"But the widow of a rich merchant in the city here, a devout and holy woman, has been greatly moved by my piety.

She seeks my hand in marriage and--" here Safdar Khan laughed pleasantly--"I shall marry her.

Already she has given me a necklace of price which I have had weighed and tested to prove that she does not play me false.

She is very rich, and it is too hot to sit in the sun under a blanket.

So I will be a merchant of Lahore instead, and live at my ease on the upper balcony of my house." Shere Ali laughed and answered, "It is well." Then he added shrewdly: "But it is possible that you may yet at some time meet the man in Calcutta who wrote the letter to me.