THE RAJPOOTNI BRIDE. 
145 
than ordinary exertion. The man was altogether 
extremely handsome, his nose being small and of per- 
fect symmetry, his lips rather inclining to fulness, 
and his eyes uncommonly brilliant. He had a deli- 
cate curly moustache and but little beard. He was 
admired by all the women of Lucknow, nor did the 
men look on him with less admiration, though of a 
different kind: still he manifested no consciousness 
of superiority, save in that expression of independence 
inseparable from his race, and which told that he 
gloried in the name of Rajpoot. He was the grandson 
of a Hara chieftain, whose end had been as sanguinary 
as the cause was tragical. The recital exhibits such 
a faithful picture of the Rajpoot character, that I offer 
no excuse for introducing it here. 
It happened that a feud had existed for several 
generations, in the families of two chieftains, a Hara 
and a Rahtore. Nothing can exceed the animosity 
which prevails among these stern and uncompromising 
warriors when such deadly inheritances are left them 
to maintain. It is next to impossible to effect a re- 
conciliation, and it seldom or never happens but that 
these unnatural animosities have eventually the most 
fatal issues. The Hara had a daughter as celebrated 
for her beauty as for her energy of character and mas- 
culine understanding. Though subjected to the rigid 
discipline and jealous seclusion general among the 
daughters of Rajpoot princes, she had nevertheless 
partially emancipated herself from a control so repug- 
nant to her impatient yet resolute temperament, and 
had not only become a partner in the counsels of her 
