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Ameera's mother sat spinning in the lower verandah, and the wooden gate was shut and barred. The music of a marriage-procession came to the roof above the gentle hum of the city, and a string of flying-foxes crossed the face of the low moon. 'I have prayed, said Ameera after a long pause, 'I have prayed for two things.
'So happy that it were well to make our happiness assured. And thy Beebee Miriam should listen to me; for she is also a woman. But then she would envy me! It is not seemly for men to worship a woman. Holden laughed aloud at Ameera's little spasm of jealousy. 'Is it not seemly? Why didst thou not turn me from worship of thee, then? 'Thou a worshipper! And of me?
The tick-tick of the little scorpions as they hurried across the floor was the only sound in the house. Ameera's room and the other one where Tota had lived were heavy with mildew; and the narrow staircase leading to the roof was streaked and stained with rain-borne mud.
I give the parrot one half and Tota the other. Mian Mittu with careful beak took his share from between Ameera's lips, and she kissed the other half into the mouth of the child, who ate it slowly with wondering eyes. 'This I will do each day of seven, and without doubt he who is ours will be a bold speaker and wise.
The sky was heavy with clouds, for the long-deferred rains were near and the heat was stifling. Ameera's mother met him in the courtyard, whimpering, 'She is dying. She is nursing herself into death. She is all but dead. What shall I do, sahib? Ameera was lying in the room in which Tota had been born.
Holden stayed by Ameera's side and the rain roared on the roof. He could not think connectedly by reason of the noise, though he made many attempts to do so. Then four sheeted ghosts glided dripping into the room and stared at him through their veils. They were the washers of the dead. Holden left the room and went out to his horse. He had come in a dead, stifling calm through ankle-deep dust.
Bring it. There was an almost imperceptible movement on the part of the new life that lay in the hollow of Ameera's arm. 'Aho! she said, her voice breaking with love. 'The babe is a champion from his birth. He is kicking me in the side with mighty kicks. Was there ever such a babe! And he is ours to us thine and mine.
There was grass three inches high in the courtyard; Pir Khan's lodge was empty, and the sodden thatch sagged between the beams. A gray squirrel was in possession of the verandah, as if the house had been untenanted for thirty years instead of three days. Ameera's mother had removed everything except some mildewed matting.
Remember me when thy son is born the one that shall carry thy name before all men. His misfortunes be on my head. I bear witness I bear witness' the lips were forming the words on his ear 'that there is no God but thee, beloved! Then she died. Holden sat still, and all thought was taken from him, till he heard Ameera's mother lift the curtain. 'Is she dead, sahib? 'She is dead.
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