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George thought for a moment, his eyes resting on Naoum's face, everything became quite clear to him, and he remembered, though indistinctly, the angry tones he had heard before he became unconscious, and was wondering if they were Mariam's. "Did you come yourself?" he next asked her. "Ah," as she nodded, "I remember your voice."
We know that Akbar went there on Mariam's account; and, after Jahangir's birth, Akbar's first care would be to build a palace for the mother and her child, his long-wished-for heir. Mariam was a Hindu, and this palace in all its construction and nearly all its ornamentation belongs to the Hindu and Jaina styles of Mariam's native country, Rajputana. It even contains a Hindu temple.
The next heard of him he had pushed on far to the northwest, and while our forces were closing in at Franktown, Weller had again reached the borders of Combination River at Mariam's Crossing, and appeared before Dolinsburg on the next day. You remember the great battle fought at Dolinsburg, where Gen. Tom. Anderson was thought to have been killed, but was found by me in the darky's cabin?"
Helmar remained silent, thinking of the deep significance of Mariam's words. Evidently, he gathered from them, there was some very desperate enterprise in which they required him to take part. What was the nature of a scheme that could require such a solemn preamble? "And what is required of me?" he asked, presently. Mariam smiled, with a look of maternal affection in her calm, hollow eyes.
His constitution did wonders for him; he was young and of strong vitality, and this, aided by Mariam's wonderful skill, brought him to the turning-point, and finally safety was reached. It was some days, however, ere he rose from that bed of sickness, and when he did, the stalwart young athlete was hardly recognizable when he staggered from his bed to a chair.
The one thing that seemed to strike him more forcibly than the rest was, how on earth was he to escape? The days dragged slowly by, and he soon reached the convalescent stage. The wound he had received in his shoulder quickly healed under Mariam's treatment, and it became only a question of time for the recovery of his strength.
George was carefully calculating what this visit meant to him. Fortunately in giving him the details of his escape Naoum had spoken vaguely of the means by which he was to leave the palace, therefore, if he could reach Mariam's quarters, there might still be hope of success.
The walls were hung with heavy tapestries, and the floor was carpeted with Eastern rugs. The window he observed was unbarred, and this alone brought him a sense of comfort and repose that he could never have felt, in spite of Mariam's assurances, had the ominous gratings obtruded their sinister presence.
There was to his mind only one thing to be done, and that was to keep Arden where he was, if possible, until his summons came, and then defy him. Let him call the guard, and the moment he had gone, dash down the passage to Mariam's quarters. It took him but an instant to decide on what to do, and, as Arden's sneering tones fell upon his ear, he burst out into a laugh.
This portrait was shown to the old woman, who handed it over to the black cook, who, grinning, carried it to little Mariam and the result was, that the young creature stepped forward, and submitted; and has come over to Europe as you see. A very snug and happy family did this of Mariam's appear to be.
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