136 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
and embraced his knee with a cry of infantine de- 
light. He was struck with the extreme beauty of 
the child ; and from the remarkable resemblance 
which it bore to his wife, a thought of dark and per- 
turbed suspicion passed through his brain with the 
force and rapidity of the lightning’s flash. He instinct- 
ively clasped the infant in his arms and imprinted a 
fervent kiss upon its clear dark brow. The truth 
could no longer be disguised : she was his first-born, 
and had been saved by her mother from the death to 
which she had been doomed. The Rajpoot found that 
he was still a father. The tear started into his eye, 
he again pressed the little innocent passionately to his 
bosom ; but the overflow of emotion was quickly ar- 
rested by sterner feelings. He dashed the liquid crystal 
from his cheek with agitated eagerness, and frowned 
upon the preserver and mother of his offspring. She 
had deceived him. This was a mortal offence in the 
estimation of a Rajpoot, who held deception to be the 
foulest dishonour. His child had been saved from 
destruction, and he gladly beheld her alive ; but the 
mother of that child had forfeited his confidence. A 
few days after, his wife was borne a corpse to the fu- 
neral pile ; — she became the victim of maternal love. 
The province of Oude has been now so long under 
the Mohammedan dominion, that a large propor- 
tion of its inhabitants are worshippers of the Arabian 
prophet. From these and the Rajpoot portion of the 
population some of the Company’s best troops are 
obtained. Those sepoy regiments chiefly composed 
of Rajpoots are by far the best in the Company’s 
service. When their national prejudices are not 
