Note 1 — Chapter XII · Assassination.

Exhausted, the dying man sank back in Siddha’s arms; but shortly after, consciousness returned, and he found the strength, though his voice was scarcely audible, to send a last greeting to his imperial friend, whom he had so faithfully served all his life. “Say to Akbar that my last thought was of him, and tell him I die in the firm conviction of the truth of those principles of which we have so often spoken, and so lately as yesterday. The glory of the sun I shall hardly see more, though I feel that the light still lives in me, but that also will be soon extinguished. I do not complain; I believe that I have been in a position to do some good to my fellow-men, though less than I wished, and so I die content. Strive, my young friend, so to live, that you may one day say the same. And now farewell,” whispered the Wazir, after a short pause, gently pressing Siddha’s hand. His head sank on his breast, and Siddha soon felt that his arm only supported a corpse.1