ee
Nuna?"

"You are truly, I believe, my grandson. My heart felt drawn towards you
from the first; and as I am now childless, I would desire to place you
in the position your father would have enjoyed had he remained with me."

Reginald could scarcely speak for astonishment. He had expected to gain
important information from the rajah, but what he now heard was of a
totally different character to that which he was seeking. Though his
mother was an Oriental, his heart was English, and he had no wish to
spend his days in India, however high the rank he might enjoy.

The extraordinary information he had received made him still more
anxious to recover Nuna, who, if she was really his sister, had a right
to claim all the assistance he could afford her; and he at once,
therefore, begged the rajah to allow him to set forth on his expedition
without delay. Before going, however, it was of the greatest importance
to know what had become of the documents which the rajah was supposed to
possess.

He had learned from his father that his mother was a Christian, but he
found a difficulty in reconciling this with the communication the rajah
had just made him. He was afraid, however, of putting the question
abruptly. "Your highness tells me that my mother was your daughter," he
said at length. "I have long earnestly wished to know more about her
than my father told me. I was young when he died, and though his words
were fixed on my memory, I might not probably have comprehended the
meaning of all he said."

"My daughter was one of those beings who are seldom found on earth,"
answered the rajah; "and so was she who gave her birth. Her mother was
fair as the houris in Paradise; the daughter of an English officer sent
here on a mission by that great man Lord Clive. Her parents died, and
she was left under the protection of my father. I saw and loved her,
and she consented to become my wife; but nothing would induce her to
change the faith she held. I respected her opinions, the more so as
they made her that which I esteem most excellent; and she taught me to
regard women in a very different light to that in which I had formerly
held them. Her only child she brought up in the same faith; and when
that child--your mother--grew to womanhood, she was married to your
father, according to the rites of your religion, by an English minister,
who was travelling through the country."

"That fact my father impressed on me; and, a