246 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
The Parsee was interested in the young stranger s 
narrative,, who had travelled from Cawnpoor to the 
plains of Delhi, without anything but the clothes 
he then wore, except a small bag containing five 
hundred rupees. The trifling similarity between the 
young Englishman’s position and his own kindled a 
sympathy in the breast of the Guebre priest ; and he 
pressed him, at least for the moment, to take up his 
abode in some of the ruins around him, as he could 
be there secure from being apprehended by the British 
authorities, in case his hostile intentions should have 
transpired. This suggestion was not at all opposed to 
the latter’s feelings, which were actuated by the con- 
sciousness that he should be within the immediate 
vicinity of the Parsee’s daughter : he had seen her 
but for a short period, yet the peculiar circumstance 
which caused their meeting had thrown over it a co- 
louring and a glow not to be effaced from his memory. 
There happened to be a compartment in the tomb 
occupied by Jumsajee and his family of which they 
made no use; here, after having applied a torch to 
the walls and crevices, as a hint of banishment to all 
reptile occupants, the Englishman determined to take 
up his temporary quarters. This was a singular as- 
sociation ; perhaps it had never before occurred that a 
European had dwelt under the same roof with a Gue- 
bre ; but the fact was, that Jumsajee had nearly re- 
pudiated all the prejudices of his tribe, and become 
very little nice in his choice of associates. He had 
not made any excursion from the tomb since his 
accident, though his companions occasionally exer- 
cised their skill in a small way; still the English 
