ajah,
inviting them to dinner. He again endeavoured to discover their object
in visiting Allahapoor. Reginald, warned by his friend, answered very
cautiously, and so the ex-barber had to take his departure without being
wiser than he came. At the dinner-hour an attendant of the rajah came
to summon them. They found the great man seated at table, in a hall
furnished in a strangely-mixed Oriental and English fashion. The rajah
sat on one side of the table, on a gilt armchair raised a few inches
above the floor; the opposite side being left unoccupied, that whatever
took place at the other end of the hall might be seen by the guests,
while the servants could thus remove the dishes without difficulty. He
beckoned to Burnett and Reginald to take their seats one on either side
of him,--greatly to the disgust of Khan Cochut, who had to move further
down the table. Several nobles and other courtiers were present. As
soon as the party had taken their places, a curtain behind them was
drawn on one side, when half-a-dozen young females issued forth, each
carrying large fans of peacock's feathers, and noiselessly placed
themselves behind the rajah's chair. The hue of their skins was
scarcely darker than that of the women of Southern Europe; their hair,
black as jet, drawn over the forehead, was twisted in rolls behind, and
ornamented with pearls and silver pins, over which hung a muslin robe
covering their shoulders--of a texture so fine, however, that their
forms could be clearly seen through it. Gold-embroidered zones
surrounded their waists and supported their Turkish trousers of bright
crimson satin, which were also secured round their ankles by
gold-embroidered belts. Two of them at a time advanced--their arms bare
almost to the shoulder--and silently waved their fans in the most
graceful manner above the head of the rajah. Here they remained the
whole evening, relieving each other by turns, and attending to his
hookah, supplying it with tobacco as might be required.

The first courses being removed, a group of nautch-girls, attended by
musicians, entered the hall, and commenced their performances,--now
advancing in graceful attitudes, now retiring; now with one hand held
over the head, now with the other; the musicians during the time playing
on lutes and tambourines behind them, and accompanying the instruments
with their voices. While this was going on a puppet-show was
introduced, in which the figures acted a