ience have I encountered such mutual love, trust, and
devotion as subsisted between this pair. For no other woman in the world
had Mirza Shah thought or regard or desire--I call him Mirza Shah, but
that was not his real name. For reasons that will presently appear, I
refrain from disclosing the identity of places and persons connected
with my story.

"Well, it was my privilege from the outset to be on relations of close
intimacy with my master. He used to come through the palace gardens to
the shrub-embowered tower which I occupied, and from the roof of which I
nightly contemplated the heavens. For long hours he would abide with me,
learning something of the stars while enjoying the cool of the night air
after the heat and fatigues of the day. And many times of an afternoon
the sultana, veiled, would come with her lord, and together they would
seek to gain from me knowledge of the heavenly bodies and of divination.
Some things I told to them, but others I withheld, which is just and
right, for skill in astrology is hereditary, descending from father to
son, and new minds are unprepared for such teachings, so that too much
knowledge conveyed to outsiders may become a source of disturbance to
themselves and perchance of danger and hurt to their fellow men. Thus,
following the rules laid down for me by my grandfather, always, even
when closely pressed with questions, did I exercise a discreet reserve.

"Gradually the friendship accorded to me by my lord and his lady waxed
stronger, and I found myself being admitted to some of their innermost
thoughts. Thus did I come to learn the passionate longing of the wife to
become a mother: for six years had she waited, but no child had blessed
her love for her husband. As for Mirza Shah, just so soon as the subject
was mentioned I could see the cloud of melancholy rest on his brow. And
when, as time went on, sadness seemed to settle upon him continuously, I
knew full well that this disappointment in his wedded life had at last
taken complete possession of his mind, to the exclusion of all other
matters.

"And from the sultana's manner I could see the trepidation that filled
her heart--the dread that her childlessness might in the end rob her of
her husband's love. It was not given to me to look upon her face--to get
more than a glimpse of her eyes as they shot an occasional glance at me
through the parted folds of her veil. But in these glances I had read
the prayers of entreaty t