Shireen and her Friends Part 37

Poor Beebee leant her head on the shoulder of her companion, and burst into tears.

It was at this very moment, my children, that I, led by some unerring instinct that I cannot even describe to you, crept through the orchard and leapt upon the balcony with a joyful cry.

Antonio had brought me within two hundred yards of the house.

"Your mistress is not far off, Shireen," he said; "go, seek her."

I had sought her. I had found her. Oh, happy hour; but for a time neither she nor Miss Morgan knew me.

Beebee looked up when I came in, her face still streaming with tears.

I sang aloud, and rubbed my head and back against her; and at last a light seemed suddenly to dawn upon her. She stared at me for a moment almost in fright, and superst.i.tiously. Then gradually a smile crept around her lips and eyes.

"Oh, teacher!" she cried. "Can it be possible? Take her up, quick, and look for the ruby."

"Yes, yes, I am right," she added quickly, as Miss Morgan exposed my gum for a moment, and showed the gem set fast in my tooth. "Oh, I was sure of it!"

And then I was held fast to Beebee's beating heart.

Miss Morgan was looking strangely puzzled. She was thinking.

"I cannot understand," she said, at last. "What can it possibly mean, Beebee? And how _could_ Shireen have come here?"

"You cannot understand," cried Beebee gladly. "Oh, but I do. They tell us love is blind. It is false. For I can see; I can see it all. My prince is near at hand, and soon he will come. He is, indeed, he must be in that very ship that pa.s.sed on up the river to Bagdad."

Miss Morgan's eyes now began to gladden with joy.

"What you say must be true," she said. "And deliverance is at hand. We have but to wait."

I felt happier now than ever I had done in my life before. Night fell soon; and I retired with my dear mistress into the luxuriously-furnished apartment, just as slaves began to light the lamps.

They took no notice of the strange p.u.s.s.y.

By-and-bye, the tall, black, fierce-eyed eunuch himself came in, with boys bearing refreshments. But even he did not know me. He had not Beebee's eyes of love.

Beebee talked to him to-night pleasantly too. She even teased him a little, as she used to do when more of a child.

He looked pleased, happy even. He seemed to love his mistress; and yet, this man, at the bidding of his master, Beebee's father, would have thrust her shrieking into a sack, and cast her into the Tigris, whose dark waters close, every month, over many a lovely female form, doomed to death by their heartless husbands.

"How long now," she asked the eunuch, "before we return to our own lovely Persian home? Oh, I am sick of Bagdad."

"But two, three days, then I have the order."

"Ah!" he added, "my little bird-mistress will rejoice when at last the Shah sends for her!"

Beebee clapped her little hands.

"Indeed, indeed, I shall be joyful," she said, "when the day of my deliverance comes."

I slept that night in Beebee's apartment; but the whole of next forenoon wore away and nothing unusual occurred, and I began to notice that sadness was once more stealing over the face of my young mistress.

But when it was once more close upon sunset, the eunuch glided silently up to the window of the balcony, on which Beebee sat, with Miss Morgan and me.

"Would the ladies be amused?" he asked. "A Persian merchant, with a box of jewellery and many fine things, would like to spread his wares at their feet?"

A quick glance pa.s.sed betwixt Miss Morgan and Beebee, and the latter smiled and nodded a.s.sent.

In a few minutes more, Antonio, the priest, prostrated himself on the mosaic, before the now veiled ladies; but was told he might arise and show his wares.

He lost no time in doing so, and Beebee lifted up her hands and laughed with delight. For here were gems and jewels, rich and rare; dresses of every description, and toys of curious workmanship.

"Oh, Jazr!" she cried to the eunuch. "You have been always so good and kind to me, and I may not again have such an opportunity of presenting you with a gift. Wear, for my sake, Jazr, this chain of gold, and think of me when I am far away, as I soon shall be, you know."

The eunuch was profuse in his thanks.

"And now," added Beebee, "go, good Jazr, and bring me my two favourite female slaves. You have to-day made Beebee happy, and she will show her joy by giving them also gifts of value."

Next moment Jazr was gone.

Though he was not absent from the room a minute, for he had but to go a little way along the pa.s.sage and clap his hands, there was time for a few words to pa.s.s between Beebee and Antonio.

"You know me?" he said in English.

"Yes, yes," in a quick whisper.

"Buy this gold watch as a gift for Miss Morgan, and open it when alone.

Buy, also, this large parcel of silk. It contains all you will require to insure your safety."

In half an hour more, Antonio, the Persian merchant, was gone, and the whole house and garden had resumed their usual quiet.

Hours pa.s.sed away. Then over all the country fell the silence of the night, scarce broken even by the song of birds in the orchards and groves.

The window of Beebee's sleeping apartment was fully thirty feet above ground; but it overlooked a wild piece of jungle or woody thicket, into which, if anyone could drop, he or she would be beyond the walls of this prison villa, and presumably free.

Oh, children, continued Shireen, after a brief pause. I am very old now, but were I to live as long again, I should not forget the anxiety and terror of the hour that succeeded midnight.

In Beebee's apartment slept two girl slaves, and on a mat outside the door, the red-eyed eunuch, Jazr, himself. There was a dim light in the room, that came from a little taper floating in a gla.s.s of oil. That was all; and it just served to render things dimly visible.

Quick though my hearing was, I heard no footstep when Miss Morgan stood beside Beebee's couch, and lightly touched her shoulder. She was dressed in a long dark cloak of some kind, the hood of which was over her head.

One finger was on her lip, as if to counsel silence and caution. But there was no need of this, for Beebee had been awake for some time, and knew now that the hour of action had come.

She got up at once, but slowly, cautiously.

My heart beat high with dread at that moment, for there was the sound of talking outside the door. Miss Morgan held up a finger, and both girls paused, waited and listened.

It had been but the eunuch talking in his sleep, for he soon resumed his heavy breathing, and as far as he was concerned, all seemed safe for the time being. Miss Morgan now stepped across to the place where the two little slave-maids lay, and bent for a moment over them. Both were sleeping soundly, and she drew a breath of relief.