ter, and at the right hand of Allah-u-Din was set the
great crystal Cup inlaid with gold by a craft that is now perished; and
he filled and refilled it--may his own Prophet curse the swine!

But because the sons of Kings eat not with the outcasts, the Rana
entered after, clothed in chain armor of blue steel, and having greeted
him, bid him to the sight of that Treasure. And Allah-u-Din, his eyes
swimming with wine, and yet not drunken, followed, and the two went
alone.

Purdahs [curtains] of great splendour were hung in the great Hall that
is called the Raja's Hall, exceeding rich with gold, and in front of the
opening was a kneeling-cushion, and an a gold stool before it a polished
mirror.

(Ahi! for gold and beauty, the scourges of the world!)

And the Rana was pale to the lips.

Now as the Princes stood by the purdah, a veiled woman, shrouded in
white so that no shape could be seen in her, came forth from within,
and kneeling upon the cushion, she unveiled her face bending until
the mirror, like a pool of water, held it, and that only. And the King
motioned his guest to look, and he looked over her veiled shoulder
and saw. Very great was the bowed beauty that the mirror held, but
Allah-u-Din turned to the Rana.

"By the Bread and the Salt, by the Guest-Right, by the Honour of thy
House, I ask--is this the Treasure of Chitor?"

And since the Sun-Descended cannot lie, no, not though they perish, the
Rana answered, flushing darkly,--"This is not the Treasure. Wilt thou
spare?"

But he would not, and the woman slipped like a shadow behind the purdah
and no word said.

Then was heard the tinkling of chooris, and the little noise fell upon
the silence like a fear, and, parting the curtains, came a woman veiled
like the other. She did not kneel, but took the mirror in her hand, and
Allah-u-Din drew up behind her back. From her face she raised the veil
of gold Dakka webs, and gazed into the mirror, holding it high, and that
Accursed stumbled back, blinded with beauty, saying this only,--"I have
seen the Treasure of Chitor."

So the purdah fell about her.

The next day, after the Imaum of the Accursed had called them to prayer,
they departed, and Allah-u-Din, paying thanks to the Rana for honours
given and taken, and swearing friendship, besought him to ride to his
camp, to see the marvels of gold and steel armor brought down from the
passes, swearing also safe-conduct. And because the Rajputs trust the
word ev