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I shall pass them by. Your Lordships are to suppose the lowest degree of infamy in occupation and situation, when I tell you that Munny Begum was a slave and a dancing-girl. The history of the Munny Begum is this.
"You and the dancing-girl of Araxes might be twin sisters."
The 30,000l. was given, the principle of economy vanished, a shocking arrangement was made, and Bengal saw a dancing-girl administering its justice, presiding over all its remaining power, wealth, and influence, exhibiting to the natives of the country their miserable state of degradation, and the miserable dishonor of the English Company in Mr. Hastings's abandonment of all his own pretences.
Suddenly enters, like a night butterfly awakened in broad daylight, like a rare and surprising moth, the dancing-girl from the other compartment, the child who wore the horrible mask. No doubt she wishes to have a look at me. She rolls her eyes like a timid kitten, and then all at once tamed, nestles against me, with a coaxing air of childishness, which is a delightfully transparent assumption.
Over her body hung simply a muslin tunic worth a few annas; of the garden in which she stood not a flower belonged to her, no weight of jewels lay on her happy heart. She had no name; she was only a dancing-girl from the Deccan.
In a few moments Peyrolles returned to the room escorting Flora, now very beautifully attired in a dress of simple richness. Chavernay could not restrain his surprise as she entered. "The little dancing-girl," he whispered to his right-hand neighbor, Choisy, but he said no more. Even his airy nature was impressed by the stillness of the company and the gravity of the situation.
In the light in which Lois read this letter, the allusion to the dancing-girl outweighed all the rest, and though her heart had given a leap when she first saw that she had a letter from Keith, when she laid it down her feeling had changed. She would show him that she was not a mere country chit to be treated as he had treated her. His "friend" indeed!
I shall call you Bella Donna here, beside the Nile." He said it negligently, but something in her rejoiced. Nevertheless, she said, she could not help saying: "And the full moon?" "What about her?" "Is she Bella Donna?" He half closed his eyes and looked down. "I don't ask you if she is donna onesta." He replied: "She is sixteen, and she is a dancing-girl."
The Princess, turning to Gervase, said smilingly: "Apropos of the dancing-girl of Araxes and the art of dancing generally, I am going to entertain the company presently by letting them see a real old dance of Thebes. If you will excuse me a moment I must just prepare them and get the rooms slightly cleared. I will return to you presently."
Suddenly enters, like a night butterfly awakened in broad daylight, like a rare and surprising moth, the dancing-girl from the other compartment, the child who wore the horrible mask. No doubt she wishes to have a look at me. She rolls her eyes like a timid kitten, and then all at once tamed, nestles against me, with a coaxing air of childishness, which is a delightfully transparent assumption.
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