I returned to the tent, where I found Zora and the old woman sitting covered up in their sheets, and warming themselves over a fire they had lighted. In a few words I told them of the necessity of flight, and added, "Alas! I do not accompany you now; we have had a consultation on the subject, and have determined that, for the sake of mutual safety, we must for the present separate. Alla, who sees my heart, knows that it will burn with anxiety and care while I am absent from you; for know, lady, that from the time I first beheld you in the durbar, my soul hath been consumed by your beauty, and as then I was plunged into despair at the thought that you never could be mine, so now is the excess of grief that I must part with you." She was silent for some time; but at last throwing back her veil, and again displaying her beautiful face to me, she put her hand into mine. "I trust you," said she; "I have no fear now except for you; I will go without a murmur, for I see how necessary it is for us to separate; yet assure me, my beloved, that you will not be long away, and I am content." "I repeat," said I, "only two days at the furthest; we shall follow you to-morrow evening, or the next morning; and once that we are in motion, I will push on till I overtake you, where we will wait for my father and the rest." "By what road do we travel?" asked the old woman. "By Nirmul," said I; "it is out of the way, and we have therefore chosen it; it is not probable that the Nuwab's people, if he sends any out, will take that direction." "You are right," she replied; "they will not. But I would give much to see him to-morrow, when the flight of this pretty bird is known." "What shall we care," said I, "except to laugh at his old beard? I will go into the town as soon as the alarm has spread, and you shall have all the news when we meet again." "Now bid me start," said Bhudrinath, who then entered the tent, "and I am off. For the present I am Jumal Khan, by which name inquire for me on the road." "May God protect you all! You have a precious charge, my friend," said I, "and would that I could even now take your place." The women were soon ready, and I saw them comfortably settled in their vehicle. "Now I am off," cried Bhudrinath: "drive on the cart; and do some of you fellows keep about it, as though it were a decent man's zenana." "Alla Hafiz!" said I, "and may the Prophet guide you safely!" They went on; I stood watching them, until a turn in the road hid them from my sight, and I betook myself to my tent, where throwing myself down, sleep soon came over me.