RIVAL HOUSES
but the young bride, as she passed from one House to the other, soon acquired the traditions of her husband's family; and the sons whom she bore were taught from their cradle to regard their mother's relations as foes whom they would have to face in life.
Armed retainers were kept by both Houses, and like the Capulets and Montagues, they seldom met without coming to blows. Engagements, too, in which hundreds of these retainers took a share, sometimes occurred over a disputed market-place or the fishery of a lake or stream; and the victorious party obtained, by large gifts to the Court, due sanction to the possessions it had secured by strength of arm. In spite of this ancient rivalry and not infrequent hostilities, the Chiefs of the two Houses sometimes met in the Royal Court or in great social or religious gatherings, and they vied in acts of courtesy and marks of respect towards each other.
Nobo Kumar, Chief of Debipur, had inherited all the traditional hatred of his family for the rival House of Birnagar. Deep and designing by nature, he had marked with more than wonted jealousy the glory of the rival Chief. People contrasted his dark schemes with the open and chivalrous character of Noren's grandfather, and young Nobo Kumar never met the fine, grey-headed man without feeling humbled at his own insignificance.
When, therefore, the Afghan King, Dayud Khan, summoned the neighbouring Zemindars to make a final stand against the Moguls at Akmahal, and when the Chief of Birnagar defiantly refused the summons, Nobo Kumar thought his chance had come. He eagerly joined Dayud Khan, and sent his own
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