he saw not, nor heard he the notes of glad-
ness that burst from the throats of the little
feathered creatures that lived in the trees and
shrubs which surrounded him.

The peacocks strutted past him and then spread
their gorgeous tails of brilliant eyes and walked
by again in silent majesty. These the young king
saw not, neither the tame parrots and doves who
circled round him and sat on his shoulders as they
were wont to do in other days when with his little
queen he came to feed them and play with them
and her like the child at heart that he was.

Now he saw them not, but brooded in heavy
silence on the heavy insult that the House of
Radhpore, the house of his dearly loved queen, had
thrown upon his House, the ancient House of
Kishenpore.

Thus he sat long, then took out from the pocket
in the folds of his richly embroidered robe a pearl
of wondrous lustre and size and looked at it long
and earnestly and with a sigh thrust it back in
the folds of his garment.

Within the hour the pearl had been brought
back to him from its journey all over the broad
land of India, and the messenger had said: ''Un-
matched I bring it back, Maharajah, though I
sought far and wide to pair it. Many there are
that seem of its softness of lustre and sameness of
size. But when I hold them close to this, my Lord,
I find their shine does not match its fire, nor in
size do they equal this. So I have brought it back
to your Majesty once more to tell you, King,
that there is not a pearl to pair it in all the land.''

Six months ago when the treasurer of his jewel
rooms had said, ''You cannot pair it, King!" he
had laughed a merry unbelieving laugh. ' 'What !
The House of Kishenpore unable to find a pearl to
pair a pearl from the House of Radhpore!"

He would see. His little queen should have a
pearl to match the one given her from her broth-
er's house even though he searched the world to
find it. Never had the Kishenpore House been
unable to pair the pearl of the Radhpore House,
and these two great royal houses of India had
intermarried for centuries and each Radhpore
bride had brought from her father or brother to
her husband, the Kishenpore Chief, a pearl to pair
for a nose-ring.

As he mused thus, the little queen with a train
of brown-browed maidens emerged from the gate
of the courtyard. Seeing her lord in silence and
gloom she ran to his side quick as the birds that
fluttered to meet her, and threw her sweet slender-
ness full in his arms.

*'0 my lord!" said she, **I waited long for your
coming this day. Why wait you here when I await
you there? Again the cloud on your brow I flnd«
Tell me, my husband, what saddens your heart?
What has taken the joy from your eye, the laugh
ftom your lips and perchance the love for me from
your heart? Has my happiness been too sweet
that now a grajmess seems to envelope it in a
shroud? Tell me, has your quest of the pearl
proved fruitless again? Oh seek not any more to
pair the pearl, I beseech you. Would I had never
given it to you. I care not for the jewel, my lord,
much has it made me weep already. Oh, do give
up the matching of it and take me again in joy to
your heart as of old.*'

The young monarch was extremely touched by
his lovely consort's sighing caresses and plaintive
pleading. He kissed her with all the tenderness
which her touching accent aroused in him.

"Hush, my moon," replied he in a husky whis-
per as he strained her to his iHreast^ "hush my
fairest ! I fear I have not loved you enough, you
whose lustre is softer by far than all the pearls
that the sea has srielded to mzxL The joy of my
love you are, the luck of my house, the loveliest
ray of light that ever beamed on the heart of man.
Come close to my heart, my darling Luchmee!
Stay here and heed not my sighs nor the trouble
that clothes my day."

''But no, my lord, I can no longer bear it,"
burst out the Ranee in tears, ''Accursed be the
pearl which has made you so sad and brought you
such trouble. Accursed be this servant of yours
who gave it thee to pair. Give it me back, I will
throw it away or bum it into ashes. I will— ' '

"Nay, nay, that is too bad. It breaks my heart
when you accuse yourself thus, dearest. It is no
fault of yours. You understand not, my precious,
that it is not the failure to secure you a pearl for
your nose-ring that makes me sad, but the humilia-
tion which it involves in another way. Ever have
the Houses of Eishenpore and Radhpore main-
tained their honor by these pairing of pearls. No
sweet daughter of your father's house, my lotus-
eyed, has ever entered the house of my father as
bride but she brought a pearl for her husband to
pair, and never yet in the history of our house
has that pearl been lacking till now when you, the
brightest jewel of the diadem of maidens that
crowned your father's house, have come to tread
and make glad the home of my fathers. Until I
pair your pearl, my flower, the House of Kishen-
pore, where you reign mistress and queen and.
which stands challenged thus, shall be shrouded in!
dishonor. This, sweet one, is my sadness."
' ' Oh ! " sighed Banee Luchmee as she nestled close
to his side and hid her face in the folds of the
royal robe, ''Would I had never seen the pearl or
never given it to you to pair since it robs me of the
glad smile and happy love that was wont to greet
me at each turn. But list, my dear lord, this' day,
because of heaviness of heart, my maids and I
went in the early mom, even before the sun had
opened its eye on the beauteous world, to a hermit,
the holy one who lives close to the border of the
jungle. To him we went and prayed that the joy
would come back to your countenance again and
the merry twinkle of love to your eye, even thougU
the pearl be never paired. The holy man did blesd
us all and looking at me with loving tenderness^
said, with his holy hand laid on my head, 'Grieve
not, my sweel daughter. Your B^ing, littld
queen, shall match your pearl. One who is dark
and of lowly birth shall give him the pearl to pair. *'
So I have come to you in hopefulness to tell yon
this. I pray you, light of my life, smile and bd
glad again, oh, do.''

Raja Amar Singh held her still closer to hia
heart and kissed the rosy sweet lips and spreading
fingers. ''Thanks, little wife/' he said in a soft,
melting undertone which was almost a sigh, ''But
much I fear me that your hermit mistc&es, for
over all the land we have searched for a pearl to
match your own. Yet, get you to your chambers^
my loveliest, and theire I will greet you again when
I have wreathed my face with smiles for your
sweet sake."

And the little queen ran back to her maidens,
forgetting for once to call to the birds that flut-
tered about her or to talk to the proud peacocks
that strutted in majesty and poised, with gorgeous
tails spread for her to view and admire. Nor
sltopped she to caress the shy-eyed fawn that
plucked at her gown and rubbed the small palm
of her hand with long, moist, quivering nose in
appeal for the dainty rose-leaves which each day
at this hour the queen was wont to feed it with.
But straight to her innermost chamber she flew
and prayed that the pearl might soon be paired
even as the good hermit had said— not prayed that
the nose-ring might be hers to wear— oh, no. She
cared not for that even, though it rivalled in
beauty and size the rarest of all gems that adorned
the flesh of fair women. But she only prayed for
its pairing that ere the sun was set she might
behold again, in the eyes of her lord, the glad
sweet smile that had ever been there and the
joyous love that had crowned her life.

Thus prayed Ranee Luchmeei sure in the faifh
that the pearl would be matched, for early thati
morning, even before the darkness of night had!
made way for the gray of dawn, Eamla, the eldest
and most loved of her maids, had come to the side
of her couch and roused her from her sleep. IH
was a light sleep into which she had fallen after
hours of weeping wakefulness because of the sad-
ness of her lord who had changed from a light-
hearted b03rish lover into a man of sorrow since
the challenge hung on his House.

**Come, sweet queen, rise now from your bed
and we shall go to the hermit who sits in his cot
at the skirts of the forest. A holy man is he and
reads the hearts of all who come near him and wise
is he beyond belief, and power has he over the
minds af others for good. If you go to him and
tell him of the sadness of your lord, who knows
but he may help you and him by his power and
goodness."

"But, Eamla,'' cried the little queen, whose eyes
now shone like stars with excitement^ ''How can
it be done? It is impossible for me to leave the
palace. Never have I stepped on the breast of
Mother Earth save in the gardens of my father
and my husband. You ask me to go to the skirts
of ttie woods; gladly would I go to the holy one,
but how can it be brought about, Eamla; what
will my lord say when I tell him of it or if he
knows of it?"

' 'Leave that to me, my Ranee dear. No husband,
king or subjecti can ever object to his wife visiting
the holy saints who saiiictify even Mother Earth
by their feet's touch, ' ' said the maid. "What the
heart desires overmuch, that it will find. So come,
put on these garments of mine for a disguise so
that we can walk to the holy one in humbleness,
and I am sure he will bring light to your eye
which has been quenched since the heaviness has
weighed upon your lord's heart"

Banee Luchmee rose and soon dressed in the
modest robe of her dear maid. A while after the
keepers of the harem gates saw the bevy of sedate
dark-robed maidens, with veils drawn low in front,
pass through the gardens and courtyards and outer
gates as they daily did at this time of the morning
to have their ablutions in the sacred river and say
their prayers and make their devotionals at its
bank. Little did they suspect that their Queen
with beating heart and trembling limbs walked
in their midst. Close clasped she the arms of
Kamla, for like a bird that is for the first time
out of its nest, the little queen gazed at the break-
ing mom.

Never out of the palace-life the Banee had
drawn breath; for the first time in her short life
had she seen the fields of the people and felt the
dust of the road beneath her small feet. In wonder
she looked at the cows that grazed close by, that
lifted their great eyes with slow gaze to low at
their passing. The calves skipped and kicked
their hind legs as they neared them and the
whistling cowherds with long strides passed them
to make ablutions in the sacred stream. A few
men and women passed their way toward the place
where the holy man sat to receive from ham bless-
ings ere the labor of the day pressed upon thm.

Many things she saw that were new and strange
to the pet of the palace. Iffany things that were
full of vague wonder sunk deep in her heart, that
in the days of her riper womanhood would burst
forth into thoughtful actions for those who walked
in lowly paths.