"Perhaps Your Majesty thinks Prince Allaudin should have no estates at all? Perhaps you think he is not yet fit?" "He's fit, by Allah. He's my son." Arangbar impulsively seized another ball of opium and began to chew on it thoughtfully. "I'll find a way to compensate Jadar. Surely he'll be reasonable. After all, there must be a wedding gift." "Then you'll agree to grant it?" Janahara's tone was quiet and inquiring." "Majesty." Nadir Sharifs voice seemed strangely unguarded. "Prince Jadar . . ." Arangbar seemed not to hear him. "I grant it. In the morning I'll summon the _qazi_, and let this be recorded as my gift to my youngest son and his new bride." Arangbar's tenseness seemed to dissolve as he leaned back on the bolster and took another ball of opium. "But only on the condition that he perform his duty tonight. Let him plow the field he has before he's granted more." Arangbar turned to Hawksworth. "Do you know what else will happen, Inglish, if he fails in his duty the first night?" "No, Majesty." "Some of her women will send him a distaff, which they use with their spinning wheels. With a message that since he cannot do a man's work, it is fitting he should do a woman's. But I think he'll succeed." Arangbar turned to Janahara with a wink. "He's been practicing for months with the _nautch _girls in the palace." The queen did not smile as she took a rolled betel leaf from a tray. A messenger appeared at the foot of the dais and performed the _teslim_. His voice was quivering. "The sheet has not yet come out, may it please Your Majesty." Arangbar laughed. "Then perhaps the furrow is too narrow to receive his plow. Have a mullah bless some water and send it in to him. And tell him I'm waiting to see if he's yet a man." "A Shi'ite mullah, Your Majesty, or a Sunni?" "From this night forward, he will have Shi'ite mullahs perform all the duties for his household," Janahara interrupted. The messenger performed the _teslim _to the queen and backed from the room. Arangbar sat silent, drinking. "What does it matter?" He finally turned to her. "Let him have whatever he pleases." "That is easy for you to say. But it does not please Allah. Tonight should be taken as an omen." "Tonight is an omen of nothing. Tonight my son is charged to make a woman out of a Persian girl of fifteen, who knows nothing of her duties in bed. But he'll succeed. Give him time." "I think tonight is an omen. Allah is not pleased when you allow open heresies to flourish." Arangbar was watching a dancer who had approached the dais to begin a suggestive _nautch _dance for him. It seemed to Hawksworth that they were already well acquainted, for she smiled at him knowingly, avoiding the queen's glance. "I care nothing for heresies." Arangbar turned back to Janahara. "I only care for the honor of my reign." "But a faith divided does you no honor."