All with whom she came in contact loved her for her gentleness as much as they admired her for her beauty, and she was the idol of her father’s heart. Her mother died in giving her birth, and he reared her with a care proportioned to the fondness which she inspired. She had been for some time affianced to a youth of her own tribe, son of the Rajah of Moultan; between him and Jaya there existed a strong and abiding affection. Her prospects had been all blighted, for the moment at least, by the captivity of her father, who had been removed by the conqueror to Delhi. Under the impressions which her reflections upon these unhappy events caused, she was silent and absorbed. Two of her women rode in the hackery with her, but they did not presume to interrupt the sacred silence of her sorrow, which she could not conceal, though she forebore to express it. It was deep and bitter. As the cavalcade proceeded, a violent storm came on, and there was no village or hamlet near. The covering of the hackery was very slight, and therefore afforded but an imperfect protection against such a mischance. The rain began to fall heavily, and the distant lightning to gleam, followed by the low muttering thunder which rapidly approached. A ponderous mass of vapour, of a dull slate colour, rolled heavily onward, and very soon excluded the sun, producing a gloom as deep as twilight, and investing every object with the same dusky tint. The rain at length fell in torrents, and the cloud above poured from its dark womb a stream of fire, which burst through the shower, and was reflected by the large falling drops in ten thousand vivid scintillations. At every flash the whole region round was flooded with a blaze of ghastly light. By this time the tremendous crashings of the thunder were awful in the extreme; and these blending with the loud hissing of the rain, produced a din which, though it was the music of the spheres, proved anything but “a concord of sweet sounds” to the ears of our travellers. The beautiful Jaya heeded not the storm; but her women crowded more closely towards their mistress, hid their heads in their hands, and gave expression to fearful lamentations. The tempest heeded not their terrors, but raged with redoubled fury. The frail covering of the vehicle in which they rode was soon soaked through, and the rain was beginning to drip upon the heads of those within. Palampores were spread over it, which seemed for a time to keep out the intruding water; but they soon became saturated, and the rain at length forced its way so copiously into the hackery, that it was found expedient to stop and seek shelter somewhere from its pitiless fury.