THE SLAVE GIRL OF AGRA
manhood, still revered his elder sister, and consulted her wishes and opinions. With many servants and attendants, Sirish loved the dishes prepared by his sister with her own hand; and with many counsellors around him, Sirish came to consult his sister on the affairs of the estate. Hemlata would then come and sit half veiled near the brother and the sister, and would listen to them for hours. Late in the night, after Sirish and Hemlata had retired, Saibalini would see to the feeding of the relations and kinsmen who filled the Zemindar's house, and would then take a widow's scanty meal before she sought her rest.
Few women in India could read or write in those days, but there were few who were not educated in the duties of a house-wife and in the lessons and traditions of their religion. As a child she had listened to the tales of the Puranas and the Indian Epics; as a young girl she had performed religious rites and offered flowers and worship in her village temple; as a woman she was fond of repeating sacred legends to those who gathered round her in the quiet evenings. To her, as to most Hindu women, these legends were more real than the deeds of the Chiefs and Rulers of her day; gods and goddesses were realities who lived and moved round her unseen, and claimed worship and righteous conduct. The elderly women of the house often sat by Saibalini and listened to her endless store of legends, and voices would then come to her from the starry skies which would fill her soul with joy.
With the children of the house Saibalini was a great favourite. Children see into the soul with that quick flash of instinct which is often seen in dumb creatures, and they know from the glance of the eye
216
